Community Engagement Blog

Waiting for the World to Change

2008-04-03T18:23:00.001-05:00

I have been giving a great deal of thought over the last two years about my own participation in community and civic life. I consistently struggle with the concept of balance – ensuring my personal, professional, and community worlds are given proper attention. From this struggle, I have made attempts to involve myself in different activities that can begin to support my larger role in helping to make change.

Rich Harwood’s recent blog entry on “Beware of Political Giddiness” struck me as interesting. I, like many others, have been drawn in by the presidential nomination process. I have watched every debate, both Republican and Democrat, listen to the endless radio shows, and am glued to the TV on Sunday mornings. And most recently, I participated in the Democratic County Convention where thousands of Travis County residents were actively involving themselves in the political process.

So are we at an impasse like Rich Harwood suggests? Are we caught up in the current enthusiasm and energy that this presidential nomination process creates or can we use this as an opportunity to harness that enthusiasm and energy and create clarity about where we want to go and how we will go about getting there?

Harwood states that “real hope is generated because people come to believe that it is possible to alter the status quo”. So my question that I continue to ask myself and others is…how can we create “real hope” and the space for “real change” to occur?

My greatest fear is that this current energy and enthusiasm, within myself and others, will result in the same patterns we have seen in the past. I don’t want to continue to live like the John Mayer song states:

We see everything that is going wrong with the world and those who lead it
We just feel like we don’t have the means to rise above and beat it
So we keep waiting…waiting on a world to change

Instead, I want to be a part of something where people can join together, share their hopes and aspirations, build relationships, and engage in a process that ensures our community and our country is one for which we are proud to be a part.

Talking to the Right People at the Right Time

2008-04-01T16:48:00.002-05:00

I belong to a networking organization of business, non-profit, school and community leaders in the Montopolis neighborhood that meets monthly. Our meetings are conversations around events and needs in the community, but no one leaves with direction or action items to address any of these items. Several members of the group were concerned that we don’t “do” anything, and were concerned that the time was ill spent when there are so many needs in this very low income community.

I suspected that our conversations were actually creating relationships that led to action and asked that we survey the group. Two of us crafted a very simple survey asking members of the group to report back on anything beneficial that had come to their organization as a result of the relationships they had formed. The response was phenomenal.

While members expressed an interest in having speakers at the meetings, they also indicated that there have been a large number of tangible benefits including funding for projects, in-kind donations, volunteers and introductions to other avenues for support. In addition to increased awareness, members report specific incidents in which the network has led to much-needed resources ranging from food for Thanksgiving baskets to computers for the neighborhood branch library. There were dozens of specific projects reported that can be attributed to the network although the “doing” happened outside of the monthly meetings.

For me, public innovation is making sure that the right people are having the right conversations in the right settings at the right times. It isn’t about creating work plans – it is about finding common ground from which to venture forth. The seeds of public innovation lie in open, honest, respectful and informed communication.

Ann Stafford
Public Innovator

Welcome to the Community Engagement Blog!

2008-04-01T16:41:00.000-05:00

So I finally created the Community Engagement Blog! After the Public Innovators Lab I wanted to make sure we continue our learning, connections and conversations. So here we are. Don't worry, it won't just be me ranting on about community issues, it'll be superstars like Amy Thompson, Tommy Darwin, Margaret Valenti and Ann Stafford. And you can join us in the conversations by posting comments or sending me an email to add you to the list of contributors. This blog is not only for Public Innovators, it's for people who want to "be the change" and make Central Texas a better place to live.

So here's a quick recap of what we've been doing.....

Public Innovators Lab - Learning

The Innaugural Community Engagement Summit

Back to Square One

Volunteer Project Leaders Being the Change!

And finally, some last words from Rich Harwood....

Hasta La Proxima!

Mando
Director, Hands On Central Texas