Smart Communities

Scranton: Makes Going to the OFFICE Fun

Last night was the season premier of The Office. In one of the great examples of taking advantage of an opportunity, the real Scranton is embracing its new fame. While some of the sites mentioned in the sit-com are made-up--there is no Hooters or Benihana in Scranton--others are not. The visitor's bureau is thinking about an "Office Tour", there will be an Office Convention in Scranton in October, and the sign in front of City Hall says sponsored by Dunder Mifflin (the fictitious company in the show). In an article in Wednesday's Washington Post,"Scranton, Making All the Dwight Moves" reporter Jen Chaney cites lots of real things happening in Scranton especially its downtown revitalization but highlights how the television show is changing things in a positive way. Take a look at the article and the video.

Scranton gets it as Providence did a few years ago. If you are getting free publicity once a week from a leading television show, take advantage of it.  While Scranton has a distinguished history on its own, its new-found fame as the place where Michael, Jim, Dwight, and Pam live (in the show) gives it new cache.

Billings is a Magic City

I am in Billings, MT today to do a Smart Communities seminar at the invitation of the Urban Institute at Montana State University-Billings. What a wonderful community! During our time together we will be looking at the many assets of Billings and how to use them more strategically for the future. With an unemployment rate of two percent, one wonders "What's the problem?" Our conversations are less about the problems and more about the tremendous opportunities of this regional center. Billings falls into our category of "metropolitowns"--places with 50,000 to 250,000 in populations with amenities that rival big cities. At about 100,000 residents, Billings offers a high quality of life. The challenge and opportunity is to position Billings to thrive economically while maintaining that lifestyle. As we say, "a great place to live and do business." I highly recommend Billings on both counts.

LeadershipPlenty Has Banner Year

The unofficial but reliable numbers are in--more than 4,200 people were trained in all nine modules already in 2007 according to the early survey results from the Northwest Area Foundation's Horizons program. Add to that the programs in as many as 20 other states and we know that we have thousands of new leaders with 21st century skills. We also know that many of these communities are gearing up for a second round of fall programs.

Our goal when LeadershipPlenty was created was to make leadership training available to every person in the country. While we have a long way to go, I can see the vision being realized this year. We are revising the curriculum now and adding a youth version to make it even more relevant to the challenges and opportunities that communities face. LeadershipPlenty includes the skills that people need to manage every part of their life better not just their community.

I think my friend and collegue, Jean Burkhardt, who directs the Horizons program at the Northwest Area Foundation gets to the crux of why LeadershipPlenty and why we do what we do:

Can there be anything more exciting than watching a tiny rural or reservation come alive with hope? We have now watched more than 200 small communities step up to take on an enormous challenge--poverty. They have built skills and relationships during LeadershipPlenty tm and mobilized thousands of people to develop compelling community visions that move themselves from poverty to prosperity, from talk to action, from despair to hope.

Smart Communities Seminar at Virginia Tech

This fall (November 5-6) we will launch our first Smart Communities national and international open enrollment seminar in partnership with the Center for Organizational and Technological Advancement at Virginia Tech. Part of VT's ongoing efforts at outreach and civic engagement, these seminars are designed to offer participants the latest research on what works but also data on their own community presented in a unique format at the wonderful Hotel Roanoke in Roanoke, VA.

Over the last year, the Pew Partnership has compiled a database and rating system on 380 American communities. This information has been applied to our Thriving Communities model to determine what cities are working well and why. In the seminar, we will be sharing this information and also examples of what makes a great city. To get an overview of the seminar visit the Pew Partnership web site. Hope to see a team from your community in November.

Community Colleges at Forefront

Last week I was the convocation speaker at Danville Community College (DCC), Danville, VA. One is the Virginia system of 22 colleges, DCC serves the geographic area of Danville City and the counties of Pittsylvania and Halifax. It like its 1200 other brother and sister community colleges around the country are meeting a vital need in our educational system. There are 11.6 million students attending community colleges in the United states--6.5 million for credit and 5 million for non-credit. What does that mean? Fifty percent of all new nurses and a majority of health care providers are educated by community colleges to name only one field. Businesses are turning more and more to community colleges for workforce preparation. That is often where the non-credit students participate. Many are pursuing non-degree or certificate programs in everything from computer-assisted design to heating and air conditioning repair. Community colleges are often the lifelong learning route for people who want to return to school.

Danville Community College is particularly interesting because of its cutting edge work in workforce development. Its state-of-the-art Regional Center for Advanced Technology & Training is a remarkable facility. With the acquistion of its Selective Laser Sintering capability, it became the only community college in the country to offer this level of product development support to client industries. As Danville and surrounding counties reposition themselves in the global economy from textiles and tobacco, the community college and the collaborative Institute for Advanced Learning and Research are leading the way.

Over the coming weeks I will be profiling communities that are being proactive about their future--not just preparing people for the jobs we know about now but new jobs that will come with changes and advances in technology. That is where community colleges are so critical--that can literally change the future of our workforce by preparation, but as important, and by working with industry to determine the needs of the future.

STEP UP Gets Deserved Attention

With the announcement that the Open Meadow STEP UP Program received the 2007 Civic Change Award, local and statewide media took notice. An article in The Oregonian, interviews on Oregon Public Radio, and a nightly news feature on television, are testament that STEP UP has a story to tell. Over the coming weeks we will be discussing more about the elements that make STEP UP successful and how other communities can use what they have learned to keep students in school. Congratulations STEP UP.

Open Meadow-STEP UP Wins Civic Change Award

The Pew Partnership for Civic Change is pleased to announce Open Meadow Alternative School’s STEP UP Program as the winner of the 2007 Civic Change Award. The annual award goes to individuals and organizations that are changing communities and the people who live in them in profound ways.

“This pioneering program means a larger number of eighth graders in Portland, Oregon, have a much better chance of getting to the first rung on the ladder of lifetime success—a high school diploma,” said Dr. Suzanne W. Morse, president of the Pew Partnership. “The STEP UP Program epitomizes what communities can do when they come together to support young people.”

STEP UP received the award for their creative and inventive approach to preparing at-risk eighth graders for high school. STEP UP is a collaborative program developed in 2003 by Open Meadow to ease what is often a tumultuous transition to high school and increase the high school graduation rate. STEP UP helps students who are falling behind by providing adult mentors, academic tutoring, pre-freshman year leadership camp, parental involvement activities, life skill development and teacher support. This program helps foster caring, ongoing relationships between adult mentors and students, with a focus on both academic and emotional support.

“STEP UP students have to believe they’re determined, intelligent people; that has to be a part of their identity,” explains Open Meadow STEP UP Program Director Hanif Fazal.  “I tell them, ‘these things that happen in your life are going to be the reasons you fall apart or they are going to be the reasons that you have the biggest impact on the world.’”

“I learned that it is better to be yourself rather than be someone else.  I also learned I’m very strong and I can do anything,” said one STEP UP Summer Camp participant.

There are many indicators that STEP UP is making real improvement for students.  On average, STEP UP students have a 27% better grade average than their school peers.  But among the many success statistics, one stands out above the rest: Of the 351 ninth grade students who participated in the program in 2005-06, every student remained enrolled in school at the end of the school year.

“We are so honored to be given this prestigious award,” said Andrew Mason, Executive Director of Open Meadow. “We know that reaching students in that critical time between 8th grade and high school makes all the difference in helping them succeed in school and our communities.  It validates the recent decision to expand STEP UP to two more Portland high schools.”

In the pre-freshman year leadership camp, STEP UP students bond together, helping to develop a strong cohort that will take them through high school and ultimately connect them to their schools and their communities.  The full program begins in middle school and extends through sophomore year of high school.  Partners in the program include the City of Portland, Comcast Foundation, PGE Foundation, University of Portland, and the Portland Trailblazers.

“Because of our emphasis on getting all eighth graders ready for high school in the Pew Partnership’s Learning to Finish campaign, STEP UP is a model for all communities—large and small—on how to get involved and make a difference, “ said, Alma Powell, national board chair of the Pew Partnership

The Pew Partnership for Civic Change was founded in 1993 as a civic research organization. Using research, strategic seminars, and broad-based leadership development, it has helped hundreds of communities nationwide achieve a more thriving economic and civic life.

               
                        

Preserving the Past

I devote a chapter in Smart Communities to "Preserving the Past," because I believe that understanding and celebrating where you came from builds community on the one hand and brings in the tourists on the other. Some folks in Virginia seem to agree. In an article today in The Washington Post, "In Farmville, Va, Landmarks of a Landmark Case," reporter David Hoff, profiles the town and its efforts to preserve a painful history. Virginia was at the center of the school desegregation movement and the small town of Farmville was in the eye of the storm. A case against the Prince Edward School Board (Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County) was one of four desegregation cases that reached the Supreme Court in the early fifties. They merged the cases and gave top billing to what is now know as Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka.

This is all said as background to Farmville's efforts to preserve the landmarks of that case. The only school for blacks in the fifties, Moton High School, is now the Robert Russa Moton Museum. This is a stop on the Virginia's Civil Rights in Education Heritage Trail which includes 13 counties and 41 sites.

It is important that we understand our history as painful as it is. It is important to the community to embrace what was and what is. The motto for the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute in Birmingham, AL that I write about in the book is "Inspired by the Past. A Vision for the Future." That is the goal of preserving the past.

Education After Katrina

In a new and revealing report from the Southern Education Fund, Education After Katrina, we learn what has and more importantly what hasn't been done to restore education to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region. The federal response according to this report must be rethought. Not only has the K-12 system suffered immeasurable losses in bricks and mortar, lost time, and in some cases, lost students, but so has higher education. The report says that of the between 45,000 and 54,000 New Orleans college students who dropped out for at least a semester two years ago, 26,000 remained out of school in the second year after Katrina. Likewise Mississippi college students felt the impact. The primary and compelling conclusion of this report, "It is Not Over." We need to redouble our federal efforts at meeting the needs and getting all of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast students in school and learning. That is in our national best interest. As SEF's president Lynn Huntley writes, "SEF's message is simple: It is not too late. This is America."

Report Cards for Schools--I'm Not So Sure

The Philadelphia Inquirer just published its 2006 report card for schools in the area along with some other information. As an outsider scrolling down the list of categories from highest to lowest, I came to a brilliant conclusion--some schools are definitely doing better than others. I looked at the SAT scores, how many were going to postsecondary education, and how the public/private/and vocational school statistics compared. I also caught a glimpse of a video that profiled all the changes in school systems over the last decade. This was the most interesting thing I read.

What was missing (or at least I missed it) was an article on the implications of the report card statistics. What does it mean for the workforce of the Philadelphia/New Jersey/ Delaware region? How many students dropped out of high school? (No mention of those numbers.) Are the poorest and most disadvantaged schools beating the odds or following the trends of urban schools?

While report cards tell you some things, mainly they just raise more questions. The questions and those critical answers are what is missing in the education discussion. We need analysis as well as numbers.