Remember Archimedes? He was the Greek techno-geek in the 3rd century B.C. who said "Give me a place to stand and I will move the earth." Archimedes was describing the ability of a lever to magnify the power applied to an object.
I guess that's what us would-be city planners start out as: technicians looking for a place to stand so we can give the problem a really big whack. And when it dawns on us that there IS no place to stand, we do the Rodin thing: put our fist against our head, sit on a rock and Think.
Well, some cities have succeeded in moving beyond that. "If we can't use a solitary guy with a big stick, what if we used lots of guys with smaller sticks?" they ask.
It's working: cities are institutionalizing the strengths of volunteers. With the addition of a volunteer coordinator position and an handbook, they are able to impact a lot of different problems simultaneously. It's not surprising to find dozens of cities, large and small, with Volunteer Handbooks that cover the waterfront: jobs, rules, application procedures, timekeeping requirements, legal issues and program positions, for starters. We're not talking only minding the Visitor Desk, either; we're talking about positions requiring a full range of abilities and skills across all the departments in the City organization.
In Washington state, they have even institutionalized the process of setting up volunteers. Their web page gives examples of the structure and documents needed to get going with more than 20 specific examples from different cities in the state.
Why all the attention on this? They cite the ICMA (a professional association for City Managers) IQ Service Report on Volunteer Programs as saying that for every $1 invested by a local government in volunteers, it can realize as much as $10 in benefits. And that was in 1999. The city of Bellevue, WA, a boomburb of Seattle, has a population of just under 125,000 people. They use the services of more than 8,000 volunteers each year; volunteers outnumber city employees by more than six to one. Some cities, such as Boca Raton, FL, mention the great value of having their volunteer structure in place when disasters or special situations occur.
Richmond, VA, describes how their "Sign Up Now" Volunteer recruitment program began with a few citizens who "just asked if they could help." Their report contains a paragraph labeled "Unintended Consequences," which describes how the first project, the positive press and the interest of the community have leveraged the original effort many times over.
Archimedes, when you use a lot of guys, maybe it's not so hard to find a place to stand.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
Big Rocks and Small Pebbles
The nonprofit Pennsylvania Downtown Center has developed eight guiding principles for downtown revitalization. These eight principles set it apart from other redevelopment strategies. Let's look at a couple.
First, we need to recognize that downtown revitalization is a complex process requiring a comprehensive strategy. No single project, whether a lavish public improvement or endless promotional events, will do the job.
This is pretty much where we sit now here in Nashua. While many ideas have been pushed, and great efforts have been made to shake fruit from these trees, it doesn't happen. Arriving at this realization is a good thing, as it makes everyone more open minded and willing to seek common solutions. But it still doesn't get any work done.
Secondly, progress is incremental. To quote PDC: "Basic, simple activities lead to a more sophisticated understanding of the revitalization process and help members of the community develop skills to tackle more complex problems and ambitions projects."
This is a straightforward statement of a profound idea. It almost implies that the learning process is more important than the accomplished tasks. This makes sense, because once a community member becomes a team player and sees the results, they will be motivated to involve others and to contribute more. Progress will accelerate over time. It's a roadmap to move from a unitary "Cave-man" model to a cooperative "Ant Colony" model. And everyone involved is growing smarter as time moves along.
When we can focus on a simple activity that we know will be useful, we can answer the question "How can we get this done?" And the number of potential resources (business community, educational community, retirees, students, downtown residents, organizations) begins to increase as we stand back from the big problems a little.
Is this all it takes? Of course not. But even the smallest pebble thrown into the pool makes ripples.
First, we need to recognize that downtown revitalization is a complex process requiring a comprehensive strategy. No single project, whether a lavish public improvement or endless promotional events, will do the job.
This is pretty much where we sit now here in Nashua. While many ideas have been pushed, and great efforts have been made to shake fruit from these trees, it doesn't happen. Arriving at this realization is a good thing, as it makes everyone more open minded and willing to seek common solutions. But it still doesn't get any work done.
Secondly, progress is incremental. To quote PDC: "Basic, simple activities lead to a more sophisticated understanding of the revitalization process and help members of the community develop skills to tackle more complex problems and ambitions projects."
This is a straightforward statement of a profound idea. It almost implies that the learning process is more important than the accomplished tasks. This makes sense, because once a community member becomes a team player and sees the results, they will be motivated to involve others and to contribute more. Progress will accelerate over time. It's a roadmap to move from a unitary "Cave-man" model to a cooperative "Ant Colony" model. And everyone involved is growing smarter as time moves along.
When we can focus on a simple activity that we know will be useful, we can answer the question "How can we get this done?" And the number of potential resources (business community, educational community, retirees, students, downtown residents, organizations) begins to increase as we stand back from the big problems a little.
Is this all it takes? Of course not. But even the smallest pebble thrown into the pool makes ripples.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Empowerment, One Step at a Time
Let's revisit Empowerment as an ingredient for success in downtown revitalization.
Our study group wrestled with a huge number of marketing and economic development issues before crumbling under their weight. Most group members are city merchants or employees and have priorities in their lives and heavy demands on their time. Without an infrastructure, or a "bigger picture" we were unable to define a common meaningful task for ourselves. My sense is that without the empowerment of understanding where everyone else (the City, the Chamber, the downtown organization, the residents) wants to go, the risk of spending time on the "wrong" task is too high for most.
Our resolution was to encourage subgroups or individuals who feel strongly about a task to execute it. The time the group has spent looking at issues and prioritizing them may be enough foundation to allow successful accomplishment of some projects. And that may buy time for the bigger picture to come into focus. But it is a shame to lose the synergy of the group's total power.
On the other hand, maybe there have to be certain foundations in place before an infrastructure can be built. The City has begun revising their web site, all to the good so far. Exciting advances in terms of customer interface seem tantalizingly near. The committee studying a Downtown Improvement District is wending their way through the process, and has obtained excellent information from both customer and merchant segments. Other intermediate, almost clerical tasks, such as documenting the processes of Managing an Event, Starting A Business, or setting up Business Classes are essential to empower people. Big change cannot happen without more community members involved, and there need to be guidelines to make the involvement simple and successful.
So, indeed, it seems that our journey of a thousand miles begins with a few self-motivated steps. And maybe the footprints of those steps will lead others to empowerment.
What do you think?
Our study group wrestled with a huge number of marketing and economic development issues before crumbling under their weight. Most group members are city merchants or employees and have priorities in their lives and heavy demands on their time. Without an infrastructure, or a "bigger picture" we were unable to define a common meaningful task for ourselves. My sense is that without the empowerment of understanding where everyone else (the City, the Chamber, the downtown organization, the residents) wants to go, the risk of spending time on the "wrong" task is too high for most.
Our resolution was to encourage subgroups or individuals who feel strongly about a task to execute it. The time the group has spent looking at issues and prioritizing them may be enough foundation to allow successful accomplishment of some projects. And that may buy time for the bigger picture to come into focus. But it is a shame to lose the synergy of the group's total power.
On the other hand, maybe there have to be certain foundations in place before an infrastructure can be built. The City has begun revising their web site, all to the good so far. Exciting advances in terms of customer interface seem tantalizingly near. The committee studying a Downtown Improvement District is wending their way through the process, and has obtained excellent information from both customer and merchant segments. Other intermediate, almost clerical tasks, such as documenting the processes of Managing an Event, Starting A Business, or setting up Business Classes are essential to empower people. Big change cannot happen without more community members involved, and there need to be guidelines to make the involvement simple and successful.
So, indeed, it seems that our journey of a thousand miles begins with a few self-motivated steps. And maybe the footprints of those steps will lead others to empowerment.
What do you think?
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