Smart Communities

Montana Timber--Lesson in Self-Interested Cooperation

Montana's timber industry is in trouble. Declining prices and lower demand have put this long-time economic staple in jeopardy. In step a whole range of partners who want to prevent that from happening have come together. I have been asked on many occasions how community partnerships or collaborations work. This is an example of what happens when interests collide even gel. It is in everybody's self-interest and their collective interest for the timber industry to survive and thrive. This is not about bail-outs or handouts but rather a focused way of dealing with reality. I wish the same kind of thinking could be applied to the auto industry. The fact of the matter is that American automakers have been in trouble for years. Poor quality, lower labor costs, and top-heavy salary structures have contributed to the current situation. It didn't start in 2007; it was only revealed then.

The kind of cooperation we need for all our staple industries can take a page out of Montana's book. This is about long-term sustainability, efficiency, and national and self-interests. Those criteria should be the litmus test for automobiles, steel, trees, and any other commodity we need to protect. 

Children's Health a Priority for the Nation

In tough economic times we often wring our hands and cry no money. (I would point out that we seem to have money for the things that cry the loudest). However tells us how to make children's health a priority in these times. This is not something we can wait on until the deficit gets lower, the wars are over, and the stock market goes over 10,000. We must invest in children's health now. Woodland, CA, tells us how the thinking in California is going.

The Austin American Statesman ran a good editorial on how we can get universal coverage. We must know more about who is covered and who isn't and ask ourselves if we are willing to risk their future and ours. As I said yesterday, this is not just a short-term fix about whether ear infections or tooth aches are caught in time, this is about the workforce of the future. It is time to position health along with education as the building blocks of the new economy because they are just that.

Health-The Gift That Keeps on Giving

As we enter this holiday season, it is important to keep our focus on the things that really matter. While we would hope that every child gets everything on their wish list, the most important thing we can give them and ourselves is a healthy life. There is much talk now about universal health care, particularly for children, but health is not just about coverage. Grantmakers in Health released a report earlier in the year entitled, "Connecting the Dots: Developing a Hoistic Picture of Children's Health," that is a blueprint of what communities need to do to improve health but also insure better education, a stronger workforce for the future, and lower social service costs. When children can't go to school or focus when they get there because of a tooth ache, learning suffers. Tooth decay is the leading pediatric health care problem, yet far too many of our children don't see a dentist regularly. The list goes on. Read this report and make sure your community is connecting the dots.

Minnesota Election

Today I am in Minnesota. It is 15 degrees thanks for asking. The big topic here is not the weather (they don't think it is very cold) but the undecided election. It seems to be moving in the favor of Senator Coleman but just yesterday the newspaper said that the 6,000 uncounted votes would likely favor Al Franken. Whomever wins, the system is the loser. This kind of uncertainty leads voters to wonder if their vote will count. This issue is less about getting out the vote and more about countly correctly the votes that were cast. We will never forget the hanging chad, late military votes, and here the votes in one county that were not reported. While we are bailing out the world, let's bail out our voting system and get some semblance of similarity.

Ethics Hard to Learn

To follow Monday's blog on Ethics and the Economy, I would like to offer up two articles just this week that show why we need to get serious about this topic. People don't seem to get it. Birmingham, AL's mayor was arrested yesterday on bribery charges and the Metropolitan Museum of Art has a questionable vase. Add to that yesterday's "Dear Abby" letter that pondered whether buying one theatre ticket and attending more than one movie was wrong or whether buying a book, reading it, and then returning it for credit was wrong. Each of these examples and others cannot be brushed off as honest mistakes. These are blatant. When you read these articles you will scratch your head and ask two questions: how could they not think this was wrong? and how could they think they could get by with this? Both are almost eternal questions of those serving time today. The point today is not a moral high horse but rather to raise the question of how we instill a sense of ethics--not only what we do but how we treat others. I think our community work has suffered from the me-me-me attitude that has prevailed on Wall Street. But we have another chance now.

I would like to propose a community conversation around civic ethics that would raise questions about how budgets are developed in times of recession, how people spend their discretionary income when millions are out of work and hungary, and how we develop safety nets for the poorest of the poor. Let's stay away from gun control, welfare reform, and laziness and just deal with the first three topics. This will be a  much needed conversation that will tell us who we are and what we stand for. As a final note among bad examples, there are also always very hopeful ones. Companies that do the right thing by their employees, communities that step up for people, and individuals that make good decisions when no one is looking. We will focus on the positive in the coming days. 

South Dakota Citizens Are Ready to Act

A Pew Partnership team was in South and North Dakota a few weeks ago to train 50 people from each state to offer LeadershipPlenty in their communities as part of the Horizons program. It always inspires and amazes me to hear what people say after the training. They almost always realize that change is possible if people work together. This article from Yankton says just that. In a six-week period, we will train and license over 350 people to offer this program. This week its Washington and Minnesota and then next week it will be Montana. We will finish up this work in Idaho early in the new year. Whether this program or another, I would encourage every community in the country to broaden their civic leadership capacity in these challenging times. It is a moment of opportunity where people know that change is required and want to be part of it. The election proved that people get involved when they feel committed to a person or a cause and when they feel that they can make a difference. A key ingredient in the process is having the skills to get things done. 

Ethics and the Economy

Just yesterday I had a conversation with a friend about the "winning at all costs" attitudes of some college and university athletic programs and their fans. With coaches making much more than brain surgeons or leading researchers, it begs the question of priorities just to start the conversation. We also discussed the causes of the current economic crisis. Greed and complacency lead the list for my part. We have convinced ourselves that we don't have to save, play by the rules, or think about the future, and things will just work out. Well unfortunately we are passing these same attitudes along to our children. In its annual ethics survey the Josephson Institute in Los Angeles found that one-third of boys and one-fourth of girls surveyed say they have stolen from a store. The good news is that there are lots of kids who haven't but it is a disturbing figure nonetheless. Are these kids with parents who can't afford the basics for them so they steal unattractive shoes and clothes to cover? My guess is not. Rather these are young people who want what they want--now. Just like their parents. Remember that Harry Chapin song "Cat's in the Cradle" where the neglected son turns and neglects his father. I am afraid that we are sending that same message to young people--do as I say not as I do--and are creating a new generation that feels like the world owes them something.

I am not sure how you teach ethics although it is done everyday in colleges and universities. You can certainly teach the process of judgment and decision making but I am not sure that you can teach people to see right from wrong in a communal context. That was Hannah Arennt's dilemma when she wrote about the "banality of evil." I believe that the development of ethics comes less from the written word and more from example--parents, teachers, clergy, friends. Children imitate their parents and people around them. Unfortunately the phrase "everybody's doing it" is still alive and well. However for the sake of our future and our economy, it is time for everybody to start being more ethical and that includes Wall Street execs, car manufacturers, and all of us.