Community Forum on Community Building

Responding to the recent 19thwca yahoo group discussion of basketball-in-the-streets, the heart of which turned out to be deep concern about the unpleasant environment deriving from children who express disrespect for adults (or for that matter anyone outside their immediate groups), particularly with offensive, course language...

There appears to be a great need for us come together in a productive problem-solving way, addressing neighborhood changes that are making life in the Ward extremely unpleasant for many.

Margy Meath & I are interested in working to develop a community forum on community building - not just another meeting, not another free-for-all about what's gone wrong & why, but a gathering that would be organized and facilitated in a way that would keep the focus on creative problem-solving, perhaps along the lines modeled by The World Cafe (http://www.theworldcafe.com/ ).

I presented a similar idea to JB Manin after the Delegates' meeting last night (there was no time to discuss it during the meeting). JB likes it.

So I am putting this forward for discussion on what such a gathering might look like, who should be ensured a place at the table (I'm particularly concerned that our youth be involved), and identifying specific concerns to be addressed.

How DO we go about meeting the challenges presented to us by cultural changes that appear to support coarse language and other anti-social behavior? (This isn't just an issue of youth vs. adults; it is also adult to adult.) What supports can we provide to help people cope with and hopefully transform these conditions?

What - beyond code and law enforcement - can we do to enable a stronger sense of community, not just among the usual meeting attenders, but also with those whose behavior is so objectionable?

I'm not asking for answers to those questions here, but rather trying to articulate the questions to be considered by such a forum.

Brainstorming is a process whereby any and all contributions can be put forward without judgment or argument, with the expectation that the end result is likely to have very different shape from what we start with.

Are people interested in organizing and participating in such a forum? Anyone besides Margy & me willing to help get the wheels rolling?

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Permalink Reply by Margy Meath on April 9, 2010 at 10:42pm

Just a bit of additional information to add:
From the world cafe website-
"As a conversational process, the World Café is an innovative yet simple methodology for hosting conversations about questions that matter. These conversations link and build on each other as people move between groups, cross-pollinate ideas, and discover new insights into the questions or issues that are most important in their life, work, or community. As a process, the World Café can evoke and make visible the collective intelligence of any group, thus increasing people’s capacity for effective action in pursuit of common aims".

the process is welcoming, dynamic, inclusive and an amazing way to bring people together. It's intentionally designed to ensure that ALL voices are heard and that people are engaged in dialogue about questions that matter to them and/or their community. It is somewhat similar to the concept of Intergroup Dialogue being used on college campuses across the country but the world cafe can be used with larger groups.

I am willing to help organize and facilitate this type of forum if there is enough interest and energy from people who want to participate. If we do it, I can guarantee that it will be a very different experience than 'typical' meetings.