³At It Is In Heaven² and other inspirations
Ted Heinz
Last night we saw the movie ³As It Is In Heaven². It really does seem to be
speaking to the truths revealed in Dynamic Facilitation. And, by the way,
not only does it inspire visions of choice creating community, it is a great
movie in its own right.
Over the past few days I have been probing possibilities for community
building/empowerment initiatives here in my hometown of Union City and more
specifically for my neighborhood called Decoto (about 3,000 households, an
interesting history of old town, new development, generations of Hispanic
immigrants as well as other ethnic groups). For me the ideal would be the
Wisdom Council model, but as I converse with community residents and
leaders, I want to be open to all possibilities. I am somewhat nervous, not
sure how feasible it is for me to take this on, but at this point I am
following my inner passion.
I am reaching out to you all to see if you have suggestions for how best to
bring this about, even as I move forward, talking with people and committing
myself more and more as each day goes by.
There are a few things that have spurred me to action at this time. One is
the obvious need for thoughtful dialog and choice creating in our country
and world today. Another is the announcement by the local school district
that it wants to create a ³Kids Zone² modeled after the ³Harlem Kids Zone²ŠŠ
and, this in the context of other initiatives that are happening with the
intention of creating a better environment for the young people of this
neighborhood.
Then, a week ago, Friday I attended the San Francisco NCDD Public Engagement
conference held in Cupertino. A key conclusion for me, from that
conference, is that, community empowerment/community building is what¹s
important, not so much special projects and programs; and more than the
public¹s participation in policy decision making, community
building/empowerment is both the beginning place as well as the ongoing
benefit of true public engagement.
Another factor in my decision to act on my instincts, now, was my frustrated
attempt last year to block the elementary school from building a high
security fence around the school in order to prevent vandalism. The school
was not facing up to root causes. The worse thing, though, wasn't that the
fence went up and that the neighborhood children no longer have access to
the playground on weekends and during the summer; what was more disturbing
was the apathy and ³nobody ever listens to us² passivity in the neighborhood
Now the school district seems to be proposing a plan to deal with the
fundamental issues limiting the success of young people in the neighborhood.
But, it seems to be a project largely coming from the top down. I doubt
that the school district plan will have a significant impact unless the
residents of this area begin to experience their own voices. I think the
real impact would come from choice creating experiences and the ongoing
building of strong community.
I am wondering what trained, experienced facilitators might be available. I
certainly am not prepared to do facilitating at this level.
Whatever we do, we will need to deal with costs and thoughtfully develop
strategies.
Looking forward to your comments and suggestions.
Ted
Harriet Whitman Lee
I send you my best thoughts and support for your efforts in your
neighborhood and community work.
You might want to check out Restorative Justice. Restorative Justice
Oakland Youth, RJOY is working to offer circles for various kinds of
problems
the Oakland School Board has adopted Restorative Justice as the first
thing to be done in matters of school discipline, before any other
possible actions.
There is a Restorative Justice Task Force for Alameda County that has
drawn together Juvenile Judge, District Attorney, Public Defender,
Schools,
Services that render RJ services, community leaders, all with the aim
to stop the school-pipeline to prison dynamic.
SEEDS (the organization for which I am a volunteer) has a Restorative
Justice program in the Longfellow Middle School in Berkeley in which
our RJ coordinator
is on site (on a part time basis at this time) to conduct circles for
all kinds of issues and to promote knowledge about circles and skills
in conducting
circles in all persons (students, teachers, admin, parents, community
leaders) so that circles become the community norm for handling
community problems.
Our aim is to identify and train community people to conduct circles
so that (by contrast to our offering mediation services) the people
do it themselves
and are not using services that we provide.
I hope you will not find this entry as irrelevant. I have been
following the on-line DF discussions off and on, and find the
concepts discussed very
relevant to the volunteer work that I do. You could google SEEDS CRC
Restorative Justice, RJOY, and the broader topic Restorative Justice.
See if you get helpful ideas and also feel you are not alone.
Again I commend you for your forging ahead. Keep up the good work
yowh (=your old white haired)
harriet
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