final report 6.2.08

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Honing the Relationships of Transformation. CRI Think Tank Charrette . 2.8-9. 2008 AIA 150 project of Shreveport AIA , CRI & Centenary College Center for Civic Engagement

“For the city should be an organ of love; and the best economy of cities is the care and culture of men.”

Lewis Mumford The City in History—Its Origins, Its Transformations and Its Prospects

Honing the Relationships of Transformation Community Renewal International

Think Tank Charrette February 8-9, 2008

Report prepared for Community Renewal International by Shreveport American Institute of Architects

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Acknowledgements

Executive Summary — Ideas & Actions

The Think Tank Charrette Process & Methodology

CRI & Think Tank Conversation Rounds 1, 2, 3 & 4

Learning the CRI Model Safety, Education, Culture & the Relational Foundation - Round 1

Comments on the Charrette - Round 2 Meaningful Work, Leadership, Culture & Relational F. - Round 3

Strategic Doing Session - Round 4 Stories, Convergence and Wisdom - Round 4

The Charrette

What We Learned & Next Steps

Appendix list and reference to a separate document

Index

3

4

9

17

18 23 32 32 41 43

53

65

69

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Acknowledgements

The first Community Renewal International Think Tank and Design Charrette: Honing the Relationships of Transformation The Think Tank Charrette was held February 8-9, 2008 at Bynum Commons on the Centenary College Campus. This report documents the process and outcomes of this project. The event was a National A.I.A. 150 Initiative of Shreveport A.I.A. in partnership with Community Renewal International, hosted and cosponsored by Centenary College and its newly forming Center for Civic Engagement. Partial funding for this event was provided through a competitive grant program of the American Architectural Foundation to celebrate 150 years of the American Institute of Architects. We offer special thanks for additional funding provided by Steve Scrivanos on behalf of Centenary College. Think Tank Participants: Jack Calhoun, Bruce Daigle, Ed Morrison & Mack McCarter Community Renewal International staff assisting with the event: Mack McCarter, Coordinator Mike Leonard, Associate-Coordinator Eve Goins, Assistant Harold Ledford, National Center & Curriculum Development Dianne Loridans, Videographer Lynn Bryan, Tour guide for Friendship House neighborhoods Yul Taylor, Coordinator for all Friendship House Community Coordinators James Melvin, Queensboro Friendship House Community Coordinator Centenary College and The Center for Civic Engagement: Ken Schwab, President Steve Shelburne, Center for Civic Engagement Steve Scrivanos, donor for all meals and refreshments during the think tank charrette Louisiana Tech University Architecture Department: Kevin Singh, professor Third and fourth year students: Jared Boudreaux, Marcus Calhoun, Sereya Yorn, Sean Smith, Mindy Mosley, Brian Wyatt, Melody McNabb, Rhia Kelsick, and Amy Garrett AIA 150 Committee: Kim Mitchell, AIA Champion (chairman, facilitator & report author) Deana Lohnes, Co-chair Jeff Spikes, Chris Dzurik, Chris Elberson, Dawn Banks, Patsy Foster and Carol Grey

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Executive Summary

The CRI Think Tank is one of the ongoing functions of Community Renewal International’s (CRI) Institute for Community Renewal that will be located in the National Center for Community Renewal (NCCR). The NCCR is a facility planned for downtown Shreveport, Louisiana that will house training facilities necessary for the replication of CRI social technology. This inaugural event began the work of CRI’s Think Tank. The event is a partnership with Shreveport American Institute of Architects through a National AIA 150 grant program, Centenary College’s Center for Civic Engagement and student / faculty volunteers from Louisiana Tech Department of Architecture. The work of CRI transforms people and communities. The focus of the replicable model is an intentional applied technology of Mutually Enhancing Relationships (MER). A current white paper that describes the CRI model and methodology is included in the appendix to this report. The purpose of the think tank process is to continue to add knowledge to the CRI model and connect to transformative work of other individuals and/or organizations. The search for transformative work is organized according to a part of the CRI model referred to as the “Village Structure” that includes seven (7) basic elements of community: meaningful work, safety, housing, health, education, leadership, common culture. The basic elements are supported by a foundational eighth element – Mutually Enhancing Relationships (MER). Selection of the first think tank participants was based on two criteria: 1. Involvement in positive transformative work in one of

the eight (8) elements of the “village structure” as described in the CRI model; and

2. Work that exhibits an understanding of the importance of relationships.

Ideas and Actions

Mack McCarter presenting the model

Concept of the National Center for Community Renewal —planned as net zero green building

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Executive Summary

The participants for the initial think tank meet these criteria and are remarkable in their commitment to positively change the world. Two of the invited participants were unable to attend due to last minute family emergencies. Both have expressed a desire to be included in a future think tank or to find an opportunity to tour the work of CRI in Shreveport. The following is a list of invited participants, the area of the CRI model they represent, and a brief description of their transformative work: • Safe Environment – John A. (Jack) Calhoun,

Founding President of the National Crime Prevention Council.

• Adequate Housing – R.J. Stidham, Affordable and mixed income housing specialist.

• Education – Bruce Daigle, Designer and implementer of a Freshman Academy, “JUMP”, that is transforming Shreveport Fair Park High School. This innovative concept is featured in the Southern Regional Education Board in High Schools That Work research program.

• Education and Health – Pat Cooper, Former Superintendent of Education in McComb, Mississippi, now heading an Early Childhood and Family Learning Center in New Orleans as a continuation of his transformative work in education.

• Meaningful Work and Leadership – Ed Morrison, founder of Institute for Open Economic Networks.

• Common Culture of Caring and the Relational Foundation– Mack McCarter, founder of Community Renewal International.

White Papers and additional information on the work of each invitee are included in the appendix to this report. The organizing committee reviewed a number of specific thoughts and questions to guide conversation for this think tank / charrette.

Ideas and Actions

Eight Elements of the CRI Village Structure:

Safety

Adequate Housing

Meaningful Work

Healthcare

Education

A Leadership System

A Culture of Caring

Mutually Enhancing Relationships

(The foundational element)

Bruce & Jack during think tank round 1

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Executive Summary

The key question is: How does the relational foundation of society (MER) support and connect to the other seven (7) elements of the “Village Structure” ? Conversations during the think tank cited observations of society relational foundation collapse and examples of the how caring relationships are fundamental for success in education, safety, economic development and in building community. Other questions to be answered through the think tank process include: • How can relational foundation principals be applied to

each of the village structure elements in a manner that will arrest and reverse the collapse of society?

• What are principles for shaping physical environments that support making “whole persons?”

This think tank / charrette included the following objectives planned to benefit CRI, the think tank participants, AIA, Centenary’s Center for Civic Engagement and architectural students participating in this event: • Connect the transformational work of CRI to the

networks of other transformational programs in the various categories of the “Village Structure”;

• Inform other leaders in transformational work / models about the CRI social technology and explore potential partnerships / projects for learning and development that enhances the work of both CRI and these new partners in transformation;

• Identify additional individuals involved in transformational work that promotes caring and relationship building as part of their work;

• Identify new areas of social technology development for CRI including metrics for the applied CRI model,

• Uncover questions and explore ideas to develop in future think tanks;

• Identify design principles to shape a physical environment that enhances the positive outcomes of applying CRI social technology; and

• Explore a theory: CRI social technology is fundamental

Ideas and Actions

Jack & Mack during think tank round 3

Ed Morrison & Tech architecture students

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Executive Summary

to be a sustainable community and is a principle that should be added to sustainability initiatives (e.g., AIA Livable Community Principles, Smart Growth Principles, Traditional Neighborhood Design, New Urbanism and others).

The Think Tank Charrette was an intense session beginning 8 A.M. the morning of February 8 and continuing without stop until 5 P.M. the evening of February 9, 2008. A copy of the agenda is included in the appendix to this report. Outcomes of the event include: • Agreement of participants to connect networks of

each of the individuals and organizations; • Two initiatives to connect Fair Park High School and

the CRI Friendship House in the Queensboro Neighborhood of Shreveport – 1) a mentoring program based at the Friendship House and 2) a teacher open house at the Friendship House to better acquaint teachers and neighborhood residents;

• Initial work on community design principles that enhance the ability of CRI to nurture the making of “whole persons” as defined in the CRI white paper;

• Identifying several initial ideas for new building types and planning processes that incorporate and support the CRI social technology;

• Initial discussions that may lead to collaboration between Centenary’s emerging Center for Civic Engagement and researchers with I-Open, Purdue and Case Western Reserve; and

• Experience for Louisiana Tech architectural students in collaborative work in new working models of change / transformation.

The think tank also revealed philosophical parallels in the transformative models of I-Open (Open Networks and strategic doing) and CRI (Mutually Enhancing Relationships and intentional caring acts). The I-Open model includes methodologies for growing and measuring

Ideas and Actions

Think Tank round 4 discussion

Charette presentations & comments

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Executive Summary

networks within civic space. These metrics can be useful to CRI measuring outcomes of intentionally nurturing Mutually Enhancing Relationships (MER). The CRI model can serve as a demonstration of I-Open principles and practices at both neighborhood and community wide scales. During the last round of the think tank a number of agreements were reached between Ed Morrison (I-Open) and Mack McCarter (CRI):

1. CRI and I-Open will work to establish agreement on terms and language. 2. Integrate the two (2) stories/presentations in a manner to strengthen both

the CRI model & I-Open models. 3. Develop CRI and I-Open agreement on metrics, the roles metrics play and

how they plug-in to both models. 4. CRI is working to scale the community renewal model to the entire cities

of Shreveport / Bossier as a demonstration of renewing the relational foundation of a metro area. Ed agreed to lead the coming CRI Summit of Foundations to fund CRI going to full scale in Shreveport / Bossier.

5. Purdue, Edward Lowe Foundation, I – Open and CRI can work together: • Partnership between CRI & I-Open, Purdue and Centenary Center for

Civic Engagement to be quickly formalized to begin collaborative work. • I-Open will begin offering a certificate course in May, 2008 at Purdue

and University of Oklahoma that can be extended to Centenary. • Ed will conduct an I-Open workshop for CRI staff and leadership soon

(Workshop held May 4-6, 2008 at CRI office and included a Commerce Department representative with the WIRED program, Linda Fowler).

• A CRI representative(s) will attend a Shreveport / Bossier I-Open workshop at an Edward Lowe Foundation Retreat in June 2008.

6. CRI and I-Open models act on belief that “the old way does not work”. 7. CRI social technology replication includes a national training center. Mack

requested, and Ed agreed to, a connection/presence of I-Open in National Center for Community Renewal (NCCR)

The following report provides more detail about the think tank charrette process; the conversations of think tank rounds 1, 2, 3 and 4; the results of the design charrette and next steps.

Ideas and Actions

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Photos of the TTC and the tour including the

houses in Allendale What is a

Charrette? The French word,

“charrette” means “cart” and is often used to

describe the final, intense work effort expended by art and architecture students to

meet a project deadline. This use of the term

originates from the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris in the 19th century, where

proctors circulated a cart, or “charrette”, to collect final drawings while students frantically put finishing touches on their work.

The Think Tank Charrette

Why a Think Tank? Why include a Design Charrette? The Think Tank is a means of testing and refining the work of Community Renewal International. Bringing together people pursuing transformative work, in a structure of creative conversations, will add value to the CRI social technology model. The Think Tank process, over time, will uncover relational connections to all of the village structure components that will advance positive systemic change in society. It is a means of learning from other organizations and individuals that are involved in transformative work. It is also a means of cultivating new partners and new knowledge that results when transformative philosophies converge. All actions have physical consequences. The environment can either support or hinder the good work of CRI. A design charrette is included as part of the process to capture physical design principles that emerge from think tank conversations. These physical design principals will enhance the work of CRI in making “whole persons” and in “restoring the foundation of safe and caring communities by rebuilding the neighborhood system of caring relationships”. We anticipate that the successful work of CRI and its expanding list of transformational partners will result in new building types, new planning processes and new patterns of development. Teams of architectural students and other student disciplines worked, with guidance from volunteer architects and faculty, in a cooperative format charrette. The Process: Learning + Converging = New Knowledge The Think Tank Charrette (TTC) brings together people making a difference in various fields of work that can be placed in one or more of the eight (8) elements of the CRI “village structure.” The process is organized to allow participants to learn about each others’ work; to explore connections, differences and opportunities. This creative convergence is a means of adding knowledge to the work of CRI and each of the participants. It is an intentional

Process & Methodology

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forming of “mutually enhancing relationships” between the participants, their transformative work and their networks of support. Starting with an extended presentation and tour of the CRI’s work, each participant presented their work followed by a round of facilitated conversation. The conversations of think tank participants were open to the students and other visitors to the event. Comments were recorded on flip charts and posted around the room to visually track the progress of discussions over the 2 days of work. These notes are included in the following chapter of this report. The presentations and conversations were also video recorded. TTC Agenda and Preparation The TTC event was planned primarily to bring together selected participants in a creative environment that allows the work of CRI to connect with the work of other innovators in positive change. Although not promoted as a public event, the TTC was designed to welcome anyone to stop by, any time, day or night to observe the process. Invited participants were treated as special guests and encouraged to arrive the evening before the event began for a social dinner at Columbia Cafe. Accommodations for participants were a local Bed and Breakfast, Fairfield Place, located in a historic district near Centenary College (TTC location). A social dinner was held for the participants at Olive Street Bistro to conclude the event. During their stay CRI staff provided transportation for guests as a means of getting better acquainted and having more time to share experiences of CRI from various perspectives. The location for the TTC was Bynum Commons at the Centenary College Campus in Shreveport, Louisiana. Centenary provided the facilities and obtained a donor to cover all meal and refreshment costs during the event. The student charrette part of the TTC was approximately 34 hours duration and meals were provided on site by the Centenary cafeteria.


Eight Elements of the CRI Village Structure:

Safety

Adequate Housing

Meaningful Work

Healthcare

Education

A Leadership System

A Culture of Caring:

Mutually Enhancing Relationships

(The foundational element)

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In preparation for the TTC, a planning committee of CRI staff and AIA 150 committee members met on several occasions to explore the questions that might be addressed during a think tank and to discuss an agenda. Among the questions suggested to guide conversation were: • What are connections or similarities of participant

transformative work? • What are differences? • Are there relationship potentials to the CRI model? • What are physical environment issues / opportunities? • What questions need to be answered? Initial discussions were to conduct a series of think tank charrettes with focus on several elements of the “village structure” at each event. However, due to budget limitations and scheduling a decision was reached to hold one TTC that would include participants representing all 8 elements. The planning committee identified a list of possible candidates for the think tank and assignments were made to various committee members to determine interest and availability of those on the list. Invitations were accepted by six people and white paper information requested about each participants work. This information along with links to web sites and a working agenda was distributed to each think tank participant prior to arriving in Shreveport. The agenda was developed around the idea that participants first receive a presentation of the CRI model logic from founder Mack McCarter. With that understanding, participants and charrette teams boarded a bus and toured CRI work in 2 neighborhoods including a presentation by a “Friendship House” Community Coordinator. This background provided a context for introducing the work of each participant and for facilitated conversations to address the previously listed guiding


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questions. During the four rounds of think tank conversations, student teams listened for comments that could lead to design principles or concepts to be developed in charrette sessions during the night. A program statement was given to each student along with the white paper information from each of the participants. This information allowed students to better understand their important role in this TTC. A copy of the agenda and the program statement are included in the appendix. Organizational sub committees for the TTC included: speakers, agenda, room organization, lodging, food and location, charrette supplies, transportation, student liaison, budget and general coordination. Selecting Think Tank Participants Selection of persons to invite to the first think tank was based on two criteria: 1. Involvement in positive transformative work in one or

more of the eight elements of the “village structure” as described in the CRI model; and

2. Work that exhibits an understanding of the importance of relationships.

The speakers and their theory of change are: John A. (Jack) Calhoun founded the National Crime Prevention Council and served as its president for 20 years. He revolutionized crime prevention by shifting its definition to encompass building vital communities that don’t produce crime. Programs he helped design include Community Response to Drug Abuse and Youth as Resources. In 1979, President Carter appointed Jack the


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Commissioner of Administration for Children, Youth and Families. He helped write and saw congress enact the landmark Child Welfare and Adoption Act of 1980. Jack has recently completed a book, Hope Matters, that tells the stories of how faith is making a difference in the United States. To find out more about his current work visit his web site, hopematters. Jack’s transformational work connects to the CRI model elements safety and culture of caring. Ed Morrison is an Economic Developer and the founder of I-Open, the Institute for Open Economic Networks. His theory of change is that we are moving from a first curve industrial economy to a second curve innovation economy driven by open networks. He teaches communities about building open civic processes and the role of appreciative leadership in this second curve economy. He is changing strategic planning into “strategic doing” to move people in the direction of their positive conversations. He organizes those conversations around his model of “Brainpower, Innovation, Quality Connected Places, Branding and Purposeful Dialogue.” Ed’s transformational work connects to the CRI model elements meaningful work and leadership. Bruce Daigle is the principal at Fair Park High School in Shreveport. Fair Park is an underperforming school of 900 students, 85% eligible for free or reduced price lunches and 99% African American. Bruce established a ninth grade academy, JUMP (Joining Us Maximizes Potential), to keep ninth graders in school and help them graduate on time. He asked his best teachers to obtain additional certification as “reading specialists” before teaching the freshman academy. The results are remarkable. Freshmen becoming sophomores increased from 59% in 2005 to 87% in 2007. Bruce’s transformational work connects to the CRI model element education.


http://www.hopematters.org/

http://www.i-open.org/

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Mack McCarter is the founder of Community Renewal International. The theory of change that energizes this organization is restoring the foundation of safe and caring community by rebuilding the neighborhood system of caring relationships. The terms “whole persons”, “village structure”, “Mutually Enhancing Relationships”, “We Care Teams”, “Haven Houses” and “Friendship Houses” are part of the language of this renewal movement that can change the world. The primary work of this organization is in building the relational foundation that holds society together. It is the basis for all human transactions. Mack’s role in the TTC will be to represent the foundation of the CRI model, Mutually Enhancing Relationships. Pat Cooper turned the McComb school system around by acting on a theory of change in education—”that students deserve a chance to learn free from as many physical and mental burdens as possible, and that teachers deserve the opportunity to teach as healthy a student as possible.” Patterning a school restructuring plan on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and the methods of the Coordinated School Health Model he implemented school programs to support the “whole child”. His model of change includes Academic Opportunity, Food & Nutrition, Health Education, Health Services, Staff Wellness, Counseling & Therapy, Community Involvement, Safe Schools and Physical Education. Pat’s transformational work connects to the CRI model elements: education, health and culture of caring. R.J. Stidham is an affordable and mixed income housing specialist providing technical assistance to federal agencies, state and local governments, public housing authorities, lenders and community based organizations. He has written fair housing statutes and received HUD’s Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement. RJ’s transformational work connects to CRI element, housing. Additional information about the think tank participants and their work is located in the appendix.


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Student Involvement Students bring fresh perspectives and openness to the think tank process. When people involved in transformational work gather, the issues discussed are often profound. The opportunity for students to engage in and help shape possible outcomes from these conversations adds an exciting dynamic to the think tank. A program statement was given to students prior to the event to assist in their preparation and understanding of the basics of CRI social technology and the work of think tank participants. A copy of the program is included in the appendix. Louisiana Tech Architecture (Ruston, Louisiana) students attended and invitations were extended to Centenary sociology students. The student teams listened to think tank presentations and conversations during the day. They asked questions. When the think tank adjourned for the evening, the charrette came to life in an overnight session of exchanging ideas and critiquing each teams’ work. The concept of a cooperative charrette is that all the teams work together to develop various parts of an end product. The three student teams worked together as a single group to develop an outline of possible design principles that could be extracted from discussions relative to safety, education, housing, culture of caring, leadership and meaningful work. The teams worked separately to develop illustrations of these principles which were presented to the think tank when it reconvened the morning of February 9. The work of the students laid the ground work for rethinking design principles for planning and building communities based on the work of CRI. Approaching design from this perspective can begin to establish the importance of CRI methodology in the sustainable environment movements such as smart growth, AIA livable communities and new urbanism.


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Evaluation of the TTC Process & Methods The TTC is an excellent tool for bringing together people involved in work that has meaning for CRI and the continued development of its social technology. The initial presentation of the CRI model and the tour of work with a presentation by a CRI community coordinator was a very powerful beginning that established the intensity for the 2 day event. The presentations and conversations in each round of the think tank were inspiring and proved that new knowledge and actions will result from converging the conversations of people doing transformative work. The design charrette proved to be a method of focusing on desirable physical outcomes and can play an important role in future think tanks to continue developing design principles that enhance the work of CRI. Future improvements in the process include establishing a longer lead time for the event and contacting participants with more advance notice. Although the TTC was planned to have representatives from all eight elements of the “village structure” two of the invitees cancelled the day before the event due to personal matters. That left a void in the planned format for participants representing transformative work in Health and Housing. The reality of conducting the TTC is that dealing with all eight elements in one session will be a challenge as this event was productive and full of intensity. Students requested that future TTC’s include multi-discipline student teams to improve the charrette experience.


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The Think Tank Conversations CRI Technology and Rounds 1, 2, 3 & 4

Community Renewal International Paradigm

What kind of world does God want?

What kind of society makes possible that kind of world?

What kind of person makes possible that kind of society?

What kind of environment makes possible that kind of person?

What do we have to do to make that kind of environment possible?

The Challenge: “All things were created from nothing. We are exploring a new paradigm. What is the energy released from a relationship? How is this energy made productive and sustainable? How do Mutually Enhancing Relationships (MER) affect the economy, healthcare, safety and leadership? How are people on a neighborhood block connected? The relationship of faith and participation is the CRI program. Is being a faith based organization an obstacle to replication? Can “love your neighbor” exist outside a faith movement? What would the alternate strategy be? What are threats to the CRI social technology? Who represents these threats? And how will they attempt to obstruct CRI progress?“ ...statements and questions posed by Mack McCarter...

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The Think Tank Conversations

Learning the CRI Model Summary of the Mack McCarter presentation that started the TTC ...A more complete overview of the CRI social technology can be found in the appendix and by visiting the CRI web site to view the 20 minutes of news stories shown at the start of the TTC... Questions that shaped the model: A question is a step toward change. CRI has grown from questions and struggles to find answers. Why have civilizations throughout history achieved greatness only to collapse? Through 32 rise and collapse cycles humanity has yet to figure out how to stop the cycle. In each cycle greater levels of technological advance have led to increasing relational disconnectedness, the fuel for collapse. We are in the midst of the 33rd cycle and exhibit symptoms similar to other great societies on their path to collapse. Our dilemma is, according to Lewis Mumford, why do we continue to make the same mistake? CRI addresses this enigma with intentional and replicable building of neighborhood systems of caring relationships. The goals and strategies for this new paradigm are explained by answering a series of questions that are fundamental to the logic of the CRI model: 1. What kind of world does God want? The answer can be

simply answered by “love one another.”

2. What kind of society makes possible that kind of world? A culture of people committing caring acts of kindness and love make possible that kind of society. Lewis Mumford expressed this goal: “for the city should be an organ of love, and the best economy of cities is the care and culture of men.”

3. What kind of person makes possible that kind of society? A person is able to care for others when they are both competent and compassionate. A competent person has the ability to access and appropriate resources to continually grow — spiritually, socially, skillfully, physically, intellectually and emotionally. A person is compassionate when living a lifestyle devoted to seeking the good of others while seeking their own good. CRI refers to a person who is both competent and compassionate as a “whole person”.

CRI Technology and Rounds 1, 2, 3 & 4

http://www.sbcr.us/index.cfm

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4. What kind of environment makes possible that kind of person? Throughout history one relational environment, the village, has survived the rise and fall of societies. CRI defines the “village structure" with eight (8) connected elements — safety, adequate housing, meaningful work, healthcare, education, a culture of caring, a system of leadership, and the foundational element — mutually enhancing relationships (MER).

5. What do we have to do to make possible that kind of environment? Shaping this nurturing environment that creates “whole persons” requires a replicable, systematic approach. CRI is developing a Social Technology that focuses on three initiatives: 1. Renewal Team that connects caring people from all neighborhoods in a community to rebuild the relational foundation, 2. Haven Houses that are volunteers trained as a network of block leaders, and 3. The Internal Care Unit / Friendship House that places families in high crime / low-income neighborhoods to combat isolation and grow “whole persons”.



Whole Person = competent & compassionateWhole Person = competent & compassionate

Competent- willingness & ability to access & appropriate resources to continually grow :

Spiritually, Socially, Skillfully, Physically, Intellectually & Emotionally

Compassionate- lifestyle devoted to seeking the good of others while seeking their own good

Competent- willingness & ability to access & appropriate resources to continually grow :

Spiritually, Socially, Skillfully, Physically, Intellectually & Emotionally

Compassionate- lifestyle devoted to seeking the good of others while seeking their own good

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Mutually Enhancing RelationshipsThe Relational Foundation of Community


SafetySafety

Adequate HousingAdequate Housing

Meaningful WorkMeaningful Work

HealthcareHealthcare

Culture of CaringCulture of Caring

Servant LeadershipServant Leadership

EducationEducation

Village StructureVillage Structure


Social TechnologySocial Technology

Renewal TeamRenewal Team Haven HouseHaven House Internal Care UnitInternal Care Unit

Caring alone does not stop collapse…

Connect Caring People:1. Visible2. Connected3. Committed

Caring alone does not stop collapse…

Connect Caring People:1. Visible2. Connected3. Committed

Relational Foundation = Social Capital = Mutually connected togetherSBCR produces MER by doing 3 things: RT, HH & ICU

Relational Foundation = Social Capital = Mutually connected togetherSBCR produces MER by doing 3 things: RT, HH & ICU

We are disconnected / isolated on our streets & in our neighborhoods…

Take city back, systematically:1. Rebuild relational foundation2. Build social networks3. Block leaders form connected

nurturing structure

We are disconnected / isolated on our streets & in our neighborhoods…

Take city back, systematically:1. Rebuild relational foundation2. Build social networks3. Block leaders form connected

nurturing structure

There is the reality of decay & problems of oppression, race & poverty…

Renew whole persons:1. Build trust by serving2. Friendship Houses3. Model the family unit4. Paid staff

There is the reality of decay & problems of oppression, race & poverty…

Renew whole persons:1. Build trust by serving2. Friendship Houses3. Model the family unit4. Paid staff

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A Tour of CRI’s Model at Work Building Community through Friendship Houses—Allendale and Queensboro Neighborhoods After learning the basics of the CRI social technology, both think tank participants and charrette teams boarded a CRI bus at Centenary. The tour, facilitated by Lynn Brian, focused on one aspect of the CRI model, the Friendship House. The group visited two of the five poverty neighborhoods where CRI has placed Friendship Houses (ICU), Allendale and Queensboro. The current strategy is to establish two (2) Friendship Houses to serve an area of approximately 30 blocks or 1,800 people. Allendale is a disinvested neighborhood near the Central Business District of Shreveport. In the past 20 years neighborhood abandonment resulted in population loss from approximately 16,000 to a current population of approximately 5,000. It was an environment of high crime and hopelessness. CRI placed Community Coordinators in two Friendship Houses in this neighborhood and began to apply the CRI social technology. Remarkable positive change is happening for children and adults in Allendale. Lives are improving and hope now fills this neighborhood. CRI began a home building project on blighted land around the 2 Allendale friendship houses, in partnership with Millard Fuller and the Fuller Center for Housing, named “Building on Higher Ground”. The first block of the target 60 new homes made an attempt to incorporate some traditional neighborhood design principles: rebuilding alleys, houses closer to the street, front porches with


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unique details, scale diversity achieved by combining row housing and single family detached homes, landscaping and a variety of color schemes. The project started with a goal to leverage the new housing investment to achieve a mixed income neighborhood and connect to a comprehensive neighborhood revitalization strategy. Issues related to public improvements and obstacles with land assembly have resulted in recent housing reverting to standard housing models. Comparing outcomes proved the direction of the first homes more conducive to an MER environment. Current strategies include more diversity, adopting green building principles and return to the original neighborhood planning goals. The tour stopped and got out of the bus to view the ongoing improvements before proceeding to the next neighborhood. Queensboro is in the next layer of neighborhoods moving out from the center of Shreveport. While conditions have not deteriorated to the extent of abandonment found in Allendale, the neighborhood is a high crime, high poverty portion of the city with increasing negative trends. The TTC tour stopped at a recently completed Friendship House where the resident Community Coordinator, James Melvin, described his role in the CRI methodology. James retired after 24 years in the military and wanted to make a difference with the rest of his life. After exploring options he met Mack McCarter, learned about Community Renewal, and decided this is where he had the greatest hope of making a lasting positive impact. James joined CRI because he had never heard of a program like this that goes into distressed communities. The following comments were noted from James’ presentation to the TTC group: • “The best thing we can do is change society.” James and his

family are role models for the neighborhood. Through caring acts he demonstrates a nurturing pattern of leadership and mentors others to become that type of leader. Neighbors begin to volunteer, to help with children and develop as servant leaders.

• CRI Community Coordinators work in a neighborhood 6 months to 2 years before a Friendship House is constructed, building trust by serving .


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• “The Friendship House is a platform for bringing people together” (Lynn Brian) The Friendship House is a community center and trusted place for the neighborhood. The large multi-use room houses a variety of programs for children and adults that are part of the strategy for building whole persons. Students from local elementary, middle and high schools are in after school programs at the Friendship House.

• Outside resources are brought to the community through the Friendship House. For example, the Friendship House has served as a health clinic with the assistance of the “Care Caddy” program.

• All of the Friendship House Community Coordinators collaborate and learn from each other. Yul Taylor, the first Community Coordinator, is the CRI staff member responsible for the Community Coordinator program.

• The challenge CRI faces is to tear down walls and barriers that disconnect people. “We must always have intentional nurturers to assure that the relational foundation of society does not erode.”

Seeing the Friendship House and talking with James provided the TTC group a greater understanding of the positive impact Community Renewal is having in these target neighborhoods (e.g., crime has dropped by approximately 50% in Friendship House areas). Round 1 Conversations: Safety, Education, Culture & the Relational Foundation The conversations in Round 1 of the think tank included Jack Calhoun, Bruce Daigle and Mack McCarter. Jack and Bruce both made comments about their work and began to focus their experiences into ideas and issues relevant to CRI. Safety: Jack Calhoun’s transformational work in policies and programs to create safe communities have made positive impacts across the United States beginning in the mid 1970’s and continuing today.


Round 1

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Additional background information on Jack is located in the appendix, on pages 12 and 13 in the process and methodology chapter of this report and at his web site hopematters. The following comments were noted during Jack’s initial remarks: • “Civic togetherness is a security issue; knowing your

neighborhood is a safety issue.” • “Law enforcement is only part of the solution, we cannot arrest

our way out of the problems of high crime environments.” In his work Jack has searched for policies that have natural enforcement by citizens (e.g., front porches facing streets direct eyes toward the street). He cited Tony Earl’s study of housing in high crime areas of Chicago that found pockets of safety. The characteristics of these safe environments is now referred to as “Neighborhood Efficacy Concept”.

• “A traditional problem is that social service starts with a service and not a person. Service provision is needed but focuses on the wound and does not start with the relationship.”

• “The issue is not just services, it is who is there. We have an extremely lonely society.” Jack quoted an unnamed youth from his experiences across the country, “I’d rather be wanted for murder than to not be wanted at all.”

• “Almost 90% of social service funding goes to work, education and health. Almost none goes to what CRI terms "mutually enhancing relationships”.”

• The following are suggestions for consideration from his work in developing successful “gang work points” with crime fighting agencies:

• Get a task force together led by the mayor and chief along with other agencies.

• Develop a clear mission—e.g., crime is to be reduced. • Transcend law enforcement and social service split—

must be together. • Key challenge—How do you keep fresh and why are

you in business? San Jose’ / Silicon Valley refreshes itself every 2 years by updating its plan.

• Keep the individual in front of us at all times. • Develop both short and long term goals —Change the

community. Change the world. • Define the impact area. Develop strategies for


Round 1

http://www.hopematters.org/

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neighborhood revitalization. • “Intimacy is a real problem when crime fighting

strategies get to them and to us. We lose with “sweeps”. We have to know individuals by name to be effective. There is remarkable power in calling someone’s name positively. Especially those living in bad conditions.”

Education: TTC Facilitator Kim Mitchell next introduced Bruce Daigle, Principal at Fair Park High School. Located in the Queensboro neighborhood in Shreveport, Fair Park is a struggling school. All of the schools in neighborhoods where Community Renewal is working are struggling. Bruce’s transformational work with a freshman academy, JUMP, is working and is among the best practices in “High Schools that Work” research by the Southern Regional Education Board. There is additional information about Bruce in the appendix and on page 13 of this report. Bruce described the conditions he faced at this underperforming school: • 59% of freshmen were not getting to the sophomore grade

level. • Fair Park is a Title One School and 87% of the 900 students

are eligible for free breakfast and lunch. • A significant number of free health services are provided at

school due to living conditions of so many of the students. • Many students come to school to be safe from their life at

home and / or neighborhood. • There are 4 security coordinators and an S.R.O. to deal with

behavior problems. • The community around the school is not safe. • The school provides gender training to teach social skills that

students do not get at home. To address this bleak situation in the 2005-2006 school year Bruce put his best teachers — those that know new techniques that work — at the freshman level. These teachers volunteered to go back to school to have “Reading Specialist” added to their


Round 1

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teaching certificates. The freshman academy, JUMP (Joining Us to Maximizes Potential), uses block scheduling with 4 classes per day (100 minutes per class for freshmen only). This allows up to 8 credits per year—only 5 are required. The results of this innovation are impressive: • In the first year of JUMP 86% of freshmen graduated to the

10th grade (up from 40% prior to JUMP). 79% of the freshmen earned all 8 credits.

• In the second year 87% of freshmen moved up to the 10th grade and 75% earned 8 credits.

• This year there are 180 Juniors from the first JUMP class. This compares to the non-JUMP senior class of 60.

The philosophy of effective teaching expressed by Bruce is: 1. Students need to hear that teachers care; 2. Teach bell to bell; 3. Good planning. Although the innovation at Fair Park is producing results, the system of rating schools works against this innovation in low performing schools. There are several realities of “No Child Left Behind” that are troubling: • The “unacceptable rating” has a negative impact on student

and community self-image. It adversely impacts making “whole people”.

• The system allows good students to leave when a school is branded as unacceptable which contributes to poor school performance.

• “The No Child Left Behind rating is crushing the human spirit.” How do we (society) change this rating system before the negative consequences become community wide problems?


Round 1

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Measuring Outcomes and Funding the CRI model: After presentations by Jack and Bruce the conversation was opened to the think tank table and the audience. These discussions focused on connections between CRI, education and safety. Conversations also included exploring possible outcome measures (metrics) of the CRI social technology to better communicate results to potential funding sources. The following are notes from those discussions: Mack provided some additional background on the process that guided the formation of CRI: “If we are going to change the world we must do 5 things: 1. Analyze a problem (what is the root cause for the problem?) 2. Conceptualize a solution (what is the answer to the problem?) 3. Actualize a model of the solution (build a model) 4. Standardize the model (standardize for replication— mass

customization of a standard model that allows for uniqueness) 5. System of delivery (find a way to deliver across the globe) In response to these 5 steps for changing the world CRI responded with the following: 1. The fundamental problem is what Lewis Mumford referred to as

the chief enigma—”Why do civilizations keep collapsing?” How do we solve this enigma? CRI analysis led to an understanding of societal false assumptions in the previous 32 civilizations that have collapsed: a) We have assumed a relational foundation is in place, b) The relational foundation takes care of itself and c) the relational foundation will always be there. These false assumptions are evident in our current civilization.

2. To conceptualize a model CRI explored the answers to 5 questions (described at the beginning of this chapter) that led to “Rules of Relationships Connecting Human Beings” : a) Relationships are dynamic—ever changing, and b) We must give intentional attention to relationships—sharing work, sharing joys, sharing problems...


Round 1

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3. Actualizing the model had to answer, how do we connect caring people? The model CRI developed to answer this question includes: a) Renewal Team, b) Haven Houses and c) ICU / Friendship Houses. What unites us as human beings is our capacity for caring. CRI builds trust by serving and “models the family” in the ICU neighborhoods.

4. & 5. CRI is standardizing the model and the system of delivery by current replication projects in other communities around the globe, by curriculum development , by developing a National Center for Community Renewal and with current plans for a demonstration project at a community wide scale in Shreveport / Bossier, Louisiana.”

Comments and Questions from Think Tank Round 1: Mack: (quote from Albert Schweitzer) “Civilization will be measured not by gadgetry, but by morality” (caring). How do we measure producing “whole persons”? Many non-profits can get money to help people survive in poverty. How do we get money to build “whole persons” capable of acquiring resources for themselves and their families? Bruce: “Caring is number one in effective teaching. Caring and trust creates Mutually Enhancing Relationships (MER). By deepening relationships and understanding of what makes a good community there will be greater improvement in the other 7 elements of the village structure. The common connecting action in all elements of the village structure is ‘caring’, that is the bottom line.” Jack: “Caring people are the common link in the elements of the "village structure”. Caring is also a relationship and an expectation. How do you show the importance of funding caring? How do you sell funders caring instead of gadgets? What are your outcomes? What do they see?” Jack suggested action models such as the CRI model answer the following questions: • Can we show purpose? • Can we show programs to accomplish this purpose? • Can we enlist persons to perform?


Round 1

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• Can we organize to perform? • Can we find funding? • Can we sustain this? • What are outcomes? • How will we measure our outcomes? Mack: “Caring makes economic sense. Community is essential for good health. Poverty is the greatest risk to health. A good relational community will have good health.” “People need to be socialized to understand solutions that do not work? There are current trends and systems (e.g., gated communities, sprawl, separating rich/poor, widening gaps between rich/poor) that are symptoms of the decline of our civilization.” CRI is beginning to develop measurement process metrics. How do you measure the outcome of growing the relational foundation? It is a deeper and more lasting impact than gadgetry. How does the corporate mind of making widgets write the check for building relationships? University of Oklahoma is working in partnership with CRI to authenticate the CRI methodology through:

• Developing survey tools including a Neighborhood Resiliency Survey

• G.I.S. mapping of indicator improvements Abilene and Shreveport / Bossier neighborhoods will be test cases. Metrics suggested during Think Tank Round 1: Education measures suggested:

• Truancy and dropout rates before and after Friendship Houses are located in neighborhoods.

• Increased Parental involvement – the CRI trust building method.

• Improved school performance of students that are a part of the Friendship Houses network.


Round 1

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Civic and leadership measures suggested:

• Number of elderly volunteering, working or otherwise engaged in the community.

• Measure the “Progression of the Friendship House”: serving the neighborhood’s treasured possessions—children; to attracting parents and other adults; to increasing parental involvement in schools; to becoming role models / mentors. (the system of growing relationships)

• When neighborhood successes return to their neighborhood to re-invest and live. (e.g., High school student at Fair Park from family in Queensboro gets scholarship to Tulane and a Degree in Molecular Biology)

• Capacity of community residents to dream of a better future. • Quantity of relationships and how often they interact. • Number of volunteers from outside the neighborhood assisting

at Friendship Houses. • How do people feel about their communities? Sample Surveys

to determine perceptions (Perception often becomes reality): a) Safety, b) Appearance, c) Hope for the Future

Health measures suggested:

• Child obesity improvement as a result of Community Center /Friendship House

Safety Measures suggested:

• Crime before and after Friendship Houses Meaningful Work measures suggested:

• “Reaching the unreachables”. Helping young men that have dropped out of school get off the porch and into employment (Number of adults getting G.E.D. through Friendship Houses).

• Job shadowing / mentoring. • Workforce from Adult Renewal Academy that brings technical

college and other resources to Friendship House communities. • Job attendance and keeping a job.


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What does a caring community look like? (outward measures) • School connected to surrounding neighborhood. • Connection between Schools and Friendship Houses. • Business creation by residents of Neighborhoods. • Kids playing in the neighborhood and on safe streets in all

neighborhoods. • Teachers living in neighborhoods surrounding schools. • People not moving out of the neighborhood. • Taking the fence down around schools. • Successful people returning to the neighborhood to live. Strategies from Think Tank Round 1: • Open house where Teachers come to Friendship House for

relational connection to the families and neighborhood. • Mentor programs for students administered through Friendship

Houses, Haven Houses and We Care Teams in partnership with school system.

• Workforce Development by bringing existing programs or new variations of existing programs to Friendship Houses for skills and entrepreneurship training.

• Explore concepts for various scales of friendship houses– Rural and Urban forms

• Use Friendship House to change expectations of children of the uneducated. Friendship is a portal for changing lives and expectations.

• Nurture Small Business/Entrepreneurship through Friendship Houses. Assist in mapping out life strategies (mentoring). Programs to help residents participate in building / re-building neighborhoods.

• Friendship network that intervenes in cyclic problems of poverty. This is a new network formed intentionally to build new caring communities. This new network is critical for the U.S. leadership in humanitarian and economic leadership in the world.

• Review work of Robert Landry – Researcher from Houston (Micro Area Improvement is a successful strategy)


Round 1

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Round 2 Conversations: Comments on Charette Design Principles & Concepts Think Tank participants convened at 8:30 A.M. on the morning of February 9 to review the results from the student charrette teams that collaborated through the night. The charrette work is based on published information from participants (included in the appendix) and conversations from the first day of the TTC. The teams developed initial lists of design principles to shape physical environments that support the CRI model of caring communities. Concepts were also explored to illustrate these principles. The work is presented in the Charrette chapter of this report. Round 3 Conversations: Meaningful Work, Leadership, Culture and the Relational Foundation Round 3 began with a presentation of an animated concept of the National Center for Community Renewal (NCCR) by Mack and Kim. This facility includes a training center and on site accommodations for up to 270 people attending various training programs. The Center will be the location for the Institute of Community Renewal that will document and distribute the CRI social technology and its development. The Institute will also include space for network partners such as I-Open. Regular “Think Tank” events will be hosted in this facility as part of the research and development activities of the Institute. The 250,000 square foot NCCR, located in the heart of the historic central business district of Shreveport, includes renovation of a 144,000 square foot 16 story high rise building recently abated of asbestos. Preliminary planning indicates the building will likely achieve a LEED Platinum rating and the goal is to be a “net zero” energy producing facility. The I-Open Model: Ed Morrison is founder of I-Open, Institute for Open Economic Networks. For the past 20 years Ed has worked as an economic development consultant with counties, regions and states. He publishes EDPro Weblog and is the Economic Policy Advisor at



http://edpro-weblog.net/news

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the Purdue Center for Regional Development. For the past six years Ed has developed a new economic development approach based on networks. He calls this approach “Open Source Economic Development” to emphasize the strategic value of collaboration in today’s global economy. The processes of Open Source software development provide insight into methods that successfully balance open participation and leadership direction. With a few simple rules the collective wisdom and energies of these open communities are able to develop extremely complex projects quickly. Borrowing from these insights, Open Source Economic Development promotes open innovation networks to accelerate regional prosperity. To translate these ideas into action the Open Source model calls for new tools and practices of civic engagement. One of these practices is the discipline of “strategic doing.”


Round 3

Source: Ed Morrison

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The following statements from the I-Open home page provide a basic understanding for this transformational work: “Strap on your goggles. It’s a whole new game… Look out over the landscape of our national economy. New connections are forming. Remarkable opportunities are embedded in these connections, if we can train ourselves to see — and act on — them. I-Open is focused on the habits we need to innovate in the “civic space”. Regions and communities with thick civic networks will be more prosperous. They will learn faster, spot opportunities faster, align their resources faster, and act faster. I-Open helps you understand this new world. We are moving civic leaders from strategic planning to strategic doing.” A white paper is included in the appendix and can be downloaded at I-Open. These new tools are spread by I-Open using a Creative Commons 3.0 attribution license. To demystify the dynamics of economic development Ed suggested the easiest understanding is to divide money flowing through a regional or neighborhood economy into three parts: good, neutral and bad. “Good Money” flows into a community from outside through what are referred to as “traded businesses” vital to introducing new money into an economy. “Neutral Money” circulates through local businesses (“multiplier effect”) that make major contributions to our quality of life. “Bad Money” represents money flowing our of our communities (“leakage”) when we make purchases outside our communities or from non-local business. The strategy for economic development is simply: 1. Increase the volume of Good Money. 2. Increase the velocity of Neutral Money. 3. Reduce the flow of Bad Money.


Round 3



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A downward cycle of economic development accelerates with a deteriorating civic environment. A prosperous cycle of economic development accelerates with a collaborative civic environment.


To emphasize the importance of civic space Ed introduced the diagrams below to illustrate the cycle of deterioration that occurs in a hierarchal command and control civic environment and the cycle of prosperity in a trusted collaborative civic environment that is building thick open networks of innovation. The old ways and structures just do not work in our changing world.


Round 3

Source: Ed Morrison

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A 2nd Curve economy is emerging with wealth created by networks…


Ed explains that “the shifting dynamics of global competition mean that the old strategies of business recruitment will not be as successful in the future. Our First Curve, industrial, economy is giving way to a Second Curve economy based on knowledge and networks. Wealth increasingly comes form our ability to generate and apply new knowledge.” We are currently operating in a time of transition. Among our challenges is figuring out how to move first curve assets (e.g., schools, libraries, manufacturing, foundations, institutions…) to the second curve economy before those assets become irrelevant. There are emerging opportunities to “link and leverage” those first curve assets to new networks.


Source: Ed Morrison

Round 3

Moving from the First Curve to the Second Curve involves “linking and leveraging” First Curve assets to Second Curve opportunities

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The challenge is to build and support productive, focused networks around strategic issues We need new maps to define the flow of brainpower in our communities


We need new ways of coming together to explore complex issues. Moving any economy forward requires routinely convening to explore hundreds of new collaborations as we connect first curve assets to second curve opportunities. We will need new networks that are formed through new disciplines of authentic civic engagement. Framing conversations and connecting networks requires new tools such as the I-Open discipline that focuses conversations around Brainpower, Innovation Networks, Quality Connected Places, Branding our stories, and Collaborative Leadership. New tools include mapping processes


Source: Ed Morrison

Round 3

$10 per hour

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Successful communities will understand the power of networks ... ...They will map their networks


to understand paths to prosperity and mapping networks to better connect our citizens in caring communities of innovation. The new model of leadership in this collaborative network environment includes skills to “frame questions in a way that guides people


Source: Ed Morrison

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toward understanding their individual potential to contribute to civic life”. These are positive conversations of “An Appreciative [Civic Leadership] mindset: focus on what we do want, do have, can do, what’s working & why, what we want to move toward, what matters to us.” Our networks evolve by closing triangles, connecting people we know. Regular civic forums are a practical way for new people to meet and explore their connections. These forums, if guided by ‘appreciative leadership’, can become powerful tools for building our networks, our social capital. “We need places [trusted places] in our communities and neighborhoods where people feel comfortable to meet and explore issues. The CRI ‘Friendship House’ is one of those trusted places at a neighborhood level of community. On the Second Curve, civic leadership is far more distributed than in a First Curve economy. Leadership comes from


The I-Open Model: 2nd Curve strategies = Open Source Economic Development 2nd Curve Strategies involve linking & leveraging assets in five “asset networks”: 1.Brainpower 2.Innovation 3.Quality places 4.Branding 5.Civic Collaboration

Source: Ed Morrison

Round 3

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A View to the Future... A dynamic regional innovation economy will have a range of different connected communities . Some connected to each other, but all connected to a regional forum.

The Think Tank Conversations CRI Technology and Rounds 1, 2, 3 & 4

Round 3 people who are willing to engage and who are capable of unleashing the energies of others for our common prosperity.” To provide some guidance as to which type of networks to build I-Open provides a simple model that views economies, local and regional, as focused networks embedded in other networks. “The theory of change embedded in Open Source Economic Development is clear and concise. To be globally competitive, any region needs to cultivate high quality brainpower. Next, the region needs to be able to convert this brainpower into wealth through innovation and entrepreneurship networks (“clusters”). The region needs to be able to retain and attract talent by building quality, connected places. The region needs to tell its story through effective branding. Most important, the region needs to cultivate civic habits of collaboration through an organized, disciplined process of ‘strategic doing’.” La

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Round 4 Conversations: A “Strategic Doing” Session to move in the direction of our positive conversations Round 4 was a discussion between Ed Morrison and Mack McCarter facilitated by Kim Mitchell. Ed and Mack encouraged questions and comments from the charrette teams and other observers. The focus of this session applies a technique developed by Ed to explore a working relationship between CRI and I-Open. This process, “strategic doing”, is used to develop open networks of action by answering the following questions: • Where are we now? • What could we do? TOGETHER! • What should we do? TOGETHER! • What will we do? TOGETHER! The following are notes recorded on flip charts during this discussion round 4: Where are we now? • There are strong similarities / parallels between the CRI and I-

Open models for change. • Both CRI and I-Open are re-inventing civic spaces that have

been vandalized by the direction of society. Civic spaces (models, tools and processes) need to be re-built.

• Ed’s belief: “if it is teachable, it is scaleable.” (Applies to I-Open and CRI) • Both CRI and I-Open believe and act on the belief that the old

way does not work. • CRI is working to complete the demonstration of the entire

Shreveport / Bossier communities. • Purdue and University of Oklahoma will initiate certificate

program for I-Open training in May 2008.


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• CRI is working on replication model in a national center. • Both organizations have learned that progress is achieved by

“working with the willing” in mutual love and respect. It is not worth the time or effort to convince those that don’t get it and often will work against transformative work of CRI and I-Open.

What could we do? TOGETHER! • The I-Open model answers the fundamental questions of

networking that is part of C.R.I. model (particularly “meaningful work”)

• There is a new energy that will be released from the process of fusing C.R.I. and I-Open models in a new co-operative working relationship of the two models (expanding networks)

• What are focused outcomes of the two models? • Is C.R.I. model possible without faith?

• Seeking and Sharing the love of others is an act of faith • We can not prove that it is possible without faith • It may be possible without religiosity • Watching transformation of groups is hard to understand

without faith and spirit • There is more here than me, myself and I. • There is an energy released when we connect through

transformative experiences. • Community Foundations are an opportunity for funding

transformative work of CRI and I-Open What should we do? TOGETHER! • Establish agreement on terms and language to more effectively

connect the networks of I-Open and CRI. • Agree on metrics, the roles metrics play and how they plug-in

to both models. • How should the two (2) stories / presentations be integrated? • Purdue, Edward Lowe, I-Open and CRI can work together. • CRI and I-Open can jointly define a process of learning.


Round 4

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• I-Open Certificate course that begins in May (Purdue and University of Oklahoma) can be extended to Centenary.

What will we do? TOGETHER! • CRI and I-Open are now part of a “network of the willing” and

agree to explore partnership activities between CRI and I-Open.

• I-Open will conduct a workshop May 4-6, 2008 for CRI staff and other key people.

• Mack requested a presence of I-Open in the National Center for Community Renewal (NCCR).

• Mack asked Ed to be the lead speaker at a CRI Summit of Foundations that is being planned for later in 2008 or early 2009. The foundations that attend will be asked to fund CRI going from pilot scale to a full scale demonstration project in Shreveport / Bossier. A date is not yet established.

• Integrate the two (2) stories/presentations. • Purdue and Centenary Center for Civic Engagement should

quickly be formalized to begin collaborative work. • Ed invited Mack to a CRI / I-Open work session at the Lowe

Foundation Retreat in Michigan. The tentative date is in June 2008.

Stories, Convergence and Wisdom— In the presence of good and encounters with evil The following are excerpts from Round 4 conversations between Ed and Mack as they share experiences and answer questions posed by observers. These conversations give insight into the beginning convergence of their philosophies and understanding of similar struggles both have encountered:


Round 4

Facilitator Kim Mitchell during the “strategic doing” session.

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Ed: “The CRI model and I-Open model are the same philosophy, the same cup seen from different perspectives. We are participating in the emergence of a collaboration”. “A big market for CRI / I-Open is community foundations struggling with how they should move into economic development. This is an opportunity we should focus on for funding. “Our collaboration is a big opportunity to define a process of learning. Our partnership should include a university or universities. How do we become the ‘Epicenter of Innovation’?” Steve Shelburne, professor representing the Centenary Center for Civic Engagement, posed a question to Ed and Mack: “Can the CRI model happen without faith or a faith based organization?” Mack: “Self-giving love and seeking the good of others as we would our own is the transformative power residual in all of us and is a faith claim. It [the CRI model] is possible without religion or religiosity, but not without faith.” Ed: “It is very hard for me to watch the transformation of groups within an hour ‘Strategic Doing’ session and not feel a spiritual connection. I do not put spirituality into I-Open model...there is a spiritual dimension of the I-Open model that I follow. I think people get transformed, I think people see the connections, not only with each other, but with their world, in a new and different way. My objective is not to propagate any kind of spiritual view; I believe that is what we are doing as spiritual beings. My whole journey goes back to the beginnings of community in Africa.” Mack: “My objective is to have the whole transformed by the ‘power of love’. My definition of spirituality, when I say a competent person must grow spiritually, is the living sense that the transcendent is not only around us and among us, but within us; and there is more here than me, myself and I. That is fundamental. This is a conscious objective in the CRI model.” Ed: “Tim Sanders, Chief Solutions Officer at Yahoo authored a book, ‘Love is the Killer App’. His basic point is that we are


Round 4

Professor Steve Shelburne poses a question to Mack and Ed.

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moving into a network world and love is actually the way in which you will prosper in this new world. We are shifting the way in which we are thinking about everything from information to sharing. In the old industrial world, if Mack had a model and I had a model, I would show Mack a little bit of my model and he would show me a little bit of his model, and we would be thinking, ‘Is this going to end up as his model or my model?’ Who is going to grab the chair first and run off to the funders and get his deal done? Mack and I see that opportunity comes from sharing, which is fundamentally different than most organizations operating today; but this is the world the coming generation will grow up in. They will grow up in a world where sharing, openness and collaboration will be important, not because its the nice thing to do, but because that is how you will create prosperity. Your personal integrity, your personal abilities, your networks, your trustworthiness, your ability to practice love and kindness will determine how successful you are.” Ed: “My only rule for working together is that we treat each other with mutual respect in ways that build trust and mutual respect. If you choose not to behave in this manner, we choose not to work with you. What Mack and I are saying is there is no faith entrance requirement, but that you go through this experience and the emergent reality is a faith experience.” Mack: “I see for the first time a fundamental question answered for our CRI model, the whole economic system based upon the power of the network. It is one thing to have a working model on the ground with all the blood, sweat and tears of trying to move it and grow it. I have tried a million ways to express the whole idea of networking through metaphors and analogies; I try to socialize people to understand that we are bound to one another; and how the intentionality of relating, generating and sustaining networks brings a shared power. The fusion that you [Ed] have shown of true economic reality is not so much the competitive model as it is a cooperative model. You show us that if we do certain things to build networks we can project that prosperity will grow.” Mack: “Funders do not see loving as hard economic since. We are about to assemble a summit of foundations to immerse them in


Round 4

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the CRI model. Bringing these foundations together is an attempt to get them to make the connection between the CRI model of caring to the outcome of economic prosperity. 1. We are looking at a 5-year plan to take our pilot in Shreveport /

Bossier to a demonstration project—to go from 10 Friendship Houses to 60; and 900 Block Leaders to 5,000; and 37,000 “We Care Team” members to 125,000. We will connect an entire metro area in a network of caring.

2. The part of the replication process that will occur at the National Center is learning by becoming immersed in the concepts and practical methodology of training to put the CRI model on the ground in other communities. Part of the training will include understanding the overlay, the paradigm, of the I-Open model of open networks.

I would like Ed to be the lead speaker at the foundation conference and show the conceptual overlay of how networking brings prosperity. The universal doctrine of doing good. I cannot ask for a more profound and powerful model to show that caring makes hard economic since.” Ed: “We created at CASE Western a reliable Civic Space where people could come every week to talk, not about what was wrong, but what their hopes were, what their dreams were, how they could connect, how they could learn from each other. That is what we created. What happened when the Dean said, ‘We’re not doing this anymore?’ The 50 to 60 people gathering weekly said, ‘You can’t take that away, that is our space, its not yours to take.’ The people came to me [Ed] after my firing and said we must continue. I took off my CASE Western hat and put on a new hat, I-Open. The Civic Space that had been constructed moved and spun-out new places and new forms of building civic space to prosper through caring networks and trusted places (quality places). Spin-outs include ‘Lots of Coffee, No Whine’; ‘Third Thursday at 3’ in Youngstown; ‘Midtown Brews’ in Cleveland; ‘Evenings at the House’ in Indianapolis; ‘Smaller Indiana’—a group of 700 across the state. This is all growing because more and more people are understanding that the old way just doesn’t work.”


Round 4

6.2..08 47



Ed: “I am looking for a scalable model. My current focus is teaching the I-Open model with a belief that if it is teachable, it is scaleable. Not scaleable in the vertical industrial philosophy of creating a huge organization , but in the “open network model” where you can spread these practices.” Mack: “CRI has this scalable model that can emanate into a concrete model of economic development. CRI has an actual model that can network an entire city on the commonality of caring.” Mack: “A social technology is a set of practices that illustrate how to place human relational principles into a systematic process that can be replicated over and over again. Understanding those principles (e.g., one of those principles is that we are free to act) and using them in a practical methodology to structure our inter relationships allows us to transform our environment (i.e., it changes us and it changes our entire environment). This is why I consider the term social technology appropriate for the CRI model. Is the social technology coming in time to stop the collapse of our society (the 33rd to follow the path to collapse)?” Ed: “Can we transfer our 1st curve assets to a 2nd curve economy? If we can’t, those assets will become irrelevant in the 2nd curve” (collapsing of 1st curve economy). Mack: “Clark Maxwell, a brain with toenails, said, ‘Any assessment of history that does not take into account the possibility of miracle is a false assessment of history.’ He defined miracle as that which occurs within history, not outside of history, but statistically is so infinitesimally small that no one notices when it happens. He described the phenomena in an essay called ‘Singular Points’. The more complex the society, the more the possibility for singular points to occur that will change everything. We may be at one of those singular points. Who notices this singular event today and what we are doing with these conversations and staying up all night to explore these ideas? Who knows? While society is on a downward cycle, uncovering the power of the network through converging I-Open and CRI models, could be one of those singular points, those miracles, that changes the direction and moves society upward. I heard this today.”


Round 4

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Ed: “We are inventing new language. I tend to think about the challenge we face as reinventing and redesigning our civic spaces because all the things we care about take place in our civic spaces. We have allowed our civic spaces to be vandalized. We currently think that holding a conversation on critical issues is yelling at one another on Fox News. That is as far away as you can get from having a civic conversation in my book. We need to rebuild these civic spaces, not only the physical spaces, but we need to build the models, the tools that will enable us to get where we need to go. I have hope because of the “power of the network”. I have seen it happening. The shifting power comes from opportunities.” Ed: “The demographic shift is the first generation coming to adulthood in the internet age. The Internet is our first interactive mass media; and we still don’t understand it’s potential. It holds tremendous potential. The Internet enables us to have mass communication. It changes fundamentally the concept of “nation state” toward “region states”. It changes the role of University in creating civic spaces, and changes the role of education. The most important thing it changes is the “way we think”, changing from vertical thinking to network thinking. We are talking about cognitive models—the way we think. If you know how you think, the patterns of thought—you can choose how you think. If we can create powerful experiences where people walk away saying “Wow, I never thought about that! Networks of the willing. I don't have the time to try to convince people. If I can figure out how to do this in Shreveport, I can do it anywhere.” Ed: “John Quincy Adams quote, ‘If you inspire people to do more, think more, be more, then you are a leader.’ At a Council of Competitiveness meeting, in Washington D.C., when asked how to identify regional leaders I responded, ‘The regional leaders are those being followed.’ If they have the integrity, compassion, trustworthiness to be followed by people, they are the leaders. It has nothing to do with position. You find these leaders.” Ed tells the Phil Lane Story to explain how creating trusted civic spaces can identify real leaders and lead to innovation and prosperity :


Round 4

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Ed: “I got a call expressing interest in one of our ‘Case Forums’ on Bio-Fuels—’What would N.E. Ohio look like as a national leader in Bio-Fuels development?’. The Caller: “I would like to come to the Forum”. Ed: “Great; come on!” Caller: “Well, I don’t have a coat and tie”. Ed: “That’s okay; you don’t need a coat and tie”. Caller: “I will be in overalls”. Ed: “That’s okay”. Caller: “Well, I’m coming from work and they will be dirty”. Ed: “That’s okay”. Caller: “I am a mechanic in East Cleveland” [the poorest section of Cleveland]. Ed: “Don’t worry about it, just come on down”. Caller: “How will I get past security”? Ed: “Just come on. I will see that you get past security. By-the-way, what is your name?” Caller: “Phil Lane”. “Phil came to the meeting. He is a big guy, probably the only white living in a black neighborhood. He runs an auto repair shop. At the first meeting he attended, he doesn’t say a word. At the second of a series of meetings, he asked a simple question about Bio-Fuels. One of our group responds and answers the question. The third week he gives the group a lesson about Bio-Fuels. It turns out Phil is unbelievably knowledgeable about Bio-Fuels. He builds cars that run on Bio-Diesel and knows all about Bio-Diesel. Phil is now the Chief Technology Officer of a Bio-Fuel Company. You have no idea where your leaders will come from. They are not on any organizational chart. Until you have regular civic forums, you will not understand what your opportunities are. The story about Phil Lane comes down to this: • What was Phil doing at the first meeting when he didn’t say

anything? He was watching how people behave. • What do you think he was doing at the 2nd meeting? Did he

know the answer to the simple question he asked? Yes, he knew. He wanted to know how he would be treated with a simple question. Would he be ridiculed? Would he be treated with respect?

• It was only at the third meeting that Phil chose to reveal his gifts to the group. That is why civic forums are important. It is a process, not a series of events. More and more people will join the process as you demonstrate the basic values of respect and trustworthiness. Phil Lane is my poster child for why we are creating new civic spaces.”


Round 4

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Mack: “Scott Peck’s book ‘The Different Drummer: Community Making and Peace’, discusses the building of community. Here we are on the verge of a worldwide community through the internet. Connections are important in who we have access to and how we sustain those connections. We also must have a geographical connection, because we all live someplace. If we do not build connection to those around us, the virtual community is not strong enough to stop the implosion of the civic spaces around us. Community must include place. Are you hooked to your neighbors? Both virtual and place communities are very powerful with the potential for Quality Connected Places.” “Both I-Open and CRI models are not rigid formulas and can be modified and shaped to different environments. Both are at pilot scale and growing.” Resistance Forces, Navigating the Maze of Good and Evil: Don’t be naïve, forces attempt to block transformational work. Forces resisting the second curve economy of open networks are often manifested in organizations created in the first curve economy. The vertical decision-making structure that created these businesses and organizations is threatened (e.g., “command and control” or “benevolent dictatorship” are among terms descriptive of vertical decision-making). Examples of these organizations include established economic development organizations such as chambers of commerce and foundations. Ed and Mack suggested the following two books to assist in understanding this resistance to positive change and innovation: • Scott Peck’s book, People of the Lie: The Hope of Healing

Human Evil, is an exploration of evil. There are people in power that have the characteristics Peck describes. If you have a new paradigm, some people feel threatened and they will try to destroy you. Ed and Mack have encountered this resistance. When the light is turned on, there are huge forces that will seek to turn that light out. If you are involved in a new paradigm you must recognize evil.


Round 4

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• Eric Fromm’s Book, The Heart of Man, It’s Genius for Good & Evil, talks about Narcissism and Group Narcissism. You must recognize evil within the system and within human beings and how to meet that challenge. This evil is beyond competition; it is people that will actually try to destroy you.

One of the analogies Mack describes occurred in his experience pastoring when the CRI model came to him. When he attempted to begin this new paradigm he encountered resistance and physical threats. This was his suffering and preparation for what he would encounter in working for change. Ed described his being fired at Case and an experience in Shreveport where he encountered evil and personal attacks to destroy him financially and to run him out of town. He gave an example of a Fortune 100 Company that asked him to publish a study they had done to show why they shouldn’t pay more taxes. They wanted the Case brand on their work. Ed refused. The Company Foundation then withheld annual funding they had given for 20 years. This was one of a series of retribution events that led to Ed’s firing for creating new civic spaces. One of the last evil control measures was when the Dean said, I want to review and edit every e-mail Ed intends to send. Ed spread the word through the internet when he got fired for doing good and his principles. The bloggers called Ed wanting to know what happened. The bloggers went to work and a business publication called the Dean, and he lied about the reason for the firing saying he did not show up for work. Ed’s trusted network allowed him to combat and thrive despite the aggressive threats and actions. When you do innovate, you do threaten evil people who will act out against you. Networks can be good or evil. Mack described the current CRI / I-Open paradigms to an analogy of the new paradigm represented by the Revolutionary War. “We don’t ask anyone’s permission to serve. We just do it. There are always those groups and individuals that feel threatened by turning on the light. The nobility of every community has a means of withholding resources to turn out the light on new models or paradigms.”


Round 4

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Ed: “Part of the strategy to stop transformative work is the personal shaming of those involved in new paradigms. This is extremely hurtful and destructive and causes personal transformation that first crushes you. Why would anyone do this? How can anyone be so mean? If you continue, this same retribution can happen again. There can be times of isolation where the evil network positions you as—what is wrong with you? If you can persist despite this loneliness, you can become dangerous to the evil network.” Ed’s persistence of his networks was demonstrated by the picketing on his behalf at Case and his refusal to move out of Cleveland. “You find out who your friends are when you are under attack.” Ed: “You become who is in your trusted networks. Connecting assets is the power of the network.” Networks become a link and leverage strategy. For example, Purdue Business School and the Indiana State Agriculture Department connected through “strategic doing” networks to create a statewide rural economy resource for no cost. The innovation in this instance is taking a tremendous knowledge resource at Purdue and figuring out where the information could make an impact and how to make the information resource broadly available by designating a Purdue computer in each Agriculture Extension Office throughout the state. The innovation is the result of converging networks that had not been connected. These types of innovative outcomes are the result of moving in the direction of our positive conversations in civic space. “The “soft stuff” (caring relationships) is the “hard stuff” (innovation and prosperity) as we shift from an old economy based on supplying goods to a new economy based on the integration of new knowledge with goods and services.”


Round 4

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The Charrette

Design Principles that support CRI work of making Whole Persons



SafetySafety






EducationEducation

Village Structure as a Competitive CommunityVillage Structure as a Competitive Community

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AIA Livability Principals

1. Design on a Human Scale

2. Provide Choices

3. Mixed-Use Development

4. Preserve Urban Centers

5. Transportation Options

6. Build Vibrant Public Spaces

7. Create Neighborhood Identity

8. Protect Environmental Resources

9. Conserve Landscapes

10.Design Matters

Smart Growth Principals

1. Mix Land Uses2. Compact Building Design3. Housing Opportunities &

Choices4. Walkable Communities5. Distinctive, Attractive

Communities with strong sense of place

6. Preserve open space, farmland, natural beauty & critical environmental areas

7. Strengthen & direct development toward existing communities

8. Variety of transportation choices9. Predictable, fair & cost effective

development decisions10. Community & Stakeholder

Collaboration

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6.2..08 54


The Charrette

CRI is building human capital by developing a social technology that is increasingly viewed as the foundation or underpinning for sustainable communities. The CRI methodology of building community block-by-block and neighborhood-by-neighborhood through systematic caring relationships works with remarkable results. The application of this CRI social technology includes the following physical presence strategies: • A Haven House on each block of a community (A block is considered to be on

average 20 homes). CRI has estimated that at full implementation 5,000 Haven Houses will be established in Shreveport / Bossier demonstration of the model.

• In high crime and low income neighborhoods place 2 Friendship Houses for each

30 block area (approximately 1,800 people or 600 residential units).

Design Principles that support CRI work of making Whole Persons

Community Renewal Office

• Assess• Organize• Recruit and Train• Funding• Coordinate &

Support Programs• Document• Research & Development• Model Replication

ICU Neighborhood• Build trust by serving• Establish 2 Friendship Houses• 1800 people / 600 families• Community Coordinator Families

are role models• Target high crime low income

neighborhoods

Neighborhood 10ICU

Neighborhood 9ICU

Neighborhood 8ICU

Neighborhood 7ICU

Neighborhood 6ICU

Neighborhood 5ICU

Neighborhood 4ICU

Neighborhood 3ICU

Neighborhood 2ICU

Neighborhood 1ICU

The Renewal Team• Connecting Caring People• “We Care” commitment campaign• Commit to Caring Acts• Make Caring Acts Visible• Image of a Caring Community• Target is all Caring People

Haven Houses• Trained Volunteer Block Leaders• Commit to make Friends on block• Encourage Collaboration to make

safe and healthy environments• Bi-monthly meetings of all Haven House Leaders• Target every block in the Community

Community Renewal Organizational Network

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A decision to shift the foundation of a community to an intentional methodology of mutually enhancing relationships (MER) will impact the environment (natural and built). What does the I-Open model “quality connected place” really mean? What is the CRI model role/philosophy concerning place?” After listening and asking questions through the events of the first day charrette teams gathered for a facilitated group discussion. The consensus was that each team would focus on developing design principles that support CRI making “whole persons”. These principles are organized around sectors of community as defined by the CRI “village structure”: housing, safety, meaningful work, education, health, culture of caring, appreciative leadership and the foundational element that holds community together, mutually enhancing relationships (MER). The charrette teams were given a design program statement prior to the Think Tank Charrette (TTC) along with the participant white papers (Refer to the appendix for this information). The work of the charrette is a beginning point to develop principles and policies to guide physical growth patterns (both new development and redevelopment) of communities making “whole persons”. There are opportunities for both academic and professional partnerships to further develop and test Think Tank Charrette ideas. Among these opportunities are: • Planning strategies that organize conversations around the CRI “village structure”

elements. A community planning process that blends the I-Open and CRI models could lead to a new comprehensive planning paradigm to move communities to the opportunities of the second curve economy. Such a planning process may lead to more dynamically sustainable communities with an engaged citizenry that continually plans, prioritizes and implements connected ideas to enhance unique values of communities – socially and economically.

• Models for community schools / learning centers that are more strongly connected to people living in the surrounding neighborhood.

• Housing diversity and mixed income neighborhoods. • The role of the front porch on the safety of streets. How can front porches become

a more expressive art form that adds uniqueness to neighborhoods? • How can commercial centers in neighborhoods better connect to residential options

and serve as business incubators for neighborhood entrepreneurs? What are size and character options for these centers?

• Sidewalk, street and public amenities that support building community. What are the design principles and concept options for public amenities? What are current practices that send the wrong message (e.g., fences around schools that say “neighborhood we fear you so keep out” or “our fence signals that we run a detention center”).

The Charrette Design Principles that support CRI work of making Whole Persons

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Current patterns of growth in Shreveport and Bossier are sprawling with few attempts toward more compact development. Current policies that encourage these inefficient development patterns are also separating rich and poor families in a manner that creates an oppressive environment. These physical development realities reflect poorly on the entire region. The poor are literally stuck in neighborhoods of high crime and poverty with little hope of improving their condition. Residents of these neighborhoods have no confidence in the ability of political and community leaders to effectively address the problems. As wealth isolates itself behind gated communities farther away from poverty the problems worsen. Jobs follow migrating wealth and citizens living in poverty do not have reliable means of affordable transportation to consistently get to those jobs. The cycle is illogical, expensive and wasteful of human potential and public dollars. Currently there are approximately 54,000 people out of approximately 300,000 people in Shreveport/Bossier living in poverty. The CRI methodology represents an approach that provides hope and a replicable model to bring entire regions together around common foundational principles of caring relationships. Evaluating our current development patterns based on these transcendent relational principles can reveal policies that are working against “making whole persons”. Conversely, these same principles can be used to validate smarter patterns of growth and new concepts that emerge through further research and development of the CRI model. The transformational work of think tank participants provide valuable knowledge to add to the CRI model in shaping design principles for physical environments that support making “whole persons”. The TTC process of learning and “knowledge convergence” will result in improvements to existing design / planning disciplines. The process will also likely result in new knowledge and applications as partners develop ideas uncovered through the TTC process. The following comments and questions are flip chart notes from think tank participant conversations during round 1. These comments are directed to qualities of a physical environment that supports making “whole persons”. What environment adds to the process of making “Whole Persons”? • Where are Social Spaces (3rd places)? • Variety of Housing Typologies • Variety of Scale/Diversity


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Desirable Outcomes • Public Spaces between Activity Centers – Squares, Plazas, Streets inviting to

pedestrian activities. • Front Porches – Eyes on the Streets – design concepts provide a natural means of

safety (community policing) • “Resilient Kids” (Life can be consumed by basic needs – obstacle to getting out of

poverty) • Adult in Child’s life (Parent, Coach, Teacher) • Skill one can point to – Knowing how to map out skills in your life. • Optimism/Hope – Community Expectation and Ambition. • Altruism (I am my brothers keeper) – Volunteerism/Giving Back • I feel safe Community Response • Trusted Friend • Think about neighborhood assets (Churches, Parks, Art, Community Garden) • Looking at the surrounding neighborhood through a “New Lens” – a Trusted Friend Work from the Charrette The following pages illustrate the work of the charrette teams and list principles for each of the areas explored during the course of the night of February 9, 2008. the work sets forth a beginning design / planning principles in the areas of safe environment, education environment, housing / neighborhood environment and meaningful work environments.


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Safe Environment Principles • Eyes on the Street

• Front Porches overlooking streets • Limited Gaps between buildings

• House/Building fronts near street (minimum set back) • Integrate Parks and Neighborhood

• Permeability (no security fences) • Houses facing parks – eyes on park

• Commercial Corridors designed to help define communities and provide social interaction areas – sidewalk entries connected to streets – pay attention to pedestrian connections from commercial areas to residential areas.

• Lighting – Streets and Sidewalks • Pedestrian Scale • Porch Lighting

Planning Neighborhoods with Friendship Houses 1,800 people or 600 residential units

Village Center Linear Central Commons

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Education Environment Principles • Programmatic Design Criteria – Outreach Connection to Friendship House (F.H.)

for teaching programs from Community College, Vo Tech, that are held in Friendship Houses.

• Pedestrian Preference for walking to school and riding bikes • Temporary buildings send a negative image of self-worth to neighborhood – Build

quality with long term in mind. • Define neighborhood relationships between Schools, the surrounding community

and Friendship Houses. • Adjacency • Walking paths to connect civic engagement spaces/parks/schools/friendship

houses • No fences around schools to keep out or separate neighborhood (permeability) • School as an identity for the surrounding neighborhood – Architectural Quality and

Detail.

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• Small School concepts should be explored with intentional programmatic and design connections to surrounding neighborhoods

• How many 1,800 person ICU units are needed to sustain a school population

• Explore K-8 concepts with school size around 500 • Explore Learning Community Concepts (program and design ) and Schools

as centers of community • Include shared use and funding strategies– parks, libraries, clinics…

Education Environment Principles (continued)

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“Uniqueness to build togetherness. I think this is right." Jack Calhoun:

Housing Environment Principles Authenticity and uniqueness should be important qualities in the C.R.I. transformation model. Mass Customization applied at a community capacity building scale could possibly aid in affordable unique solutions (this idea deserves further exploration within the context of sustainable communities). DESIGN IS A HIGH PRIORITY in building quality, unique Communities – Good design should not be captive to wealth – Quality and uniqueness can become additional symbols of societal collapse if associated with symptoms such as sprawl, rich/poor divide…….. • Variety of sizes and scale • Mix of rent and home owner • Manage Real Estate values to sustain mix of incomes • Will neighborhoods become unaffordable or push existing residents out as they

improve?

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• Encourage Garage Apartments, Granny Flats or other configurations of single rental units connected to a home

• Variety of styles, colors porches • Friendship Houses should be unique to each neighborhood • New strategies for design, development and financing are needed to encourage

scale diversity as part of more comprehensive community vision of mixed income neighborhoods (plan models that organize conversations around the CRI model or “village structure” – programs, partners, design)

• Current model of a two Friendship House • A Friendship model in a village commercial center • Friendship Houses should fit the environment they are located in

• Haven Houses and Friendship Houses in different densities – Urban & Rural

• Single Family detached • Row Housing • Mid and High Rise Housing

Housing Environment Principles (continued)

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• Schools available for recreation • Consider Health Clinics at Schools • “Care Caddy” (mobile health care concept) connection to Friendship House • Bike racks at public places • Live/Work environment – Pedestrian scale commercial streets • Traffic calming within neighborhoods and neighborhood commercial areas. People

1st and cars 2nd pedestrian preference environments

Housing Environment Principles • A healthy community is not an isolated Community • Sidewalks • Parks • Bike paths/linear parks connect neighborhoods throughout entire communities • Friendship House as Community Center – Playground

Gateways and Pedestrian Preference

Traffic Calming at intersections

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• Residents helping re-build neighborhoods • Training and Nurturing Business formation • Assess talent, skills and create business center/commercial corridor of character

that connects to the surrounding neighborhood as described in the Safe Environment Principles

• Friendship House as part of incubation, workforce programs

Meaningful Work Environment Principles • Fulfilling work in the neighborhood • Volunteerism that improves quality of environment

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The Think Tank Charrette (TTC) proved to be a series of learning conversations. Among the most significant developments was exploring connections between the CRI model and the I-Open model of Open Economic Networks. Both philosophies stress the strategic importance of intentional caring relationships as fundamental to prosperous and healthy communities. Both logic models demonstrate practical strategies for focused systemic change. The partnership that is forming between the two organizations is a direct outcome of the TTC event. Among the next steps is the emersion of both organizations into each model for the purpose of combined presentations and development of metrics. The connecting lines on the diagrams on this page begin to illustrate how the two models overlay on one another.


Conclusion, Agreements & key developments from the 1st CRI TTC



SafetySafety






EducationEducation

g

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The Think Tank Charrette (TTC) process appears to be an effective tool for CRI as a research and development strategy. Replicating this process can connect knowledge networks to explore innovations and mutually enhancing relationships between individuals and organizations working to transform communities as a means to transform society. The process is a blending of established processes for think tanks and design charrettes. This appears to be an innovation not previously been attempted. The TTC process itself should be further evaluated for improvements and documentation. Identifying individuals to bring to a think tank can be an ongoing process for CRI. Documenting the work of other organizations that can connect to the CRI model is part of assembling the CRI body of knowledge for training communities around the world. One of the significant challenges for CRI discussed throughout the event was securing funding and convincing funders that investment in developing the practical tools and replication methodology for sustainably building caring relationships should be a top priority. Jack Calhoun, Bruce Daigle and Ed Morrison cited examples in their work that emphasize the importance of caring relationships in achieving success in safe communities, education, leadership and economic development. Although the importance is accepted as fundamental funders continue to look for “gadgets” rather than investing in the relational software for a sustainable civilization. Documenting the appropriate metrics to prove the positive outcomes of CRI social technology is important in convincing funders that there is a significant return on investment (ROI) by accelerating the ongoing work and development of CRI. The formational partnership between CRI and I-Open and I-Open networks holds promise for developing metrics of an emerging economy. During the conversations of TTC round 4 Mack McCarter commented, “I see for the first time a fundamental question answered for our CRI model, the whole economic system based upon the power of the network.” The think tank participants produced additional ideas for metrics and developed new strategies that grew from their conversations during the TTC event. Action has begun on several of these strategies. As of the writing of this report the following actions


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suggested during the TTC are advancing: • Open house where Teachers come to Friendship House for

relational connection to the families and neighborhood. • Mentor programs for students administered through Friendship

Houses, Haven Houses and We Care Teams in partnership with school system.

• Workforce Development by bringing existing programs or new variations of existing programs to Friendship Houses for skills and entrepreneurship training.

• Use Friendship House to change expectations of children of the uneducated. Friendship is a portal for changing lives and expectations.

• Nurture Small Business/Entrepreneurship through Friendship Houses. Assist in mapping out life strategies (mentoring). Programs to help residents participate in building / re-building neighborhoods.

• CRI and I-Open are now part of a “network of the willing” and agree to explore partnership activities between CRI and I-Open.

• I-Open conducted a workshop May 4-6, 2008 for CRI staff and other key people.

• Work has begun to integrate the two (2) stories/presentations (CRI and I-Open).

• CRI and CERT (Consortium for Education Research & technology) representatives will attend an Edward Lowe Foundation retreat to continue to explore tools and teaching the I-Open model June 17-19, 2008.

Additional ideas, strategies and agreements are explored throughout this document. The importance of building network partners as a CRI strategy for learning was revealed during the TTC when Mack requested that I-Open agree to have a presence in the National Center for Community Renewal so that the training curricula include teaching the open economic networks model. Mack also requested that Ed be a featured speaker at a summit of foundations to be held later this year or early 2009. The purpose of this summit is to obtain funding for taking the CRI model from its current pilot scale to a community wide demonstration project. Ed


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has agreed to both of these requests. To demonstrate how the partnership of CRI and I-Open is emerging Ed posted the following on May 23,2008 during an online discussion in a new Civic Space called Brewed Fresh Daily: “New models of inner city development are emerging around open networks. Gentrification rhetoric (“the right people living in this town”) and ‘fixing problems’ (housing, education, crime) reflect tired thinking that do not lead anywhere. The challenge and opportunity for wealth creation come in re-imagining communities and economies in our inner city neighborhoods. This is the strategy taking place in Shreveport, La. (and 10+ other cities) with Community Renewal International. I-Open is working with CRI on replicating this network-based model to build prosperity.” The CRI methodology represents an approach that provides hope and a replicable model to bring entire regions together around common foundational principles of caring relationships. Evaluating our current development patterns based on these transcendent relational principles can reveal policies that are working against “making whole persons”. Conversely, these same principles can be used to validate smarter patterns of growth and new concepts that emerge through further research and development of the CRI model. The transformational work of think tank participants provide valuable knowledge to add to the CRI model in shaping design principles for physical environments that support making “whole persons”. The continued TTC process of learning and “knowledge convergence” will result in improvements to existing design / planning disciplines. The process will also likely result in new knowledge and applications as partners develop ideas uncovered through the TTC process. Among the many likely outcomes from further exploring the CRI model are new comprehensive planning processes, new physical models for neighborhoods, schools, and new models of civic gathering spaces.


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Agenda

Charrette Program

Think Tank Charrette Room Layout

Community Renewal White Paper

Jack Calhoun Information

Bruce Daigle Information

I-Open White Paper on Open Economic Networks

Ed Morrison PowerPoint presentation to Think Tank

Pat Cooper White Paper Information and articles

R.J. Stidham Information

Appendix (assembled as a separate document with items listed below)

“For the city should be an organ of love; and the best economy of cities is the care and culture of men.”

Lewis Mumford

from The City in History—Its Origins, Its Transformations and Its Prospects

Community Renewal International Think Tank Charrette

February 8-9, 2008

Honing the Relationships of Transformation

final report 6.2.08

Design

think tank process

think tank participants

cri centenary college

community renewal nccr

civic engagement aia

national aia

charrette round

cri model safety