Making a Good Thing Even Better

Now...let's practice building upon things that we do already, ending up with even more value, and especially even more community.  Here are a couple of ideas around the Nashua Sculpture Symposium:

Nashua would benefit greatly from more publicity around the Nashua Sculpture Symposium. This is a big event, sometimes international, and leaves a lasting effect on the city with the placement of sculptures around town. The sculptors are currently working in a location a couple of blocks from downtown and have designated visiting hours. But there are no signs to the area from Main Street. The Millyard is easy to get lost in, and a little scary; wayfinding signs would extend a hand of welcome to the public.
Needed: a publicity/media resource, a sign-making resource.

An event to get children involved would be good. Visiting music groups and other artists often do workshops at schools. Wouldn't it be fun to see a whole group of children at Rotary Park sculpting away?
Needed: a coordinating resource, a materials resource,  a publicity resource.

Something that keeps the sculpture in front of the public would keep the art alive. How about a sculpture walk? A guided tour once in a while would be nice, but a downloadable .pdf file would be a start.
Needed: an author, a host site, a publicity resource.

What about getting the public more involved?  Could the applications be placed on line and the public allowed to vote? In other similar instances, the public choice is usually included, plus others selected by the jury. Could we get organizations to do some minimal landscaping around the sculptures? More complicated. These are issues that could be discussed at planning meetings for the next symposium. Needed: well advertised meetings for the next Symposium, open to the public; a web applications resource; a publicity resource.

This doesn't seem expensive or difficult. Thinking "Capacity Building" can make it happen.

Symposium Chips Its Way to Community

Here's another team effort in Nashua that deserves recognition. The Nashua Sculptural Symposium 2010 launched a week ago. We have three sculptures (7 artists) underway as we blog, and their sculptures will be added to the 9 previous that grace Nashua.

The event is a fine example of a group reaching out and networking to get where they want to go. The Andres Institute, Brookine MA, has hosted an International Sculpture Symposium each year since 1999. Sculptors are selected from all over the world, and they come to the peaceful Andres Institute of Arts for three weeks to create an outdoor sculpture, to be installed anywhere they like on the Institute grounds.

Nashua and the Andres Institute began to partner on a Symposium in Nashua three years ago, and the effort is now a partnership among Andres, the City of Nashua, CityArtsNashua (an Arts umbrella group), and the Nashua Area Artist Association. They produce the Call for Proposals; determine the installation locations; arrange for housing, workspace, tools; do fundraising and publicity and create a jury to select the artists from among the proposals.

Roberta Woitkowski at work slicing granite at the Nashua Sculpture Symposium 2010.

The sculptors have "open hours" when they can be visited at work. I visited the team of Margaret Woitkowski, Roberta Woitkowski, Dan Tomolonis, and David St. Onge at their industrial worksite in the MillYard. Roberta and Margaret (photo left) have numerous ties to the Nashua community. This, too, is a networked effort. Roberta did the proposal and was busy sculpting. Her mother Margaret prepared a project display and guest book and is an excellent hostess for our visit. She even arranged for blue wrist bands with "Imagine" on them. Denny is the hands-on sculpture fabricator and David is the nuts-and-bolts solutions man.

What would it take to turn this good effort into a great community?

Learning From the Green Team

Another wonderful experience today: attending a City committee meeting that was open, welcoming, and reaches out to the community. The Nashua Green Team was set up to move the City along as quickly as possible to becoming an environmentally conscious and sustainable community. The committee members, a mix of City employees and citizens, are all highly motivated to be "green" themselves and to encourage others to do so.

Like all City committees, the Green Team wrestles with a shortage of resources–yes, time and money, but most noticeably, people. The team noted the potential of the three attending visitors, insisted that they sit around the table with the committee members and had handouts for them (the committee members get their information via email...it's, well, greener.) They asked themselves frequently during the meeting where they would find a specific resource. The team also puts people on the email list and shares data even if visitors are not committed to being a committee member.

This works so much better than committees where the visitors, including Stakeholders, are relegated to silence on the side of the room, or the meeting handouts are not available for visitors on the internet or in a handout, or the committee members wrestle with completing all the work themselves, or the conversation trails with "Somebody should..." rather than finding a resource to join the community.

As the Cornell Visioning Notebook observes, when people are open, accepting, and expect that they will solve the problem, certain outcomes occur. The Green Team has a wide a variety of community organizations involved and they "tried on" different solutions throughout the meeting. "Maybe the Conservation Commission could lead that." "Maybe we can get the schools to work together to make that happen." "Maybe the newspaper could carry that ball." There was no evidence of the "victim mentality" here, nor did anyone appear to be "protecting turf." Their teamwork has reached a comfort level where one idea, followed by a suggestion, followed by a modification, followed by an "Aha!" leads to a new take or a new initiative.

Another characteristic is that they celebrate their successes. The group has many activities going and they enjoy each milestone they achieve. This has the effect of building a set of community "values" and educating newcomers.

Not to worry, the Green Team can teach us a lot.

Let's Start Capacity Building Today!

Well, it was a great day to start Capacity Building as I had the good fortune to meet with MicroCredit-NH Regional Manager Peggy O'Keefe. Non-profit MicroCredit-NH is sponsored by municipalities, the state, various agencies and grants. It is a subsidiary of socially conscious New Hampshire Community Loan Fund, and has the objective of providing loans, training and networking opportunities for  self-employed and microbusiness(1 to 5 people) startups statewide.

Peggy O'Keefe handles MicroCredit duties for about one third of the state, including Nashua. She's part sales person, part counselor, part trainer, part dorm mother, part psychologist and a whole lot people lover. Peggy explained the goals and activities of MicroCredit with great enthusiasm. A beautiful part of the program is the creation of local groups, six to ten local entrepreneurs with ideas, who meet together monthly as a group while they get their enterprises fledged. Bonds build, networking evolves, lessons are learned and the new business owner starts his journey with a built-in support group. MicroCredit even grants loans to a participant of up to $5,000 simply if the group approves his application–no collateral, no financial history required. And they have a special program for Artist startups.

I was unprepared for how completely Peggy O'Keefe and MicroCredit embrace Capacity Building. They don't call it that, but resources, connections, networking, growing the support base are all techniques that are central to their activities. For them, building a business is like planning a big event, baking a special cake, or running a chemistry experiment: you put the ingredients together and let the magic happen.

One place Peggy mentioned where magic happens is the Amoskeag Business Incubator in Manchester. Small office spaces are available there with full support at very low cost. People can take their ideas to the implementation stage in a very supportive environment. But the great opportunity is that ABI is "where it is at"! All types of business resources pass through there for meetings or classes or just networking. In the old model, we would say "Look how much the entrepreneur will learn from all these people." In the new model seeking Capacity Building, we realize " Look how many talented, different resources the entrepreneur has gained networking with these people!"
 
During our chat at the Nashua Library, one of Peggy's current participants spotted her and came to catch up. What was the conversation about? Rent? Progress on the Business Plan? How the Business Cards turned out? No way! She spoke of people she had caught up with and what had transpired– resources, progress, connections, what the next step is and who can facilitate. These are people that talk the talk and walk the walk. The young woman's news included that she had completely sold out of her product, far earlier than she had expected.
Today was a very good day to start Capacity Building.

Photo of Peggy O'Keefe from MicroCredit-NH website

When Can We Start?

Capacity Building is an umbrella term that covers a lot of things. Before we jump in, let's look at a small example of the difference between a volunteer organization and a Capacity Building organization:

A Volunteer Coordinator will call down a list of available people and ask if they are willing to help weed the out-of-control flower beds at City Hall.

A Capacity Builder will contact known resources, beginning with an identified leader who has influence at the local Garden Club or Master Gardeners and one who knows leaders at an environmentally oriented school. The CB will ask the two resources to see if there might be a mutual benefit to offering an outdoor learning experience to the school children. The CB will provide the name(s) of other resources who might have tools and equipment to facilitate. Another resource might be able to provide treats for the group, and a yard sign to be posted recognizing the workers.

The CB will ask the leader that a timetable be met and that an email be sent to another resource, a Publicity person. The Publicity resource will inform the media and arrange for photos to be taken to give to the participants, to put in the group's newsletters, to send to the media if they don't come themselves. The leader will be sure to get the contact information for all participants to send thank yous, and to add to the email list. All will be welcomed to the community.

Yikes! What a mountain out of a molehill! Wouldn't it be easier for the Capacity Builder just to weed the *** flower beds himself?

Doesn't matter to the Capacity Builder.  The whole point is to build, over time, a cohesive community that can work together efficiently, and creatively, to do what needs to be done. It takes a lot of up front work finding the leaders and resources; earning people's interest; developing goals, standards and values; providing a lot of training; and creating safety nets (insurance, emergency procedures.) But with the foundation in place, a simple project like weeding the flower beds builds even MORE community and brings to light new resources and partnerships. It is a win-win-win-win-win situation.

By the way, it comes as no surprise that the two groups who have been the earliest pool of resources for Urban Capacity Builders are Seniors and Youth. Here are two very large populations that up to now have not been asked to be involved– especially on a contributing leadership level. Smart cities and states that have started here got a jump start on their building effort.

So, in the end, Capacity Building isn't much different than what Easter Seals, or the Rotary, or the Hospital Auxiliary, or the United Nations, or Presidents Clinton and Bush do. It's just that it's time for our communities–neighborhoods, villages, cities, states–to do it. The longer we continue to believe that our Downtown issues can be fixed with Money-to-Buy-Things, without People-to-Build-Community, the deeper in we get. Today would be a great day to start building.

When The Going Gets Tough, Start Capacity Building

Capacity Building isn’t a new topic; it’s been around at least since the early 1990’s or before. The concept has been quietly gaining subscribers, in 3rd world organizations who fight illiteracy, poverty and political unrest;  to low-income rural school districts desperate to find a way to educate their children; to non-profits, political organizers, and now, to urban revitalizers who really believe in their cause. What’s the deal?

Here’s the nashualady take:

When there is accessible money and the problem is “doable,” we pull out the wallet and pay to get work done. When money is tight but the problem still needs addressing, we adjust our budget where possible and look for streamlining or technology improvements. When the money is gone, the problem gets worse, and all the technology tricks are exhausted, Capacity Building is what those who must succeed turn to.

So, what IS Capacity Building? This concept says that, whatever organization we’re in, we need to REALLY develop all the resources available to us, all the partnerships that can be useful, and all the sustainable techniques that apply. Then, we need to work with these resources so we understand them, and they understand us, and we come together, at least on a particular issue, as a community.

The Visioning Workbook from Cornell notes that when a community succeeds in building capacity, specific outcomes will be noted:

*Many local people are participating on a variety of community committees and the visible level of activities (events occurring, goals achieved, etc.) is high.
* The webs of relationships within the community are strengthened. Different segments are seen interacting. There is a loss of the too evident “victim mentality.” Letters to the editor use the words “we will” rather than “if someone would.”
* There is a visible increase in community initiative, responsibility and adaptabiity. Organizations can find common ground in conflicts.
* Leadership in local sustainability is noted at the state and local level.
* The economy is diverse and healthy, with businesses and organizations frequently cooperating, the level of technology use is high, and initiative and entrepreneurship is newsworthy.

Sounds like a good place to go,  don't you think?

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Is It As Simple As That?

It's been more than a month since the last "Seeking Downtown" blog, and I appreciate the regulars checking in during that time. Here's what happened: I hit the wall when I realized that I'm not the only one that doesn't understand the dynamics of building a better community in our beautiful downtown, nobody does! So the few things we are investigating are tangential at best. And the constraint of resources in unbelievable. Nobody–city workers, shopkeepers, downtown marketers–has any reserve to accomplish needed tasks.

It reminds me of my time in a dot.com startup where our very wise founder Paul Brainerd kept reminding us to "don't confuse doing things right with doing the right things."  His second adage always was "and get somebody else to do it when you figure out what the right thing is." This is the only way a startup company of 20 people can compete with industry giants.

When I picked up the threads of my search, I started where we left off: the power of volunteers. There is A LOT of information about volunteers, organizing, community groups, empowerment and more, but mostly descriptive, not proactive. Then, BINGO! I came across the "Visioning Notebook" compiled by Cornell University. Home run out of the park. See what you think....

First, the document includes the best explanation I've seen about the problem. Here goes:  Decisions are tougher; regional or global; require special knowledge and need multiple persons or departments to solve the problem. Decisions are coming faster. Rapid expansion and unanticipated events keep decisionmaker agendas backed up.

At the same time, traditional participation is down. Organizations such as bowling leagues and churches, where conversations used to take place, are down 25 percent in 25 years. Many of us work hard and prefer to enjoy our free time at home in front of the television.  Meanwhile partisanship, factionalism and divisive rhetoric are up. Decision making becomes "us" versus "them." People are frustrated, get angry and emotions run high. Not the best environment for building community or putting the "place" back in downtown.

Is it as simple as that? It just might be. Tomorrow we'll look at Cornell's concept of "CAPACITY BUILDING."

Click the word "comments" below to share your ideas.