An Unscripted Future

Leadership and Learning

2009-11-08T11:39:00.000-08:00

This past week was the first ever Leadership Summit in Wichita, Kansas, sponsored by The Kansas Leadership Center.

It was an opportunity to bring over 200 Community Leadership Program staff and board members, from across the state, to learn about the programs of the Center and share learnings in adaptive challenges and leadership.

While training on most of the strategies and tools had been provided to program facilitators last spring, new case studies and learnings from the participants were illuminating and challenging.

Since my return, I am beginning work on improving recruitment for and researching evaluation methods for community leadership programs.

and we're off...

2009-10-15T11:50:00.000-07:00

Starting up a program which has been in hiatus is not an easy thing to accomplish, but this is proving to be a lot of fun...and certainly seems to be something that is receiving a lot of positive attention from the universities being contacted. The Coro program is a leadership development program designed to train tomorrow’s leaders. It was created in San Francisco in 1942, by two businessmen who saw a need for community leaders to have broader experience. The name Coro is not an acronym; but a word invented by the founders, intending it to have its own meaning. Civic leaders brought Coro to Kansas City in 1975.

Coro currently offers programs in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Saint Louis, New York, Pittsburgh and Cleveland, in addition to the Kansas City Summer Internship. Coro is a private nonprofit and non-partisan, for- credit, educational program offered in partnership with The Center for Leadership at Park University’s Hauptmann School for Public Affairs. Kansas City’s program is a “mini-version” of the Coro Fellows program which has received national recognition, and is named by the Princeton Review as one of America’s top ten internships. The Princeton Review notes: “Whiz kids have the Odyssey of the Mind competition and aspiring public servants have the Coro Fellows Program.”

The purpose of the internship is to develop future community leaders through exposure to community issues, leadership development, civic leaders and organizations. The program is demanding, full time, and requires an interest in public affairs. Each intern completes 5 weeks of classroom skill instruction and is assigned week-long individual internships in business, government, labor, media, and nonprofit organizations.

Coro is funded by corporations, foundations, labor unions, the Coro board of directors, alumni, alumni parents, selection day judges and civic organizations. No government funds or United Way money is involved.

The twelve interns are each paid a stipend of $1,000 for the ten week program and Park University awards 3 hours academic credit for completing the program, including course assignments.

New Beginnings

2009-09-17T18:13:00.000-07:00

Greetings!

This has been an interesting period of transition from serving as Executive Director at The Civic Leadership Training Council (CLTC) to Facilitator (pending) for the Leadership 2000 program there and starting as Co-Director of the Coro Program at The Center for Leadership at Park University.

I've been fortunate to have had strong contracts with several area organizations during the past several months. This has provided a consistent focus for me and has given me a sense of continuity in a community I love, while helping me expand my involvement in a new exciting initiative on the other side of the state line, in Missouri.

By STAFF REPORTS
Kansas City Kansan
Posted Aug 25, 2009 @ 09:41 AM
Kansas City, Kan. —

The governing body of Leadership 2000, The Civic Leadership Training Council, is announcing the resignation of Don Wise, former Executive Director of the program. Don has accepted a position with Park University’s Center for Leadership and will be working with former Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, The Honorable Kay Barnes at that university’s Hauptmann School for Public Affairs. The Leadership 2000 program will continue the nationally respected leadership development program for which it is known and the efforts will be directed by the Board of Directors, as always.
Work has begun on the search for a contract facilitator for the 10 month program. Applications are now being accepted for Class XXIV and the forms may be found on the Leadership Web site at http://www.leadershipwyco.org/ Now in its 24th year, Leadership 2000 is a civic leadership training program designed to identify, motivate and develop new and emerging community leaders for shaping our community’s future.

Congratulations to Don Wise on accepting this new challenge.

I love Kansas City, Kansas.

I'm beginning to see

2009-07-21T16:42:00.000-07:00

The questions are finally being asked, options identified and ownership claimed.

It's a relief and a difficult thing to experience as I discover small pieces being parceled out, learning second-hand of actions taken, but feeling the weight of these decisions being lifted from me.

It's heartening to finally have company in this process, even though it doesn't necessarily seem that everyone understands we're on the same team.

I'm looking forward now...

Focus on the Opportunities

2009-07-12T19:20:00.000-07:00

It has been a summer of risk, loss and opportunity.

While the economy continues to challenge most (if not all) of us, I am moving among a variety of people who are testing new waters, pushing personal boundaries and struggling with a renewed (or new) sense of ownership of the circumstances in which they find themselves.

I have been, in turn, heartened by the actions of these people and saddened by the losses each of us has faced.

Reya Mellicker, in her blog The Gold Puppy, is moving through the grief brought on by the loss of her boxer/pitbull Jake. She stumbles publicly, unashamed and in real-time, offering herself as an example for each of us to recognize, discover and remember.

The Center for Leadership at Park University is moving steadily forward to identify resources and partners to redefine the distribution/delivery of content to better prepare leaders for an unscripted future. They are moving through change, aware of the funding challenges and associated risk, but undeterred by temporary funding shortfalls...planning and adapting their goals to continue moving forward incrementally.

The Civic Leadership Training Council board is struggling to gain a sense of control and ownership of a program which is in transition, longstanding but fragile...susceptible to the vagaries of an uneven economy with new volunteer leadership, unfamiliar with the operational/fiscal details for a new program year with only 1/3 of a new class of leadership candidates and, as yet, (from my perspective) not asking the right questions.

I think the key to success for each of us is to remember there are no easy answers to the challenges we face. We each struggle, individually and collectively, to fight the fear and design solutions to move us forward, as individuals and organizations.

Each of us needs to assume a level of responsibility and risk as we progress toward our respective goals.

Off Line

2009-05-14T15:10:00.000-07:00

Hello,

I am on hiatus through the summer and will keep you apprised regarding my return. Thank you.

Engage

2009-05-13T19:00:00.000-07:00

You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.
..Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), 28th U.S. President

Public Service Academy

2009-05-12T06:17:00.000-07:00

A public service West Point is in the works, and KC could be its home
By MARÁ ROSE WILLIAMS The Kansas City Star

Imagine a prestigious national academy, modeled after the highly selective U.S. military academies, but with the mission of building future public leaders. Now imagine 5,000 of the nation’s top liberal-arts students roaming a West Point-like campus — in Kansas City.

Some Kansas and Missouri leaders, along with one of the founders of the proposed U.S. Public Service Academy, will meet for the first time this afternoon at Union Station.

“We are going to build a case for Kansas City,” said Bobby Patton, a former president of the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, who is leading the local effort.

“The central part of the country, in the heart of America, would be the best location for the academy,” Patton said.

For now, the proposed academy has an office in Washington. It also has a Web site — USPublicServiceAcademy.org — a 105-page blueprint that includes a curriculum, and a broad base of bipartisan backers. If Congress approves, it would get more than $205 million a year in federal funding.

“It’s a big idea with a lot of support,” said Melissa Stuart, a spokeswoman for the academy. “We hope to get a bill through Congress this year.”

If that happens, the academy would open its doors to its first class of congressionally commissioned freshmen in 2011 or 2012, Stuart said. Then each year a new class of select students would be added.

According to the blueprint, the academy would be the country’s sixth federal service academy but the only one with a nonmilitary mission. It would offer rigorous coursework and require study abroad and fluency in a foreign language.

In junior or senior year, after declaring the area of public service he or she would focus on, the academy student would spend one quarter serving as an intern with a local, state or federal agency in that field. Students also would have the opportunity to spend a quarter interning in a military service.

But Where Could It Be?

2009-05-11T06:20:00.000-07:00

The Sprint Nextel Corp. campus in Overland Park would be a good location for the academy.

Melinda Tiemeyer, a Sprint spokeswoman, said she wasn’t aware of any discussions a bout locating an academy there.

Tiemeyer said that although all but one of the 17 buildings have employees in them, no building is full. A broker for the Sprint property is on the list to attend today’s meeting.

Patton has a persuasive speech ready on why Kansas City is the right place:

“We have the right resources with Whiteman Air Force Base, Haskell (Indian Nations) University, strong state universities and the American Humanics Inc.” American Humanics is a nonprofit organization based in Kansas City that works with colleges and universities to train leaders for nonprofit organizations.

But those gathering at Union Station probably won’t need convincing.

Robert Stein, Missouri’s commissioner of higher education, said public service is the lifeblood of our country, but there is no institution dedicated to developing public-service leaders.

“We need to explore how to establish a public service academy that will prompt a cadre of new leaders into government at local, state, national and even global levels,” Stein said.

Chris Myers Asch, one of the founders of the U.S. Public Service Academy, will be in Kansas City for the meeting.

“It will be like the Olympics. The city that makes the best bid and shows the most local support is likely to get the academy,” Asch said.

So far, Seattle and Philadelphia also are making cases to host the academy. Academy officials said officials in the District of Columbia have suggested building the school at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, which is scheduled to close next year.

Asch said that with President Barack Obama calling for more public service and voluntarism, “we think now is a particularly auspicious time to pursue this opportunity. This is an idea that fits our historic moment.”

Like cadets at the military academies, prospective students would need congressional nominations to enroll in the Public Service Academy. Tuition would be free in exchange for a five-year commitment to work in public service after graduation.

When they are done with college, law students might be called on to become prosecutors. Business majors might work for a government office here or abroad. Teachers might work in urban or rural public schools.

State or regional bids for the academy would go to a federal commission — yet to be established — and then on to the president, academy spokeswoman Stuart said.

“JFK had the Peace Corps. Bill Clinton had AmeriCorps,” she said. “This could be President Obama’s Peace Corps.”

Moving Online

2009-05-08T03:21:00.000-07:00

To examine which of your programs might be moved to an online format:

• Start thinking about the 'online component’ of your community activities as a core activity, not ‘just an add on’. I put my monthly notices, calendars and resources online and am reviewing my curriculum to determine which might work on-line.

• Look at what e-tools you already use and consider how you might extend those uses to communicate with your community members eg. collect email addresses from your community members and send regular newsletters online (saves postage) and gives you the chance to incorporate a variety of media.

• Decide how to facilitate your community's activities and what tools you’ll need to do so i.e. whether to use discussion boards, blogs, voice, audio/video streaming or chats etc.

• Think about what you plan to do from your own, your colleagues and, of course, your participants’ perspectives.

• Take some time to consider how you will model what you consider to be ‘best online practice’, in whatever form that takes.

• Finally, have a class from your area high school or community college design and set-up your online presence.

Be open to ideas and demonstrate a willingness to listen and adapt to changing conditions (last year, nobody knew about tweeting).

Have fun!

Using technology to reach younger people

2009-05-07T16:37:00.000-07:00

Using technology to extend your program reach or further your mission is not something which happens overnight. It requires planning and assessment of your target community's readiness and willingness to follow you as you begin the process of communicating via the web.

Here are some actions you might wish to take before you move online, and while you do your preliminary planning.
Do an online activity yourself, preferably using the type of technologies/software you intend to use with your community. I used blogging as my introductory activity, but you might use "Facebook", My Space"or LinkedIn.

Seek online communities specifically for your type of business or area of interest/work. How are they communicating online? Will a social network of this sort help you to achieve your goals?
Identify practitioners in your field, online, and see what they're doing. If you are comfortable, ask them to link with your blog or reference your website on theirs.

Locate resources and professional development opportunities that could help you understand the possibilities presented to you by moving online. Talk to younger people to see what they're interested in seeing online. Tie your e-mail to your blog, by adding a "Visit my blog" or "Look for me on Facebook" as a part of your signature line. The challenge is to connect, connect, connect.

Share resources online with your target market or program participants.

Peace

2009-05-06T13:06:00.000-07:00

A beautiful, gracious member of our current class of Leadership 2000 passed away this past weekend after a valiant fight with cancer. She will be remembered for her courage and kindness

Kimberly Ann Wilson, 44, Kansas City, Mo., passed away May 3, 2009. Services to honor her life will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday, May 7, 2009, at the Community of Christ Stone Church, Independence, Mo. Visitation will begin one hour before service time at the church. Services in Henderson, Tenn., and interment at Bailey's Cemetery, Jack's Creek, Tenn., will follow on Saturday, May 9.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests contributions to Kim Wilson's Courage Fund, Attn.: Connie Holmes, Security Bank, 701 Minnesota Ave., Kansas City, KS 66101.

The poet Hafiz wrote "Life, life is far too sacred to ever end." Those who knew Kim Wilson know this. Her influence will live on in the hundreds of people she touched. Love was Kim's mantra. She reflected love and a playful spirit in all she did: in her relationships, her personal ministry, and her vocation. Kim is truly unforgettable. Kim is survived by her domestic partner, Tonja J. Speer of the home; father, Billy G. Wilson, Jackson, Tenn.; mother, Paulette Wilson Inman, Reagan, Tenn.; sister Jan Reece, Henderson County, Tenn.; brothers David Wilson, Raytown, Mo., Matthew Wilson, Liberty, Mo.; maternal grandparents, Geneva and Lester Perry, Reagan, Tenn.; large extended family, and Kim's "Tribe", the group of friends who provided unwavering support to Kim and Tonja through illness and death. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.speakschapel.com (Arr.: Speaks Suburban Chapel)

Published in Kansas City Star on 5/6/2009

QUE VIVA el Cinco de Mayo!

2009-05-05T14:06:00.000-07:00

(From Mestiza Leadership International)

QUE VIVA el Cinco de Mayo! By Juana Bordas
What does Cinco de Mayo have to do with ME?

To understand this, you must know your history. When the French were driven out of Mexico, it was the last time an army from a foreign continent invaded the Americas.Cinco de Mayo celebrates the freedom and liberty of all of us - and our entire hemisphere. These two ideals are cornerstones of our democracy. But there is another historical twist, in 1862, the Civil War was raging in the U.S. and historians believe that if the French had won in Mexico, Napoleon III would have continued supplying troops and arms to the confederate rebels and this would have altered the outcome of the war. In fact, the French had their eyes on Louisiana and wanted to proceed north to reclaim their territory. Now this would have certainly changed the course of American history! Many North Americans are also unaware of the deep collaboration that took place between Mexico and the U.S. Under General Phil Sheridan. Union forces rushed to the Tex/Mex border and supplied weapons and ammunition to continue fighting the French. U.S. soldiers fought mano a mano along side Mexican soldiers. The American Legion of Honor even marched in the Victory Parade in Mexico City. In fact, the close ties between Mexico and the U.S. are evident when noting that General Zaragosa, who commanded the Mexican army at the battle of Puebla, was actually born in Texas! The Mexicans driving the French out allowed the Union forces to build their army and end the Civil War. It can be said then, that the battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862 preserved the national integrity of Mexico and protected that of the United States as well.

Yeah, yeah, but that sounds like ancient history, so... Well, why is this still relevant today?Many people know that fully one third of territorial U.S. - the entire Southwest was part of Mexico until 1848. The traces of our Mexican heritage resound in the Spanish names of our states: Colorado, where rocks are red, Montana, the land of mountains, Arizona, an arid landscape, and Nevada, the place where it snows. And then there is New Mexico, the land of enchantment, a cultural hybrid that integrates Spanish, Mexican, Anglo, and Indian traditions. In addition, our largest state Texas, bountiful California, parts of Wyoming, Kansas and Oklahoma were all part of Mexico. This is the reason that Mexican-Americans compose 60% of Hispanics in the U.S. today.

While there is a lot of controversy about current immigration, it must be remembered many Mexicans can trace their ancestry to before these territories became states. Mexicans laid the foundation for our ranching, mining, and farming economy and gifted us with many traditions that are distinctly southwest. Yes, the Southwest is embedded with a Mexican heritage that echoes our distant past, but is also shaping our future. By 2010, U.S. trade with Mexico and Latin America will be greater than that of Europe and Japan combined. Our economic future is tied to the stability and economic development of our neighbors to the south. Inside the U.S. the Hispanic influence continues to grow. As the Hispanic population has grown, they have entered the labor force in unprecedented numbers. By the second half of this century, Hispanics will make up the majority of U.S. workers.

Perhaps it is in the strengthening America's values, however, that Mexican Americans and Hispanics will make their greatest contribution. Studies on Hispanics indicate that faith and family are our two highest values. Hispanics are a people-oriented culture where generosity, cooperation, respect, honesty, and hard work are valued. While America's multicultural society is a composite of many races, faces, and cultures, our relationship with Mexico has a unique and lasting influence - not only because of our proximity, and our historical ties, but because of the color, vitality, and strength Mexican- Americans bring to our country's cultural mosaic.

Cinco de Mayo reflects America's ability to embrace diversity and to celebrate the traditions and customs of the many people who make up our great nation. Cinco de Mayo heralds our emerging multicultural and global world.

Questions for the KCLI group

2009-05-04T05:45:00.000-07:00

How can we determine each community leadership program’s needs and priorities for development? Can an on-line tool be developed to collect information to help us better understand the challenge before us and our potential for moving forward? Are we interested in moving through this process together? Are our aspirations consistent enough to create a common objective/direction?

I’m happy to help, even lead, a workgroup to create an assessment/diagnostic survey which will gauge interest in and readiness for a collaborative initiative like this. Or, perhaps, we might persuade the Kansas Health Foundation to release the results of the survey of our CLP's. If I am committed to raising my program's aspiration and performance, I'd like a base-line from which to measure my CLP's progress.

I will continue to blog, and invite other KCLI programs who want to share their favorite websites, ideas/interests/challenges and practices, to send their material to me. Or, if members prefer, we could create a collective site, for those who would like something specific to KCLI. I think the choice is ours and I look forward to hearing from the group.

Work hard...and Celebrate

2009-05-01T03:27:00.001-07:00

Roberto Marin, his Family, and
The Gloriously Magnifico Fraternal Order of Tequila Drinkers

cordially invites you, your family and friends, to join in the Celebration of the 217^th Anniversary of the Mexican Army’s victory over the French, at the Battle of Puebla on

Cinco de Mayo (The 5th of May)
The festivities will be held in the rear Courtyard of the Roberto & Delia Marin hacienda located at 1404 South 25th Street on Tuesday after 5:00pm

Additional Parking is available after 5:30 at the Mickey’s Surplus Lot

You are welcome to bring a side dish, or dessert, and your beverage of preference.

Grilled Chicken, Sausage and Tequila will be provided.

Dinner will be served 6:00ish
Salute Nostrum

Helpful Flu Information

2009-04-30T12:04:00.000-07:00

With thanks to Jen Wilding, of KC Consensus...

The A-H1N1 flu has not been declared, and may never be declared, a pandemic . This flu outbreak does, however, raise questions about what each of us can do to prepare for pandemic influenza. We have the opportunity to use our raised awareness for our benefit and that of our community by learning more and doing some basic work to prepare.

In 2006-2007, One KC Voice and Consensus engaged hundreds of citizens in planning for pandemic flu. The information created during that process can help all of us, as leaders in our neighborhoods, churches, or businesses, to be prepared. Three valuable documents are available at www.consensuskc.org by clicking on “Pandemic Flu: Preparation is not panic” on the home page.

The final report of Pandemic Flu Citizen Engagement: Engaging citizens for greater public health worked with four local health departments and 23 groups to hold meetings with citizens around the metro. The report identifies important steps for action that individuals and institutions should take at different stages in a pandemic flu situation. The report is valuable for people who have responsibility for a group.

Food & supplies checklist. This is a comprehensive list, with tips for people who have never created a stockpile before, drawn from credible sources. The list is also included in the pandemic flu final report, in Appendix D.

Influenza Pandemic Preparation and Response: A Citizen’s Guide. The best guide for individuals. Download it and keep it on hand. It has how-to information for various aspects of a pandemic flu crisis.

One KC Voice is an alliance of nonprofit organizations, led by the Mid-America Regional Council, which seeks to engage citizens in important issues. Consensus is a founding member of One KC Voice, and is celebrating its 25th year of putting the public in public policy on behalf of the local community and clients around the U.S.

Food, Glorious Food

2009-04-30T11:42:00.000-07:00

Cultivating Kansas City: Food from the City, For the City

The Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture (KCCUA) presents the kick-off event for the 2009 Kansas City Urban Farms & Gardens Tour. The theme for this year’s tour is “Food from the City, For the City,” highlighting the amazing variety of ways that Kansas Citians are growing food to feed themselves and others. Check it out through the link above.

Growing food in the places where people live, work and shop is a phenomenon that has taken off, across the US and around the world. Michelle Obama has dug up the White House lawn for an organic garden. Milwaukee Urban Farmer Will Allen was awarded a McArthur Fellowship, also known as a “genius grant”, for his work promoting urban food production. “Hydroponic high rises” and “vertical farms” are ready to move off the drawing boards and into construction. City planners and urban developers are incorporating productive green space into new developments. More and more people are getting into home gardening, with a national increase of 40% in numbers of households growing their own vegetables over last year.

What does urban agriculture look like in Kansas City? Urban food production is growing like a weed! There are more than 35 urban farms growing food on 50 plus acres. There are some 70 community gardens and nearly 50 school-based gardens. More and more people are getting into home gardening; some are even finding ways to legally keep chickens and small livestock in town.

The Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture and the Public Library are bringing together some of Kansas City’s leading practitioners and visionaries to talk about Kansas City’s urban food production and how it is changing city neighborhoods and family diets for the better. They’ll offer a practical vision of a Kansas City that produces much of its own food from gardens and farms in and around the city and lay out some of the challenges and opportunities along the way.

Shoes for Homeless Students

2009-04-28T11:35:00.000-07:00

As part of the Civic Leadership Council/Leadership 2000, Class XXIII, we heard from the Advocate for homeless students in Wyandotte County. She and her team of five have identified 1,100 homeless students. Their average age is seven (7) years old. The advocates believe there are many more who they have not yet identified because the shame and stigma of homelessness is so huge that children in school hide their circumstances so they will not be teased or hurt by others.

Living in cars with one parent and other siblings, in Church basements separated from others only by cardboard "walls"--amazingly, the majority of these children are excellent students. The Advocate noted they are aware that education is their only way out of this situation.

These children need shoes. Shoes which are weather appropriate and shoes which, for most children, they outgrow once or twice a year are needed desperately. She told us stories of taking the children with their own shoe gift certificates and watching them get measured for correctly fitting shoes for the first time in their lives; of being able to pick their own brand new pair and being able to get socks too. Having new shoes is a great social equalizer for children who mostly hide their homeless status.

Moreover, our Leadership Class XXIII, is negotiating for matching monies, reduced costs for shoes and socks and will assist in other ways to make certain these children get to go and pick their own shoes. "I'm going to be so popular with these great SpongeBob SquarePants shoes," one seven year old told the Advocate.

So I am asking each of you to join me and match my $25 donation to get shoes and socks for every identified homeless student--if each of you would match the gift and then ask five of your friends to match your gift, we could provide gift certificates for every single identified child for the whole school year.

Your gift is 100% tax deductible (we will get you a letter) and your checks can be made out to Leadership 2000--please note 'shoes' in the memo section. Or you could send your matching check directly to me, but made out to Leadership 2000.

The idea of being able to provide for every one of these children seems so doable to me, please consider being one of the people who gets new shoes for homeless students.

One of the men in our Class XXIII said simply, "I'm always so annoyed when I get home and my kids have left their shoes all over the house. Tonight I'll look at those shoes and be so glad I am able to provide shoes for my children."

Please join me and Class XXIII. We appreciate your support. Thank you!

2009-04-27T11:18:00.000-07:00

This past Thursday, I met with the coordinator for the upcoming Sesquicentennial Celebration for Wyandotte County, scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, June 6th and 7th at Wyandotte County Park, 126th and State Ave. in Bonner Springs, KS. Celebration events will be held Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 10:00 to 2:30 p.m. and will include concerts, dances, exhibits and educational and fun activities for the whole family.

The intent is to provide a two day historic and educational celebration of the founding of Wyandotte County 150 years ago, this year.

Leadership 2000 has been offered the opportunity to host two fundraising initiatives during the event, which is estimated to draw up to 10,000 visitors over the weekend:

* A table for the sale of Polly's Amazing Journey, a children's storybook about the historic Quindaro Ruins, authored by Gwen Thomas and the class project for Leadership 2000 Class XXI (of which, Gwen is a member); and

* A Candy Shoppe, offering period candies and sweets from 1859, as well as bottled water and flavored teas. Period candies and sweets may include, but are not limited to taffy, mint candies, rock candies, candy sticks, fudges, licorice, candied apples, cookies, dried fruits and berries and nuts. We will be the sole vendor for these items.

2009-04-26T11:28:00.000-07:00

At the Sesquicentennial celebration, other food and beverage vendors will be selling rootbeer, old fashioned lemonade, beer and hot dogs, hamburgers, etc.

Our book sale table will be an 8 foot table with 2 chairs and our Candy Shoppe will be a 15 foot or 30 foot front area, 15 feet deep, with several tables and bins for showcasing our sale items.

We are seeking volunteers to coordinate, design, order, decorate, set up and manage our Candy Shoppe, as well as help greet visitors to the celebration.

We will also need to obtain several 8' long tables (6 to 8 of them), bins, folding chairs and 2 or 3 of 10', 12', or 15' easy up tents with removable walls and signage for our tables.

Profits from the sale of the Candy Shoppe/Water and Tea sales may be used for this year's class project (shoes for homeless Wyandotte County school children) or for Leadership 2000 general funds, in support of scholarship assistance or general operations.

Please consider volunteering to assist with coordinating this event. I'd love to have a volunteer coordinator from our Board, from Class XXIII and from our alumni or Alumni Association.

Two steps forward...

2009-04-24T14:40:00.000-07:00

Well, you know the adage.

Opportunities abound in times of limited resources. As boards wrestle with scarcity, they often are wary of the increased potential resources related to opportunities, because they have inherent risk associated with them.

In fragile times, I think caution reigns...with frustration, fear and loss of civility not far behind.

Tomorrow brings promise.

Cultural Competence and Peace and Justice

2009-04-23T09:17:00.000-07:00

As we continue to create a stronger community, we are establishing partnerships across communities. I met with Park University and staff and Board of a local diversity organization this morning and we have begun to define a working partnership to further our common agendas.

This partnership will, undoubtedly, lead to additional agreements with other community organizations dealing with social justice, community building and advocacy. The challenges we each face, for limited resources and visibility, may provide us unprecedented opportunities to work together to create new capacities.

Networking

2009-04-22T09:02:00.000-07:00

The Kansas City Kansas Chamber of Commerce met today, with a presentation on its newly created web-based social network. Funded through its Foundation, it is fantastic! It has the potential to create a platform for community conversations on issues key to community businesses, as well as serving as a hub for communicating and marketing to other community groups.

This network may help us to redefine the role of the Chamber as a convener of community conversations around issues which affect us all. Congrats to the Chamber staff and Board who've made it happen!

Tuesday is for Training

2009-04-21T08:44:00.000-07:00

Our local mental health provider has been expanding its programming and staffing levels for several years...increasing its range and program reach into underserved communities throughout the county. Its administration recognizes the importance of leadership training for its staff and has contracted to design and provide this 10 month training program. Its focus is not on management training but leadership training for life...with the belief that wherever their staff is working, they need the skills and tools to successfully serve their communities.

After facilitating this morning's training, I'm off to moderator training for a community conversation on Math, Engineering, Technology and Science Education throughout the region. It promises to be an interesting and challenging day.

Partnering

2009-04-20T05:50:00.000-07:00

I love the Global Strategy Institute’s Seven Revolutions site (see my Links of Interest). It helps me focus on issues that determine the quality of life where I live and connects me to a larger framework as I try to position that work and envision products/initiatives to larger systems that may support them.

This week seems to be shaping up as my local Seven Revolutions Week.

It began with a long-distance video conference with a consultant to The Next Chapter initiative, pulling a wide range of providers together to create a system to support older Wyandotte County citizens approaching retirement and providing access to information so they may make effective decisions affecting their quality of life. We've designed a survey, managed its distribution and have now collected extraordinary data which will help us to create the services necessary to assist them in their planning. Our challenge now is to activate partnerships throughout the region so we can work collectively to address issues and coordinate resources metropolitan-wide.

Ready or Not?

2009-04-19T10:51:00.000-07:00

Regardless of the interventions each of our communities might design, with corresponding roles for each of our CLP’s (Community Leadership Programs), we need to locate resources to make things happen, locally, and identify the barriers to our involvement, collectively. I’m not convinced that our program leaders are interested, able or willing to move this initiative forward, together...but time may permit us to find common ground and mutual objectives.

Because we are so spread out, in terms of readiness, situational status and geographic location, I wonder whether it will be possible to work together collectively…and, if so, what tools we might need to make it happen? I think on-line connectivity can support local initiatives and showcase resources and strategies that are promising and may be applied across communities...but I don't believe there's much (or any) support for examining these systems, yet. As our CLP program leaders meet next month and begin focusing on the issue with each other, there may be some progress in coming together with a cohesive strategy.

While we have experienced the same training, it doesn’t necessarily put us on the same page. We may need to look at the primary motivators for bringing each program on board and offer incentives to begin to locally address the issue collectively.

Where do we fit?

2009-04-18T10:44:00.000-07:00

Even as we move to diagnose our community needs, interest and readiness to engage our citizens, we must recognize that our community’s needs will not necessarily match up with or even be complementary to, those of the KS Health Foundation. Those communities desperate for economic development and energy are currently supporting the building of a coal-fired plant to generate much needed revenue from the sale of electricity to local industry and neighboring states, at the cost of dramatically increased carbon dioxide and other polluting emissions. Not necessarily a project with a focus on healthy Kansans…but undoubtedly a project which can benefit communities in the region.

What might be the role of CLP’s (Community Leadership Programs) in this instance? What is our intervention? Can we or should we provide leadership training/consensus building training to participants on each side of the issue? Should we facilitate community discussions on the issue? Can we be a resource for balanced, scientific information, in partnership with the Health Foundation? Are we a neutral convener?

Are we ready?

2009-04-17T10:38:00.000-07:00

In order for us to engage community members in civic life, we need to get buy-in …which is not an easy thing to do. It is dependent on members being part of the process from the beginning and seeing a benefit in their investment and involvement.

First, we need to each assess our community needs, interest and readiness.

What is your community’s status?

Can we adequately assess it? Can we consistently assess it across communities?

2009-04-16T15:11:00.000-07:00

2009-04-16T10:26:00.000-07:00

In order to move our community leadership programs to a higher level of aspiration and performance...to engage our community members, in an ongoing way, in civic life, community leadership program staff and volunteers are going to have to do a lot of work, internally and externally.

None of these programs is adequately staffed to increase efforts to engage our community members, in an ongoing way, in civic life. In fact, I don’t know of any program with a full-time, dedicated staff person. These programs are cobbled together with volunteer-driven or part-time staff who, on the whole, are well-qualified and trained and have a passion for community leadership, but who have inadequate local resources to support this initiative.

2009-04-14T12:55:00.000-07:00

The Civic Leadership Training Council (CLTC) is one of dozens of Community Leadership Training Programs across the state. Each of us has an established program which highlights elements of our community and provides opportunities for networking with representatives from the public, private and nonprofit sectors. Many of these community-based programs offer various skills-based instruction in building community and group facilitation and the focus and content of these programs varies by community. While most are associated with local Chambers of Commerce, our CLTC is an independent nonprofit which has evolved, over time, to provide an array of programs funded by a variety of earned income streams.

Our Offender Reentry Initiative is one of those programs. Others include our Neighborhood Leadership Program, The Next Chapter Initiative, which focuses on civic engagement among older residents of the County, and our Executive Series for incoming executives who are interested in our community history and culture, but who don't have the time to dedicate to our 10 month leadership program.

A sense of community

2009-04-11T11:06:00.000-07:00

In this time when society seems to be so politically divided and diametrically opposed to compromise, I wonder if it's possible to hold a completely different view/ideology from another person without disrespecting the person who holds it? I don't know...it's something I struggle with.

For instance, a friend whom I greatly admire has been involved with the peace and justice movement for years. She is a Jew and, as such, is bombarded by calls from colleagues to condemn Israel for its actions in the West Bank and Gaza. She is sometimes personally attacked for her religious beliefs.

Her response is one which I appreciate. She sees all zealotry as 'bad.' Extremist ideology, whether from the right or the left, Orthodox Jews or Islamic 'terrorists', Rush Limbaugh or Dick Cheney, the Christian Right, the Conspiracy Groups--anything which is all or nothing doesn't work for her, and she doesn't believe that it works for anyone. I agree.

Does that mean she doesn't respect the people who hold those views--well, I can't speak for her, but I know she doesn't respect the views.

And when I read the views of people who post on internet discussions or who e-mail me position papers on immigration, politics or the economy--or even about people who are unable to pay mortgages on their homes--and why should we pay for their mistakes--they imply, and sometimes directly say something like--these people are criminal, lazy or stupid. This is how it is and if you can't see that this is how it is, you are stupid. I can't accept this.

None of us is stupid--period--and each of us holds very strong political opinions, thoughts on how we've come to find ourselves upside down on our economy and most of us hold definite religious opinions...so who is right? Probably all of us have some things right and some things wrong and the rest depends on our lens and the amount of grey we are willing to entertain.

I tend to respect people who have found a way to be healthy and happy, to contribute to their communities, to be kind and open and respectful to others. For me, the bottom line is protecting the least among us and providing for the most--being kind and loving and happy and healthy.

For me, it's about creating a sense of community, while recognizing our differences and celebrating our commonality...not demonizing, criminalizing or degrading others or ourselves.

2009-04-10T08:36:00.000-07:00

Public Safety is a concern to Kansas Citians.

Each year, approximately 500 Kansas Citians re-enter prison for their unwillingness or inability to comply with conditions of supervision and release.

Data shows that when offenders are released into the community:
24% are high risk in the area of housing (1/3 release to something other than a residence)
60% are higher risk in the area of education and employment
34% are high risk in the area of drugs and alcohol (with a diagnosis of substance abuse or dependence)
23% are high risk in family/marital issues
52% are high risk on the cognitive domains (attitudes/orientation, leisure time, companions)

We plan to work in partnership with our Department of Corrections, faith communities, neighborhoods, area service providers and businesses, to recruit and train mentors to work with offenders coming back to our community. These mentors will be provided with training in leadership and risk reduction principles to address cognitive issues, job preparedness and coaching, and other key issues that pertain to the offender’s attitude of and ability for success upon return to the community. Our goal is to reduce recidivism by 50%.

2009-04-09T11:35:00.000-07:00

The mission of The Civic Leadership Training Council, where I serve as Executive Director, is to identify, motivate and continually develop new and emerging leaders from the business, nonprofit and public sectors to affect change in the quality of civic, cultural and economic life.

At the Council, we have a responsibility to prepare our citizens for an increasingly broad array of leadership opportunities, in varying formats, in both traditional and alternative settings. We are convinced that, in order to fulfill our mission, we cannot limit ourselves to attracting the same candidates for our existing programs, but must adapt our strategies to attract, prepare and engage a wider pool of citizens for leadership and community engagement and assist other communities to do the same.

We are identifying new venues for citizen engagement, providing a platform to share, showcase promising practices and develop tailored sets of resources for each of our learning “communities”, providing quick access to up-to-date, creative and substantive training materials, surveys, effective practices and practical tools and strategies for involving media in strengthening civic engagement. These actions should provide us a firm foundation to meet our community's future leadership challenges.

After the Storm

2009-04-08T05:07:00.000-07:00

OK, so we know that communities can effectively come together to address imminent disaster or threat (although it's not a given). What are the barriers to getting strong community engagement on an ongoing basis?

Around the globe, communities have similar concerns; public health and safety, education, governance, economic development, the environment, neighborhood revitalization, transportation, infrastructure, etc. Are there models for citizen engagement which may be shared, replicated or adapted to assist us in our efforts to elevate the aspirations and performance of our community leadership programs as they address these similar concerns? What role might community leadership programs play in maximizing the ongoing civic engagement of community members, after the storm?

Performing Communities

2009-04-07T13:09:00.000-07:00

For a group to work effectively, it must become a performing community. A performing community accepts and supports differences, understands the various roles played by the members of the group, communicates openly and with respect, and works together for the common good. A performing community is willing to risk, its members understand that leadership roles evolve, they are able and willing to share leadership with others and serve others as different scenarios play out, over time. They have developed a sense of trust.

Ideally, people coming together as a working community have the time to develop trust and a sense of common purpose, but in emergencies they are forced together in chaos, to address complex situations or issues with a sense of immediacy. This presents challenges and opportunities, as individuals strive to establish their own positions and voices in pursuit of solutions to a common dilemma.

Is the quality of the solutions reached by working communities affected by whether or not they've first had the opportunity to develop trust and a sense of common purpose? Does this trust, or lack thereof, affect the level of ongoing engagement of the members?

Conversations with Greensburg

2009-04-06T13:22:00.000-07:00

On opening day of the Community Leadership Conference in 2007, Greensburg, Kansas was devastated by a tornado. On the ride back from the conference, Lisa C., (a friend of mine who happened to be from a neighboring community to Greensburg) and I crafted a plan to provide facilitated conversations to the residents of Greensburg, to help them identify both their personal needs and community preferences as they began to rebuild.

Using materials from a workshop presented by the Director of Leadership Lincoln, we proposed the idea to the Kansas Community Leadership Initiative (KCLI), funded by the Kansas Health Foundation and, with their unanimous support, a group of 24 KCLI alumni facilitated over two dozen conversations with over 500 citizens on the Southern Plains of Kansas six weeks later.

Today, I and many of these same KCLI participants are wrestling with how to move our community leadership programs to a higher level of aspiration and performance...to engage our community members, in an ongoing way, in civic life, actively working to address our individual community needs.

Sunday Morning

2009-04-05T04:22:00.000-07:00

I love Sunday mornings. Don't you?
For me, it's a time to relax and, with everyone sleeping in, I have time to hang out with the dog, pick up a book or play around in the garden.
So, if you can, get out and enjoy this beautiful Spring morning!

They changed a social network into a community network

2009-04-04T09:15:00.000-07:00

When President Obama spoke earlier this week about the citizens in Fargo, North Dakota who, by texting, phoning, e-mailing and tweeting friends, family and neighbors, were able to assemble an army of volunteers to hold back the Red River and save their community, it reminded me, again, of the power of ordinary people to come together, through technology, to affect change.

It's hard to imagine this army, made up of tens of thousands of individuals who made the conscious choice to awaken at all hours of the day and night, to dress and venture out into the cold, the dark and wet to work side by side filling sand bags, stacking them and securing them atop saturated levees to keep the frigid rising waters in check.

Individuals from nearby communities who were not directly threatened by the potential disaster, nonetheless traveled into potential danger to stand with and work beside those who were engaged in the struggle.

This remarkable army of teachers, students, farmers, public servants, politicians, bankers, cooks, housewives and husbands, children and grandparents demonstrated a collective commitment to community when faced with disaster that we've seen demonstrated over and over again in communities across the country and around the world.

Harnessing this network and understanding the possibilities it presents in our communities, on a daily basis, is intriguing to me. What are the keys to fully engaging community?

And this is important to me because...?

2009-04-03T07:43:00.000-07:00

I think that leadership has always been the engine of community health and prosperity.

Now, with federal support in decline and the risk and responsibility for states and communities to increasingly assume responsibility for their own health and welfare, I think each of us has the responsibility to prepare our community’s citizens for an increasingly broad array of leadership opportunities, in varying formats, in both traditional and alternative settings.

We have to prepare and engage a wider pool of citizens for leadership and community engagement and assist other communities to do the same.

At Park University, I'm part of a planning group which is wrestling with how to prepare our students for employment and citizenship in an Unscripted Future.
At The Civic Leadership Training Council, I get to put into practice many of the leadership preparations and trainings that are intended to engage people in improving life in our community.

I hope that this blog can serve as an on-line platform for sharing ideas on civic engagement and community involvement and that each of you will contribute by sharing your stories and engaging in the conversations.