Smart Communities

Citizen Surveys Can Monitor the Pulse of Communities

Governing magazine published an article back in April of this year about citizen surveys as a way to elicit quick feedback from residents on a whole host of measures.  For any community considering implementing a survey this is a "must read".  Not only is there information on the latest technology which makes surveying easier and cheaper, there also is some discussion of pricing, potential conflicts in the creation of survey questions, and some discussion of expected results and how they might best be used.

The article in Governing largely relates to polling questions related to citizen satisfaction with government services.  Many communities are interested in quality of life surveys that go beyond government services.  While the articles notes one such survey (Sustainable Seattle) we want to mention the Community Counts report card produced by the Delta Strategy in Grand Rapids, Michigan as one of the best we have seen to date.  Clear and comprehensive, the report has data that can guide civic leaders in their discussions of important challenges and opportunities facing Grand Rapids.  The Delta Strategy page also has some useful links to other communities employing similar measures including Boston and Jacksonville, check the left-hand side of the webpage for these.

Rural Studio Sets a New Standard for Town/Gown Relations

The small village of Newbern, AL rarely finds its way into the New York Times but it did recently. Newbern sits in the heart of Hale County, a Black Belt town known for cotton, cattle, and abject poverty. However, Newbern has become the center of an exciting experiment with Auburn University called the Rural Studio. Founded by the late Samuel Mockbee 14 years ago, architecture students from Auburn build and design "architecturally distinctive" homes and buildings around Hale County using a wide swath of materials including old tires, windshields, and bottles. While donations of more traditional building supplies have allowed more conventional looks in some cases, it is the commitment to the people their culture, and their quality of life that defines this work. The studio's core mandate "to produce environmentally sensitive designs for the rural poor" has not faltered but the studio has taken on new challenges. For example, the students are dismantling and moving St. Luke's Episcopal Church to its original site; they have built a ball field and a Boys and Girls Club. 

What is so impressive about the Rural Studio goes far beyond the bricks/mortar and windshields it uses; the real genius of this effort is the commitment to preserve, improve, and build community. My college roommate grew up in Newbern so I know it well. In fact it was the students of the Rural Studio that saved her family's home from burning down a few years ago. This model of application of learning is one that should be considered in every architecture school, business school, and teacher training program in the country. We have the know-how to affect affordable housing, small business development, and educational attainment and the solutions could come from our best and brightest students.

For more information read PROCEED AND BE BOLD—Rural Studio After Samuel Mockbee (Princeton Architectural Press, 2005).

Case Studies in Community-Police Partnerships

Interested in getting your community to work with local police for safer neighborhoods?  The MetLife Foundation recently gave awards for community-police partnerships to efforts in six communities and provided case studies of the winning initiatives in a publication available for download in PDF.  This is a nice resource for communities seeking civic solutions to local crime and safety challenges.

Additional information on neighborhood crime prevention and safety can be found on the section of our Solutions for America website devoted to thriving neighborhoods.

Sharing the Dream - Ideas for Engaging Schools and Communities

There are literally hundreds of ways in which to engage parents and communities in school systems.  A new publication reviews the work of those who received grants from the MetLife Foundation and the National Association of Elementary School Principals.  Ranging from descriptions of the programs themselves, the challenges they set out to confront, and some lessons learned this 60+ page PDF provides users with a good overview of what's being done in schools to engage parents and community.  Good reading for those planning next year's projects, programs, and activities for students.

Silent No More--the High School Dropout Crisis

Last Wednesday in Washington, DC there was a national summit on the high school dropout crisis following the release of a new report last fall, America's Silent Epidemic. The lead sponsor of the summit and the report was the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. There were an impressive group of other sponsors and partners including MTV, the National Governor's Association, and Time Magazine. John Bridgeland and his colleagues at Civic Enterprises were the organizers. Now with the preliminaries out of the way--what did we learn?

In essence, the summit profiled what we already know: a million students drop out of school each year for a variety of reasons. Fortunately the story did not end there. MTV released a terrific video that profiles the lives and decisions of several students using real-life stories of students who make the decision to stay in school and those who almost didn't. MTV has made the video available online for those interested. Further, it was clear from the summit and everything else that we are seeing through the Learning to Finish campaign that the issue of school dropouts defies one set of solutions from one partner--namely the schools. What was clear is that solutions require a major, coordinated offensive from the federal government, state government, philanthropy, business, the schools, local organizations, parents, students as peers to other students, mentors--you get the picture.

The missing piece from the summit was the identification of who will connect the dots and start this movement. The silence of not doing anything radical will be noticed foremost in the factories and businesses that go unstaffed because we don't have a workforce trained to fill the positions. That will be a silence felt by every community that wants to be a part of the global economy. We have analyzed the problem enough. The 10-point plan introduced at the summit is a great place to start--let's get started in every community in America.

Agro-Tourism Efforts at their Finest in Upstate New York

The food supply in America has come under intense scrutiny this past year and the attention has caused some people to turn to local producers and suppliers of food products.  Great timing, then, to tell you about a fine example of bringing the local harvest to your dinner table (and desktop.)

Adirondack Harvest is a nonprofit dedicated to the promotion of food produced locally in the Adirondacks of northern New York.  This alone is a good idea but Adirondack Harvest has produced a terrific resource to connect those interested in locally-grown products with the farms and families that produce them.  Their website has a detailed map of the Adirondacks that shows towns, roads, farm stands and stores, and scenic byways.  Each of these elements can be turned "on" or "off" depending on how you want to use the map.  Different icons for markets, stands, and restaurants gives the user a good deal of information with which to plan a trip through the area.

The Adirondack Harvest website is a great resource that other rural communities might use as an example in building their own version of a farm fresh regional map.  Increased interest in "food tours" and skepticism about store bought foods might just make for good timing for folks looking to promote locally-produced food products.

Canada's Best Places to Live

The season of metro rankings brings not just tidings for the U.S. but for Canada as well where Moneysense magazine has ranked 123 Canadian communities with more than 10,000 residents to determine the best places to live in Canada.  Tops on the list is Ottawa but major Canadian cities like Quebec (3rd), Toronto (12th), Montreal (23rd) and Calgary (28th) all received notable rankings.  According to Moneysense the residents of Port Alberni, B.C. are living in the lowest-ranked community due to high unemployment and low household income.

These rankings can result in some nice community stories, such as this one out of Orillia, and are a nice lead-in for discussions about particular communities, their assets, their challenges, and what makes them unique and desirable to residents.  Not to mention, of course, that the #1 ranking looks very nice on road signs and marketing materials.  Ultimately, though, there is little benefit to ranking a community 123rd in the entire country.  It may be a better idea to limit the contests to the top 10 or 25 in a country to promote what's best rather than compounding the challenges faced by the Port Alberni's of the world.

Best Places to Live in the U.S.

It's that time of year once again, when it is once again fashionable to rank the communities with best living conditions.  This year Gainesville, Florida was awarded the nation's top spot in the second edition of "Cities Ranked & Rated" while Modesto, California suffered from rankings of "0" for commute times and housing affordability on their way to the distinction of worst metro area in the country.

The fickle nature of these rankings is apparent when you consider that Charlottesville, VA dropped rapidly from first in 2004 to 17 in 2007 on its reporting of markedly increased median home prices.  Charlottesville was in good company, according to one article, "Atlanta dropped from No. 7 to 54, Minneapolis-St. Paul from No. 24 to 262, and New York from No. 40 to 251."

The Learning Exchange

A quick "heads up" to readers about a resource they will no doubt find useful.  The National Coalition on Dialogue & Deliberation has created a resource called the Learning Exchange where users can search a collection of over 2,000 resources ranging from articles and books to case studies, films, manuals, and journals.  Users can search within a wide range of interest areas (everything from diversity to higher education to organizational development is covered) or choose a topic from those most recently added to the database.  There is also a short section that highlights particular resources that may be of interest to users.  Worth a try next time you're searching for community development resources on the web.

A Model City ... 40 Years Later

New Haven, CT was (and is) a lot like other major cities in the northeast.  It experienced a declining jobs base, declining number of residents, and declining public sentiment about its chances for the future.  Then one man arrived on the scene with a promise to renew the city.  Federal funding soon followed from the War on Poverty.  A new era, it seemed, was certain to emerge in New Haven.

Many, though, have given up hope that the city will truly become a model for the next century.  An oral history project housed at Yale explores why through an examination of the proposed projects, citizen participation, and results.  The result is a fascinating look at urban development in the second half of the 20th century.  A tip of the cap to Urban Review St. Louis, where we first saw mention of this exhibition.