Convening, Recruiting, and Connecting People Who Repair Local Economies
CategoriesUncategorizedStewardship is a concept I learned at one of the most important stops on my seemingly circuitous path to now: my work in southeast Oklahoma with the Choctaw Nation. As a lesson, it has become increasingly more valuable in my work as we develop local economies: we are the stewards of the land and its resources, the […]
CategoriesUncategorizedPolitical Will vs Political Won’t Back in 2002, many residents and policy makers in Austin Texas read the book The Rise of the Creative Class by Richard Florida. For the first time, those of us who weren’t obvious artists were named as holders of valuable creative fuel that measurably contributed to the economic engine. It felt like Austin […]
CategoriesUncategorizedBiomimicry vs. Biomockery Humans are biological creatures and we do best when we are in alignment with our environments. Ultimately, as noted in an earlier post, this comes down to the question of whether we are creating an egosystem or an ecosystem: An ego-system is structured to satisfy shareholder wants and to privatize decision-making. Financial […]
CategoriesUncategorizedCreating an Awe-Full Community I recently returned from a 5-day 2200-mile road trip through Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado and New Mexico. In those 5 days I spent lots of time in communities, with even more time observing the landscape between those stops and noting how my spirit rose and the way I engaged with a place […]
CategoriesUncategorizedFrom Ego-System to Ecosystem: Reinstating the Golden Rule of Community No matter what your cultural origins, you probably grew up hearing the importance of doing unto others as you would have them do unto you, a truism commonly known as the Golden Rule. Away from the adults, you might have heard another interpretation: he who […]
CategoriesUncategorizedWe live in a noisy world where everyone is competing to be—or create—the next big thing. However, as the old saying goes, ‘mighty oaks from little acorns grow’, and so grows community from the actions large and small of its stakeholders. I learned a lot about the importance of the individual participant to influence the […]
CategoriesUncategorizedCommunity Wealth Activation GO! You don’t have to be a social media maven to be aware of Pokemon GO, the enhanced reality single-player game from Niantic Labs that debuted on July 6th and has captured the imagination (and pocketbook) of the American public. The game brings forward feelings of nostalgia, inclusion and connection to a […]
CategoriesUncategorizedCo-Creating the Community Social Contract I recently had a conversation with a very bright, well educated, intellectually curious Millennial about the importance of the social contract as a tool to enforce accountable engagement in the world. She looked at me blankly, smiled and said, what a great idea, how did you think of that? I […]
CategoriesUncategorized“What we also need, more than ever, is civic engagement. We need to see the challenges that face us as just that, challenges, and ones that with prudent, careful action we can overcome.” ~ Dan Rather “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” – Helen Keller A thriving community starts […]
CategoriesUncategorizedThe Community Stakeholder is key to a thriving community. The model of sustainable community development is changing from one of shareholders (generally driven by monetary capital) to one of stakeholders (engaging the full spectrum of community wealth) for the purpose of producing the individual and mutual well-being of all the participants, in an ongoing way. Who […]