Filed under: Birmingham, AL, Civic Engagement, civic/service organizations, other cities, urban issues
Even if you just stumble across this page, I’d love to hear what ideas you may have from your own towns about this post.
Bets and I had some friends over for drinks to celebrate the end of the Carnival season before the beginning of Lent and my attempt to get back into decent shape before Memorial Day. While enjoying beer and wings, the conversation shifted to the norm: what’s going on and how can we change things. Among those at the gathering were friends that we did not make until we met here in Birmingham, though we were actually neighbors in Savannah. The conversation with them about what we missed about Savannah while being honest and frank about its shortcomings made me think about simplifying the statement I earlier today (if that’s possible). The main thing that seems to drive the future of a city is communication on all levels. The question is how many people really take advantage of the tools and resources currently available to reach this goal
Planned changes to my office’s website in the next two or three weeks that will make our intentions somewhat clearer. Several organizations in the region are trying to make their websites cleaner and simpler. While this eventual streamlining may be well for those of us on the other side of the technological divide, there are many people here in town that do not have access to a computer and that do not “know” what’s going on. The coolest thing about my time in Savannah was watching the availability of information change and how that change impacted the way things were done in the city. It is still far from perfect. The key is figuring out how to plug in wherever you are. We all operate in spheres of influence that prevent us from seeing everything going on. activeculture.info, organizational websites and the newspapers are fine, but what about 4” x 5” cards announcing upcoming events. Let’s beat them over the head with flyers announcing what’s going on. And not just art gallery openings, and not just in the usual places. How about getting some of this information in West End, Ensley and Pratt City? Even if they do not attend at first, the seed is planted for the next time.
For those of us who experienced college, this is nothing more than taking our extracurricular activity experiences and applying them to modern times. The only real way to affect change is to get out there and make it known every way possible.
I’m tired of selling those that do not have the right “tools” short; I’ll get off the soapbox only after making people aware of all that their city has to offer. But it takes a change in attitude that a city must undertake thoroughly and completely before that happens. If we’ve truly done everything that we can and people are still apathetic, then it will just have to stay the way it is. People must begin to consider the fact that everyone wants to see their city succeed; now let’s figure out how to get everyone to the table. Let me know what you think.
Cheers.
Filed under: Birmingham, AL, Catalyst, Civic Engagement, civic/service organizations, urban issues
For those of you not familiar with Catalyst for Birmingham, two things to do before you continue:
1) Check out their website
2) Point of disclosure: I’m on the steering committee (like I said a while back, I have a hard time saying the word “no,” plus it’s a great organization). However, what I write on my blog is my opinion and not that of the entire committee.
Now that those things are out of the way,
Today the organization announced that they have hired a director to manage the day-to-day operations. Cherie Fields, a Birmingham native, will assume the duties of director officially tomorrow, beginning with a meeting of the organization’s steering committee. Cherie’s focus will be to help manage the goals and needs of the membership base of the organization and to assist the steering committee as it attempts to fulfill these goals. These two objectives are extremely important as the organization attempts to reinvigorate itself. She’s going to do a great job and is going to have a lot of fun doing it.
Joining the steering committee re-engaged me in a study of young professional organizations that started while in Savannah. I found the concept of the creative class interesting, though flawed, and ability to pull together young progressives for events such as the Memphis Manifesto as impressive and necessary for the future of cities as they hoped to become. The result has been following the activities of several organizations around the country and beginning to track the activities of similar organizations in our region. So far it’s been a lot of fun to learn how other groups are driven to make their communities better. It’s also made me aware of things that could be tried here to continue progress in the Magic City.
One of the issues faced by Catalyst is its perception as a downtown-focused or young professional-focused organization. I’ve been reminded recently of the one thing that drew me to Catalyst when meeting with Alan Hunter in August 2004: the idea that an organization was open to anyone that wanted to join and that it could make a difference. Young professionals may make up the leadership of the organization, but to me it’s always been a focus on allowing ideas from anyone that wants to voice them to be expressed. That is why it has never used the latest “catch phrase” to describe itself and why I hope it never will. What drives Catalyst is that its members are committed to change; it is what drives most civic organizations at their core, and hopefully for the better. Instead of calling them “hipsters,” “bobos,” “yp’s” or “progressive,” let’s call them what they really are: people who care about seeing good things for their native or adopted hometown. Let’s cheer them on rather than find new ways to meet and not share information.
A hope for the near future is to have a meeting of all of these organizations, providing an opportunity for civic and political leaders to know what’s being talked about out there, what’s really being talked about around town.
Thoughts? Comments?
Cheers.
