DemocracySpace.org

Blog puts town on the map

Eveleth, a community in northeastern Minnesota, is known as the home of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame and the site of Sen. Paul Wellstone's 2002 plane crash. The mining town has seen tough times lately as its population has dropped from just over 4,000 in 1990 to about 3,600 today. Steady population and economic declines are among the reasons that Eveleth decided to become involved in Horizons, the Northwest Area Foundation's rigorous program - in partnership with Everyday Democracy and the Pew Partnership for Civic Change - aimed at reducing poverty in small rural and reservation communities across the Upper Midwest, Great Plains, and Northwest.

In June 2007, several participants in Eveleth's Horizons program launched a blog as a way to share the information, ideas, and action projects that were bubbling up out of the process. The first post, on June 14, was a reprint of a local newspaper story on the wrap-up of study circles held in Eveleth. Before long, however, the Eveleth Horizons blog was itself turning into a chronicle of happenings in Eveleth - a way to record progress, bring the community together, and provide a valuable service in a town where the traditional weekly newspaper is not available online.

One year later, Eveleth bloggers Stefanie Jarvis, Heather Lindula, and Beth Peterson are going stronger than ever, with nine posts made so far in June. (There were six total in June and July 2007.) The three women are examples of the growing ranks of community bloggers who combine grassroots reporting and leadership skills to be sure the most important local stories are recorded for history. As an example, Eveleth held its community visioning event last November 1. The Eveleth Horizons blog not only promoted the event with several advance posts, but boasted coverage of the actual event the very night it happened.

Also like a good local newspaper, the Eveleth Horizons blog is like a combination scrapbook and bulletin board. Recent posts have featured a bike rodeo (photo at left), a call for election judges, a town clean-up, and a warning against economic stimulus check scams. The blog's left-hand "sidebar" lists "Community Successes," links to local organizations and Horizons partners, "Positive Action Ideas," and shout-outs to local businesses and sponsors that have helped make Horizons and related activities happen. The blog is also packed with photos and it features a colorful calendar (made for free at localendar.com) highlighting local events. In short, in a global 24/7 media culture ruled by breaking news, scandal, and celebrity gossip, the Eveleth Horizons blog is serving as a major source of the news that matters most to the people in Eveleth.

Is it hard to do? Blogger Stefanie Jarvis (who also works, goes to school, and raises two young children) says she has sometimes spent three to four hours a week on the project, but that it's been a good creative outlet. She likes to find new ways to jazz up the blog, such as scrolling text and an "email us" button using code she copied from a MySpace page. It's also cheap: There's no charge for Google's Blogger weblogging tool nor for most of the widgets that are abundantly available on the Internet.

Is it worth it? "Oh absolutely," Stefanie says. "It's one of the best decisions we made early on." Although the blog draws few comments, it has attracted nearly 7,000 visits since the hit counter went up late last summer, and Stefanie says the bloggers frequently get requests that they put a story on the blog. At the town clean-up this spring, about five participants said they read about it on the blog, and people of all ages seem to use it, too.

Is your community interested in creating a blog or using other online tools to document your dialogue-to-change stories? We have a guide to online tools on our wiki, as well as links to the Eveleth blog and several other good community blogs. Let us know when we can add yours! We also can provide coaching to communities in our network that are interested in starting a blog. For help, contact Everyday Democracy online organizer Julie Fanselow.

Tourism and economic development

In recent years, Everyday Democracy - formerly the Study Circle Resource Center - has been working with the Northwest Area Foundation on a project called Horizons, which aims to help communities move from poverty to prosperity. For many of these communities arrayed across the Great Plains and Northwest, tourism can be at least a piece of the puzzle of creating a more vibrant economy.

On her blog Smart Communities, Suzanne Morse of the Pew Partnership for Civic Change is writing this week about how tourism is helping many towns, while warning that it can't be the whole solution,  especially in a time when volatile gas prices and rising recession are keeping many people at home.

For another perspective, check out this article in the March issue of Ode magazine that mentions (toward the bottom) the growth in agritourism, which is building off a burgeoning interest in locally produced food. People may not be able to travel far from home this year, but we may be able to book a weekend at a nearby farm B&B or drive a few towns over to a thriving farmers' market or a creative new restaurant.

As an occasional travel writer who used to make a living at it, I know that my favorite places to go are ones that have - and celebrate - character all their own. Take an inventory of the scenic, cultural, culinary, and other offbeat assets that your area can offer tourists. But when you do, remember to focus on amenities - present or planned - that boost the quality of life for residents as well as enriching the visitor experience for travelers. Making Places - another link from Suzanne - offers many ideas in its sections on parks, public squares, markets, waterfronts, and more.

Does your town have 'heart & soul'?

The Orton Family Foundation is inviting communities of fewer than 50,000 people in four New England states (New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts,
and Vermont) and four Rocky Mountain states (Colorado, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming) to apply for grants of up to $100,000 to help fund planning initiatives that reflect the town's "heart and soul." Two communities from each region will be chosen.

From the Orton website:

The Orton Family Foundation helps citizens and leaders of small cities and towns identify and express their community’s heart and soul—those attributes citizens hold dear and that connect individuals to one another and to the community as a whole. When they are fully understood, these heart and soul attributes can be used to shape and drive decisions that protect and enhance local character and values even as change occurs.

According to a FAQ that accompanies the foundation's request for proposals, planning projects will include "an open, in-depth listening and visioning process characterized by broad, direct citizen engagement." Find out if your community fits the profile by reading the RFP here and the FAQ here. The application deadline is March 3, 2008.

Leaders speak at key conferences

The Study Circles Resource Center is changing its name to Everyday Democracy. Four of our staff people are speaking this week at conferences where people are learning and sharing what it means to engage wholeheartedly in their communities - and in democracy - every day.

Patrick Scully, our deputy director, is at the Rural Community Conference in Billings, Montana, where the theme is "Creating Community by Design, Not by Default." Pat spoke this morning about how communities come together for action-oriented dialogue and change.

Martha McCoy, our executive director, will be the keynote speaker at the Tri-State Diversity Conference for Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky in Clarksville, Indiana. Martha's talk Thursday morning will be on "Bringing Diversity to Life: What Works (and Doesn't) in Real Communities." In the afternoon, senior program director Sally Campbell and senior associate Gwen Whiting will lead a session on "Every Voice Matters: Creating Diverse Public Dialogue for Change."

Did you attend either conference? Use the comments below to reflect on what you learned and what you plan to put into practice. Also, take time now to mark your calendar for our own national meeting on "Making Every Voice Matter," set June 12-14 in Denver, Colorado.

2007: The year that was (Part II)

Here's the second part of our look at some of the highlights of 2007 in the world of citizen engagement. Did we miss anything? Please note it in the comments below.

Racial equity

From hate crimes to Supreme Court decisions, 2007 offered ample evidence showing why the campaign for racial equity in the United States is far from over - but it also held promise that the struggle is being taken seriously by ever-greater numbers of people. During the year, as part of a C.S. Mott and W.K. Kellogg-funded three-year initiative, the Study Circles Resource Center held orientations in Atlanta, Austin, Little Rock, and Los Angeles to introduce new resources to help communities achieve racial equity by engaging the full diversity of their residents in addressing racism and related issues. Watch for much more news of SCRC's Communities Creating Racial Equity initiative in 2008.

Education

Many communities continued to use dialogue-to-action programs in 2007 to address issues in their schools. In Lexington, Nebraska, longtime public engagement proponent Jerry Bergstrom was recently honored as the 2008 National Distinguished Principal from Nebraska.  As Lindsey Tederman wrote in the Lexington Clipper-Herald:

He and his staff have been able to involve immigrant parents, community people, businessmen, clergy, politicians, high school students, college professors and school staff in 'study circles' to determine needs of Pershing Elementary and the community. "We wanted to engage the community in the public and democratic processes," Bergstrom said.

What transpired from these six years of meetings was an action plan with tangible outcomes. Lexington's Welcome Center was established, an immigration specialist was hired and an 18-member Multicultural Commission will soon be part of the Lexington city council.

Also, in 2007, students from a high school in Waterford, Wisconsin, proposed a diversity class to their schools superintendent as a result of school diversity circles; schools in North Carolina led dialogues to explore how to make the community work better for all students; and churches in Kansas City, Kansas, partnered with educators to hold innovative after-school programs for local teens. Portsmouth, New Hampshire, held study circles to help settle a community controversy over whether to renovate and expand the local middle school at its current site or build from scratch elsewhere in town. (Later in the year, presidential hopeful John Edwards cited Portsmouth as a place with a history of strong citizen engagement.)

Poverty and economic development

Can action-oriented dialogue help communities move from poverty to prosperity? More than 170 small, rural and reservation communities in seven states ranging from Minnesota to Washington are finding out as they take part in Horizons II, a community leadership program sponsored by the Northwest Area Foundation. The Study Circles Resource Center helped Horizons communities hold large-scale, inclusive dialogues that lead to measurable change. Tangible outcomes are already happening. In Tyndall, South Dakota, for example, citizens have purchased and renovated a building to create a youth center, which residents had identified as an urgent need for the community. In Columbus, Montana, a new farmers' market sprouted last summer as a result of the Horizons program.

Big changes ahead!

2008 will be a year of big changes for the Study Circles Resource Center. In just a few weeks, we will change our name to Everyday Democracy, while reaffirming our mission to provide "Ideas & Tools for Community Change." A few weeks after that, our headquarters moves from small-town Pomfret, Connecticut, to urban East Hartford. And in June, "Making Every Voice Matter" will be the theme for Everyday Democracy's 2008 national meeting in Denver, Colorado. Stay tuned to learn how you can be involved in this exciting evolution. Let's make 2008 a watershed year for citizen engagement and public participation.

Friday digest-open thread 12/14/07

This will be the final Friday digest of the year here at DemocracySpace. For the final two Fridays of 2007, we'll have year-in-review roundups featuring some of the coolest news about small-d democratic organizing that we've seen this year. (Have a suggestion for those? Leave it in the comments below.) But let's not get ahead of ourselves ...

How is your holiday shopping coming along? If you need some ideas, check out the Case Foundation's Guide to Good Giving, which is packed with ways to fill stockings and build hope, all at the same time. Under Gifts That Give, you'll find ways to fight breast cancer, support animal shelters, aid still-struggling New Orleans musicians, and much more. Under Staff Picks, there are ways to give your money or your time to create positive change. (Scroll all the way to the bottom of this page to see a mention of the Study Circles Resource Center!) The Out of the Box section describes how "new and innovative ways to give are changing how we define philanthropy – and making doing good a daily occurrence."  The Skoll Foundation's Social Edge website has a gift guide, too, and don't forget our recent book roundups.

Monday (December 17) is the early registration deadline for a January 17-18 diversity conference in Clarksville, Indiana. Up to 300 people from Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky are expected at the event, which will feature a keynote speech by SCRC executive director Martha McCoy on "Bringing Diversity to Life: What works (and doesn’t) in real communities.” Read more here and download registration materials here.

Earlier this week, WBUR Boston's On Point radio show had a comprehensive look at the nation's subprime mortgage crisis, including how it is disproportionately affecting working-class neighborhoods and communities of color. You can access the show here. Guests included Douglas Palmer, mayor of Trenton, New Jersey, and president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which recently released its report on the crisis.

In other $$$ news, Facing Up to the Nation's Finances has posted the round-up of entries into its blog carnival on the $9 trillion national debt. More than a dozen blogs took part, including this one.

Click here to read why one young South Dakota family committed to small-town life became involved in the Horizons program. Chad and Erin Odens live in Scotland, South Dakota - one of 32 communities in the state involved in the program. According to Randy Dockendorf's article in the Yankton Press & Dakotan, Scotland residents have identified six action items: a welcoming program for new residents, a youth center, a city beautification committee, a stronger business sector, a "Good Stuff Exchange" for unwanted household items, and a Scotland Community Foundation to fund local efforts and matching grants.

Wisconsin high school students who usually meet on the football field or the basketball court convened recently not to compete, but to cooperate in a brainstorming session on how to create positive changes in their schools. "Students from Burlington, Kenosha, Muskego, Oak Creek, Racine and South Milwaukee packed the Roma Lodge, where they spent the day in groups talking with their peers about issues like diversity, cliques, communication and respect," Paul Sloth wrote in the Journal Times. Click here to read more about this Leadership Cafe summit.

Speaking of Wisconsin, DemocracySpace will go on the road for the first time next week to post a report from Milwaukee, where an innovative partnership is looking to build sustainability in community economic development and the ways people work today.

School honored for embracing diversity

As noted on the Study Circles Resource Center website, Pershing Elementary School in Lexington, Nebraska, has been honored by an award from the National Network for Educational Renewal. Principal Jerry Bergstrom and kindergarten teacher Janelle VerMaas accepted the 2007 Nicholas Michelli Award for Promoting Social Justice award earlier this month at NNER's conference in Charleston, W.Va. Malena Ward writes in the Kearney Hub:

The award recognized the school’s efforts to engage school and community patrons through leadership training; study circles researching issues such as community attitudes, immigration and “boundary breaking” by high school students; a teacher-parent program called Together for Children and quarterly school-sponsored family activities.

Other projects have included efforts to form a multicultural commission as an advisory board to the city council and expanding the Lexington Welcome Center to include a skilled immigration specialist, something recommended by study circle participants.

“This setting has embraced diversity as a social good, as opposed to a problem to be dealt with,” National Network for Educational Renewal Executive Director Ann Foster wrote in the award notification letter. Award reviewers noted that Pershing’s work has become part of the community culture.

Lexington, like many rural communities, experienced a dramatic change in its demographics as growing numbers of immigrants arrived during the 1990s to take jobs that were going unfilled by local residents - in Lexington's case, at a local meat-packing plant. In a decade-and-a-half, Lexington went from a mostly-Caucasian town of 7,500 to a community of about 11,000, 60 percent of whom are Latino. Only 15 percent of the district's current elementary school students are Caucasian.

But rather than lamenting the demographic shift, Lexington has been a leader in addressing it. Bergstrom told the Kearney Hub that he "believes the Lexington community has been 'enriched by change,' with people of many cultures having opportunities to address issues together."

Click here to read the Kearney Hub article, and here to learn more about two teen-agers who became student leaders through their involvement in Lexington's study circles. The Study Circles Resource Center - soon to be renamed Everyday Democracy - offers resources including "Changing Faces, Changing Communities" discussion guides to help communities talk about immigration. Click here to learn more.

Building a sense of place

The Study Circles Resource Center frequently works with communities on issues of growth, sprawl, and sustainability. This week, two of our staff members are attending important events for people who are passionate about creating and sustaining creative, diverse, functional, forward-looking communities.

Carrie Boron, SCRC's Deputy Communications Director and Operations Manager, is on the scene at CommunityMatters07, starting today in Burlington, Vermont, and organized by the Orton Family Foundation and PlaceMatters. Workshops and panel discussions at this event include "Virtual Neighborhood: Building Local Community Online" (with the co-founder of the Burlington-based Front Porch Forum); "Listening to Old & Young: Communities for All Ages," focusing on livable "lifespan communities" where people of all ages can thrive together; "New Directions in Planning: Tools and Techniques for a Holistic Approach"; and "Art and Soul: How Storytelling and Arts Create a Sense of Place." On Thursday, participants will spend the day in Open Space work-sessions "to model the kinds of innovative approaches to civic engagement and deliberation we seek to foster in the communities where we work."

Meanwhile, Gloria Mengual, SCRC program director, is in Albuquerque, New Mexico, attending the Helping Small Towns Succeed institute presented by the Heartland Center for Leadership Development. Today, attendees are talking about leadership development and "Clues to Community Survival." On Wednesday, participants will learn about the Appreciative Inquiry method of examining past successes to move a community forward and discuss how to welcome and promote increased rural and small-town racial and cultural diversity. Thursday's sessions will include asset mapping and building social capital.

Click here to learn more about how communities like yours are working with SCRC to get a handle on growth, sprawl, and sustainability. And if you attended either of this week's conferences, we invite your comments on what most inspired, unnerved, and/or intrigued you, and what you hope to do with what you learned.

One in three little black boys

In a column posted today on The New Yorker website, Steve Coll writes about why the Jena Six "narrative has resonated so broadly. Many African-Americans understand the case not only as the civil-rights era redux but as a stark illustration of a here-and-now problem, one about which whites are mainly silent: the mass incarceration of black youths - America’s 'school-to-prison pipeline,' as some scholars have christened it."

Coll cites the work of The Sentencing Project, which recently reported that African Americans are jailed at nearly six times the rate of whites - and that, if current trends continue, one out of three black boys  born today can expect to serve time in jail during his lifetime. Hispanics are jailed at a rate twice as high as whites, with the Hispanic share of the state and federal prison population rising 43 percent between 1990 and 2005.

The Sentencing Project found that in seven states - Iowa, Vermont, New Jersey, Connecticut, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and South Dakota - the rate of incarceration for blacks was more than 10-to-1 that for whites. In the District of Columbia, the ratio is 19-to-1. South Dakota had the highest rate of blacks incarcerated per 100,000 people, with 4,710. The rest of the top 10 includes Wisconsin, Iowa, Vermont, Utah, Montana, Colorado, Arizona, Oklahoma, and Texas. Hawaii was at the bottom, with 851. Yet Hawaii imprisons nearly twice as many blacks as whites. (See the full report here.)

As Coll writes, "Discrimination in the American justice system is not only a Deep South thing; it is a national embarrassment. Tocqueville, who initially came to America to study its penal system, might wonder how a democracy can so earnestly debate the justice of detaining foreign nationals at Guantánamo while displaying not a whiff of discomfort about the record number of its own citizens - now more than two million - stuffed into jails and prisons, or about the causes of racial disparity in this forgotten population."

So what will we do at this moment? Are we content to watch people of color imprisoned at such disproportional rates? Perhaps the presence of such states as Vermont, Montana, and South Dakota on this list will convince us that all communities - no matter what their racial make-up - can benefit from facing racism head on.