tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040891381812121802024-03-13T11:24:09.390-07:00The Whitman Institute BlogThe Whitman Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03387251117710399845noreply@blogger.comBlogger85125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904089138181212180.post-28907375661350275092014-09-25T15:53:00.002-07:002014-09-25T15:58:40.531-07:00Trust As A Way Forward <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">by Pia Infante</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The Context<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Recently, we
hosted a salon on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Role of Trust in
Our Work</i> – attended by a mixed group of funder friends, grantees, capacity
builders, and consultants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The prompt
sparked our thinking about how to design relationships, collaboration and convening
that intentionally scaffold trust building.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We all agreed that powerful social good impact cannot happen without
trust, and often we get to new solutions and effective collaboration towards
community and policy change at “the speed of trust.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The conversation brought forth a
number of different forms and paces of trust that I found compelling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here is a brief (incomplete) list for types
of trust building that could be of use in our collective practice: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Types of Trust
Building<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">(A Small Compendium)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Cumulative Trust</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">: At TWI, we’ve often used the phrase “time over
time” to acknowledge that building trust in relationships (at the individual or
group level) is accrued by demonstrations of reliability (and
vulnerability/intimacy) over time. This trust is evidence and
relationship- based – a person or group consistently demonstrates that
they will do what they said they would do and that they can be counted
on — and do so in a way that encourages relationship and
interdependence. </span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Accelerated Trust: </span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Others spoke to human centered process design to
accelerate trust building, particularly when there is pressing common
purpose. Some of these include peer-to-peer sharing about the value of
the group, creating opportunities for vulnerability and mutual support, and
encouraging people to show up fully in their purpose, strength, and
vulnerability. Actually, when these types of accelerated processes are
reinforced over time, the power of relationship builds – and so cumulative
trust grows even stronger.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Assumed Trust: </span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">We talked about this type of trust as the human
yelp function – that often we immediately trust those whom our trusted partners
and advisors trust. This is not a new concept – businesses are built on
referral and many tech platforms integrate ways to see who and what our friends
trust to leverage possibilities for opportunity and connection in our wider
social networks. It is powerful when investors take this trust stance, and shoulder the work of vetting for fit (with a leader or group) themselves.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Implicit (“Burst-y”) Trust: </span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">We talked, too, about the physiology of
trust – many of us assess within seconds whether or not a new person or
organization is trustworthy. This type of immediate, or “burst-y” trust,
we realized, can also be attributed to our inherently tribal nature. We
trust those who look and smell like us. We trust those who exhibit signs
that they share our frameworks and worldview. This immediate instinctual affinity creates little "bursts" of excitement, empathy, love-at-first-sightedness that is literally heart warming! We realized that this
trust can build in implicit bias, so needs to be questioned, but is a very
human way to behave. We might also use the label “Intuitive Trust” for this
one, to name the role that intuition can play in guiding our investments of
time, talent, and resource.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Cross Institutional Trust: </span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">One reflection on our conversation was
that we were often discussing trust between individuals, when there is a great
need to build trust across institutions. For instance, in philanthropy,
greater trust between institutions could lead to both more streamlined
grant-making and greater social, political and economic impact. Trust
between institutions also enables the organizations to maintain their
relationship when key individuals or leaders leave the organization, which is a
promising way to ensure that institutional wisdom and influence does not have
to be lost when key staff transition out.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><b>Trust As A Way Forward </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“Humans are
basically trustworthy.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When this sentiment
was expressed, the group sighed a collective sigh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seemed so incredibly true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Except when it doesn’t – like when public
servants demonstrate they cannot be trusted or accountable to the public
good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I won’t dive into grappling the simplicity vs. complexity of this premise, but invite you respond to this or anything else in
this post that strikes you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><b>What does
feel true to me in this moment is this - explicitly naming that trust plays a
vital role in advancing equity in our community, advocacy, and philanthropic
initiatives is rare and important.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Our hope is
that TWI can be louder and braver in naming the role that trust and relationships of equity play in moving social, political, and economic dials
towards a brighter, better world for all (not just some) of us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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The Whitman Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03387251117710399845noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904089138181212180.post-86071462474345084882014-09-12T10:09:00.002-07:002014-09-12T10:44:18.838-07:00In Between: 3 Tips to Transition from One Leadership Role to the Next<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px;">By Pia Infante </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">At the end of May,
I took time off between my previous job at
Rockwood directing transformational capacity building work and a new role as
Co-Executive Director of The Whitman Institute (TWI). I was leaving a beloved
and highly time intensive non-profit role for a new one that held the
exciting promise of intentional co-leadership and experimentation in philanthropy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">A of couple of months post transition, I reflect back on the “in between” period with some levity, and clarity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Well before I started at TWI, I recall telling myself, and others: “I haven’t
started yet, let me get back to you after I’ve started!” I was demonstrating a phenomenon I've witnessed often - shortchanging a complete ending by jumping into the new. For me, this was probably to avoid "feeling" the end of a period so vital, and transitioning so many cherished relationships and roles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">There are a handful of “do-overs” that I’d prioritize
if I could beam myself back in time a few months:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> <b> A </b></span><b style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Gala for One</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">During the last few weeks at Rockwood, it was not
always easy to take in the verbal and written expressions of gratitude, impact,
and connection that were coming my way. I was overwhelmed not only by the
love but also by my own immense gratitude for the work itself. <a href="http://rockwoodleadership.org/section.php?id=54" target="_blank">BCORR</a> (a Rockwood program for Building Capacity for Organizational Resilience and Renewal) stands out as a true love of my life. I was honored to have
supported nationally recognized social movement leaders and organizations – to
be a part of the interlocking forces moving our nation towards equity and justice. <br />
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One clear do over is that I would throw myself a Gala for One – just me actually sitting with the feelings and the feedback, with my own sense of what I learned and accomplished in
those three and half years, and looking at the path my work ultimately took. I would
dress up, light up a room, and slowly take in (over the course of an evening
and a bottle of wine) what it all meant to me – and who I had become because of what
I had shared with so many.</span></div>
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<b style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Log
Out Before Logging Back In</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">I thought five weeks between positions was enough
time off the grid, even spacious. I was wrong. It took me a week or
two to truly clock out of Rockwood. It wasn’t that I had work to complete
that stretched over into my break, but being in the rhythm and flow and culture
of an organizational system for three and half years is a physiological and
emotional vortex. Even though my body was no longer on 17<sup>th</sup>
Street, a part of my consciousness still was. <br />
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Another do over is that I would take at least eight weeks off, and create
enough space to allow my body to acclimate to a pace where my days would unfold
rather than be dictated by an Outlook calendar. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> <b>The
Ocean of Notions Does Not Require an iPhone</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">I steal that phrase from Salmon Rushdie’s book <i>Haroun
and the Sea of Stories</i>, one of my all-time favorite books – Haroun was my
Harry Potter before Harry Potter. In it, there is an Ocean of Notions
(also called the Sea of Stories) that feeds the collective human imagination.
My imagination was already ready to work, but it also needed some renewal
and inspiration. Not only did I read fiction during my time off, I also
spent time on the seashore. It’s a simple act, but one that I repeated a
dozen times. I walked and waded and swam in the water, mindless and
wandering. It was the one true treat of my break that my senses could
feast on the ocean and be renewed by the vastness of the natural world around
me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">I even enjoyed a few days without
technology. If I could do it over again, I would commit to two full weeks
away from technology. No iPhone, iPad, or laptop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No brainer, I know now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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The Whitman Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03387251117710399845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904089138181212180.post-62682774327696245902014-08-26T08:44:00.001-07:002014-08-26T08:44:22.097-07:00Are Meaningful Conversations Considered Social Impact?: A Lesson from Grace Lee Boggs and American Revolutionary<div class="p1">
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By Sahar Driver, Program Director, <a href="http://www.activevoice.net/" target="_blank">Active Voice</a></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fgIEe_rp20c/U_yrEguAbbI/AAAAAAAAAbM/wjNKS_FGEjo/s1600/grace%2Blee%2Bboggs.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fgIEe_rp20c/U_yrEguAbbI/AAAAAAAAAbM/wjNKS_FGEjo/s1600/grace%2Blee%2Bboggs.jpeg" height="224" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Watch <a href="http://video.pbs.org/video/2365202353"><span class="s2">American Revolutionary - Trailer</span></a> on PBS. See more from <a href="http://video.pbs.org/program/pov"><span class="s2">POV</span></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>This is a re-post from <a href="http://www.pbs.org/pov/blog/povdocs/2014/08/are-meaningful-conversations-considered-social-impact-a-lesson-from-grace-lee-boggs-and-american-revolutionary/#.U_ypSSg5hG6" target="_blank">PBS's POV Blog</a>. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Sahar Driver, Active Voice Program Director, shares takeaways from </i><a href="http://www.activevoice.net/"><span class="s1"><i>Active Voice</i></span></a><i>‘s engagement strategy and partnership with </i><a href="http://www.theworldcafe.com/"><span class="s1"><i>The World Cafe</i></span></a><i> around POV’s “</i><a href="http://pbs.org/pov/americanrevolutionary"><span class="s1"><i>American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs</i></span></a><i>“. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Why are we afraid to talk to one another?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This question set the tone for a recent dialogue at the Malcom X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Center in NYC, which followed a screening of Grace Lee’s film <a href="http://www.americanrevolutionaryfilm.com/"><span class="s1"><i>American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs</i></span></a>. According to Active Voice program coordinator Micael Bogar who helped organize the event, “At that moment you could almost feel something in the room tighten, then lift, as attendees began to talk about the challenges that arise when conversation turns to tough issues like race, inequality, and revolution. People often worry about disagreement or possibly offending someone. But just getting that question out in the open really helped to create a safe space to go deeper.“ As Bogar puts it, “Grace’s life is an example that really sets the tone for that.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The NYC event was part of a trio of pilots led by <a href="http://www.activevoice.net/"><span class="s1">Active Voice</span></a> and inspired by the <a href="http://www.theworldcafe.org/"><span class="s1">World Café</span></a> dialogue model. The idea came about when Grace Lee and her producing partner Caroline Libresco came to us wondering how we could effectively leverage the film’s power for impact. Lee and Libresco knew that the impact potential of the film did not lie in the number of people it could draw to a theatre. Rather, true to the philosophy of Grace Lee Boggs, they were intrigued by the nature of conversations that took place <i>after </i>screenings of the film. As we brainstormed about how to harness that energy in a meaningful way, we developed our goal for the film’s campaign: Use the film’s convening power to bring together diverse activists and prompt cross-issue organizing around specific, localized social change goals.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To test this idea, we conducted a series of pilot screenings—in New York, Chicago, and Oakland—in partnership with local social justice organizations. I had the opportunity to attend our first event in Oakland, and admittedly, I wasn’t sure whether we would be able to spark something meaningful beyond a few good conversations. But when the lights went up after that screening, everyone in the room leaned in as we started our World Café-inspired dialogues. After three rounds of dialogue with dozens of people, we all walked away with a better sense of our collective priorities—building community, furthering dialogue, advancing economic justice—and, moreover, a renewed sense of collective willingness to change things together.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course, this event was just the beginning of something bigger. Our evaluation revealed that using the film to attract diverse activists and then undergoing carefully structured post-screening dialogue was indeed a powerful vehicle for inviting connection across issues, inspiring and rejuvenating attendees in their activism, and generating creative ideas. But how can you measure the value or impact of having your ideas challenged in a way that honors and respects where you’re coming from? How do you calculate the impact that has on your life and what you carry forth into the next conversations and interactions you have? If Grace Lee Boggs’ commitment to revolution over the past 70 years teaches us anything, it is that the deepest transformations—of self and of society—take time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Check out Active Voice’s toolkit for a successful World Café-inspired dialogue around American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs, available </i><a href="http://www.activevoice.net/portfolio/american-revolutionary/"><span class="s1"><i>here</i></span></a><i>. If you’d like to organize a free screening in your community, register in the </i><a href="http://www.pbs.org/pov/outreach/amdoc/events/register.php"><span class="s1"><i>POV Community Network</i></span></a><i>. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Get more documentary film news and features: Subscribe to </b><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/povdocs"><span class="s1"><b>POV’s documentary blog</b></span></a><b>, like </b><a href="http://facebook.com/povdocs"><span class="s1"><b>POV on Facebook</b></span></a><b> or follow us on Twitter </b><a href="http://www.twitter.com/povdocs"><span class="s1"><b>@povdocs</b></span></a><b>.</b></span></div>
The Whitman Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03387251117710399845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904089138181212180.post-45437301788023380542014-05-08T12:06:00.001-07:002014-05-08T12:06:11.196-07:00Creating An Impact Community <div class="p1">
<span style="color: #999999; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lindsay Green-Barber is the Media Impact Analyst at The Center for Investigative Reporting. We're pleased to share her thoughtful reflection on the issue of assessing impact within the fields of media and journalism. The point she raises at the end of her piece around the<i> "immeasurable" </i>value of connecting to share personal stories and lessons learned in service of creating a <i>"true community of practice"</i> really resonates with us here at TWI. It also touches on the ongoing question many of us grapple with in this work around how to capture the impact of the seemingly immeasurable. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Creating An Impact Community </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By Lindsay Green-Barber</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Since I began my position as media impact analyst at The Center for Investigative Reporting last July, I've connected with many people working to measure, analyze and maximize the impact of media. Through phone calls, Skype meetings, Google Hangouts and emails, my contacts have generously shared their strategies, best practices and frustrations. While some were already connected through professional and social networks, when I began there wasn't a coherent community of practice: journalists were in one silo, documentary filmmakers in another, foundations occupying a third, academics in the ivory tower and so on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was clear that my peers were facing many of the same challenges around how to define, track and measure impact. There was always a lot of "Do you know Jessica in New York?" or "Have you spoken with Sarah in D.C.?" when it came to suggesting people to talk to about measuring impact. Also, I found I was repeating myself a lot in explaining my approach to impact analysis.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To draw together these disparate conversations in one place and set a shared agenda with others committed to examining questions about media impact, CIR created and hosted its first Dissection: Impact event in Oakland, Calif., in October. Media makers, academics and foundation representatives attended the event to "dissect" both the concept of impact and tools for measuring it. The first Dissection was experimental, but the spontaneous combustion of ideas assured us we had touched on something valuable. CIR hosted <a href="http://cironline.org/blog/post/defining-media-impact-dissection-b-5861" style="-webkit-transition: color, 0.15s; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; opacity: 0.8; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color, 0.15s; vertical-align: baseline;">Dissection B: Impact</a> in January at Mercer University's Center for Collaborative Journalism in Macon, Ga.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A few weeks ago, CIR hosted two more Dissection: Impact events: one in <a href="http://cironline.org/blog/post/follow-live-coverage-cirs-dissection-event-new-york-6263" style="-webkit-transition: color, 0.15s; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; opacity: 0.8; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color, 0.15s; vertical-align: baseline;">New York City</a> and the other in<a href="http://cironline.org/blog/post/follow-live-coverage-cirs-dissection-event-washington-dc-6264" style="-webkit-transition: color, 0.15s; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; opacity: 0.8; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color, 0.15s; vertical-align: baseline;">Washington, D.C.</a> Participants from the first two Dissections rejoined us, along with a new cohort of individuals and organizations – especially from public media – who infused the events with new ideas and concerns. During the course of these thought-provoking gatherings there were five core strands of conversation.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. Impact feeds sustainability</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">CIR's goal is to produce stories that protect the most vulnerable individuals and communities and hold powerful institutions accountable. Our funders invest in investigative reporting as a powerful and necessary force in our democracy, while at the same time expecting us to demonstrate measurable success in achieving our mission. Thus, impact measurement and analysis is increasingly essential to organizational sustainability.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"When I ran a newspaper, profit was driven by ad revenue," says CIR Executive Director Robert J. Rosenthal. "For CIR, and other journalism organizations, impact helps forge the revenue that sustains us." Impact translates into philanthropic revenue, membership, partnerships and an understanding by the public that investigative journalism is relevant to them and can touch their lives.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During CIR's Dissection in Washington, we learned from NPR that it defines impact as behavior or attitudinal change, the process by which NPR "creates a more informed public – one challenged and invigorated by a deeper understanding and appreciation of events, ideas and cultures.” When NPR successfully achieves this type of impact, its listeners will likely feel an emotionally significant bond with stations and become members, share material online or talk about programming with others who will then be exposed to NPR and/or local stations. Thus, in the case of NPR, impact (attitudinal change) is linked to sustainability.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The specific process linking impact to sustainability will be different for each organization. There was a consensus among Dissection participants that by dissecting the process of anticipating and tracking impact, we can discover new ways to translate the good we do into outcomes that contribute to our sustainability.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. Shared language</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During all of CIR's Dissections, words like taxonomy and typology came up time and again in discussions. Wonky words aside, everyone recognized the need for a shared language around impact that is both expansive and specific.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some universally agreed-upon elements of the emerging framework were</span></div>
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<li style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Impact is change.</span></li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Impact is an ongoing, iterative process (not a phase in evaluation).</span></li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are many types of impact, from attitudinal change to law change.</span></li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Impact of an organization flows directly from its mission.</span></li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Organizational culture must value capturing and understanding impact.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During the New York meeting, a working group formed to further the conversation around this issue. If you work in a media organization, you can help with this project by filling out <a href="http://newslynx.org/impact-survey/" style="-webkit-transition: color, 0.15s; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; opacity: 0.8; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color, 0.15s; vertical-align: baseline;">this survey</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. Big data versus thick data</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We have more data than we need. Participants at CIR's Dissections recounted organizational histories in which attempts to capture all the data associated with Nielsen ratings, online comments, likes and shares, page-related analytics and other sources were so overwhelming and ultimately so useless that they quit data gathering altogether.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rather than thinking solely about "big data," we need to think about useful data. What can we glean from the data streams to which we have access? Which data are indicators of what phenomena? How can we get not only big, but qualitative, "thick" data?</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. We need humans</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In order to parse the relevant data from the "noise," impact analysis requires humans with the appropriate skill set to carry out this type of research. Analysts might need to be able to do textual, network and/or statistical analysis in order to make sense of not only the plethora of data available, but to identify other data sources not traditionally included in impact assessment. For example, if a media organization is interested in effecting attitudinal change, impact analysis might include surveys of listeners or textual analysis of online comments.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Keep me in the loop" has been the most common parting at all four CIR Dissection: Impact events. The value of face-to-face time to share experiences and strategies and to make the connections needed in order to form a true community of practice is immeasurable.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;">Re-posted from </span><span style="background-color: transparent; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://cironline.org/blog/post/creating-impact-community-6301</span></span></div>
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The Whitman Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03387251117710399845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904089138181212180.post-32594109971823537452014-05-02T12:07:00.000-07:002014-05-02T12:07:09.050-07:00Relationships Are (The) Work<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YTAZi0phTWc/U2Psg3LmZYI/AAAAAAAAAaM/x4bp0pAvoxE/s1600/url.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YTAZi0phTWc/U2Psg3LmZYI/AAAAAAAAAaM/x4bp0pAvoxE/s1600/url.jpg" /></a><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Sean Thomas-Breitfield is the Co-Director of The Building Movement Project, a grantee of TWI. We're Pleased to share his recent reflection on the importance of relationships in movement building, a theme that strongly emerged from Building Movement's insightful evaluation of the New Bottom Line Campaign. It's great to see the power of relationships explicitly raised up in this way. What might happen if more funders started explicitly directing resources to building them in whatever work they are supporting?</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 21px;">Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfield</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lately, I’ve been thinking about relationships. Maybe it’s that my partner just proposed to me. Or maybe it was the time with our Project Team earlier this month working, laughing, and struggling together. Either way, it’s becoming clear how important relationships are in the social change sector.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Relationship building was a theme that came out of our <a href="http://buildingmovement.org/reports/entry/the_new_bottom_line" style="text-decoration: none;">evaluation of the New Bottom Line campaign</a>. The success of the NBL campaign to advance innovative policy ideas and Dump DeMarco was just as important (and was maybe even a lesser accomplishment in some people’s assessment) as the deeper connections that grew between the organizations, staff and members who worked together on the campaign. One of the most telling quotes from the interviews and survey we did with NBL’s stakeholders reflects why relationship building matters:</span></div>
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<em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">... the long-term commitment to each other has deepened relationships. We’ve hung together through good times and bad, and as a result feel very close to the other organizations and feel like I could bring a critique to these allies, ask for their help and be vulnerable with them.</span></em></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This quote reflects a surprising level of intimacy. Words and phrases like “commitment,” hanging together through “good times and bad,” and “be(ing) vulnerable” all sound like the things that would be said about an intimate relationship between friends or lovers, not coalition partners. But the reality is that long-term movement building requires that same level of trust, openness and acceptance.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The usual ways that coalition partners talk about and relate to each other doesn’t work in today’s political context. Temporary, transactional alliances between advocates are just not powerful enough to challenge the deep alignment between corporate power and a conservative governing philosophy that only benefits the wealthy. In a sector where scarcity is real and there’s not enough money or credit to go around, a strong relational grounding makes it more likely that activists and organizations will see these bad times as the very times to hang together. Stronger relationships also help activists see the connections between our struggles and deepen commitment to collective solutions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The old theory that relationships just happen by doing the “real” work is fortunately giving way to greater focus and intentionality on building deep relationships. Here are some ways groups have started the process. Storytelling is one practice that the <a href="http://www.cew.umich.edu/sites/default/files/Organizingwithlove--FullReport-Cover.pdf" style="text-decoration: none;">domestic workers movement </a>drew on to build connections and energize their campaigns, and many other groups are <a href="http://neworganizing.com/toolbox/training/story-of-self/" style="text-decoration: none;">weaving narrative strategies</a> into their organizer trainings to foster a deeper level of connection between movement activists. Some groups have the resources to take retreats and cram as many relationship building activities into a day or two as is humanly possible, and programs like <a href="http://rockwoodleadership.org/section.php?id=13" style="text-decoration: none;">Rockwood’s Art of Collaborative Leadership</a> are very strategically fostering relationships between leaders in particular movements and sectors. Creative <a href="http://www.eventbrite.com/e/peoples-is-peoples-an-anonymous-un-networking-event-tickets-11325614217" style="text-decoration: none;">“un-networking events”</a> are also emerging where people commit to NOT talk about their professional identities, in order to focus on cultivating authentic relationships first and then figuring out the transactional piece of how they can work together after.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The truth is that relationships have always been important in our movements and social change work. They are the basis of trust, and the foundation of what differentiates movement building alliances from so many other (and necessary) formations. Temporary, transactional connections will always have their usefulness, but the growing recognition of the importance of relationship building is a critical Investment in connecting groups, reaching beyond organizational boundaries, and building the movement infrastructure we need to win lasting social change.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Reposted from: <a href="http://www.buildingmovement.org/blog/entry/relationships_are_work#sthash.RW89gYqs.dpuf">http://www.buildingmovement.org/blog/entry/relationships_are_work#sthash.RW89gYqs.dpuf</a></span></span></div>
The Whitman Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03387251117710399845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904089138181212180.post-86749778741156680052014-04-18T10:19:00.003-07:002014-04-18T10:19:42.236-07:00How Media Can Be a Force for Good
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>A thoughtful and engaging interview with the American Press Institute and Mallary Tenore, the new managing director of TWI grantee Images and Voices of Hope (IVOH), that explores themes of our ongoing conversation about storytelling, journalism, dialogue and community. </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2b86a5; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><span style="line-height: 25.200000762939453px;"><b>How 'Restorative Narratives' Shape Communities: 9 Good Questions with Mallary Tenore of IVOH</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">IVOH has been doing some work around “restorative narratives.” What are they?</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These aren’t positive, happy-go-lucky fluff pieces. They explore the tough emotional terrain of disruptions like the Newtown shooting and the Boston Marathon bombings.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MALLARY TENORE: As we look for ways to highlight how the media can be a force for good, we’ve become increasingly interested in a storytelling genre we’re calling <a href="http://ivoh.org/restorative-narratives-important-part-media-landscape/" style="border: 0px; color: #2b86a5; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">restorative narratives</a>. These are stories that show how communities and people are learning to become resilient after periods of disruption. In doing so, they express empowerment, possibilities and revitalization. Last August, we convened 35 media makers to deepen our inquiry into restorative narrative and came up with this working definition: “Restorative narratives are honest and sustained inquiries that reveal opportunities in times of disruption. They express empowerment, possibilities and revitalization.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This type of storytelling isn’t new, but it’s never really been given a good name. “Feature stories” and “human interest stories” don’t capture the depth of restorative narratives. The word “restorative” — which<a href="http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/restorative" style="border: 0px; color: #2b86a5; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> is defined as</a> “having the ability to restore health, strength, or a feeling of well-being” — is a better fit; it reflects resilience.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These aren’t positive, happy-go-lucky fluff pieces. They explore the tough emotional terrain of disruptions like the Newtown shooting and the Boston Marathon bombings. But they’re “positive” in the sense that they focus on themes such as growth and renewal — themes that, at some point in our lives, we can all relate to.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">What made you want to start focusing on restorative narratives?</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TENORE: We came up with the term after reading<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/03/04/130304fa_fact_aviv" style="border: 0px; color: #2b86a5; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Rachel Aviv’s December 2012 New Yorker story</a> about how a small community newspaper, The Newtown Bee, was responding to the Newtown shooting. The paper’s editor, Curtiss Clark, really listened to what readers wanted during that time; he asked them questions and acted on their responses. He found himself thinking about the paper’s greater purpose and about ways in which the paper’s reporters could be supporters.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As Aviv wrote:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“He didn’t care if national reporters thought that he lacked a ‘hard-ass clinical angle.’ When he learned that a camera crew had rung the doorbell of parents who had just lost their child, he wrote a letter to the New England Newspaper and Press Association, urging the media to stop ‘invading the yards and space of grieving survivors.’ Another resident implored him, ‘Do anything in your power to get these media people out.’ In an editorial in a special edition of the Bee, published three days after the shooting, Clark counseled residents not to conform to the expectations of the ‘legions of journalists who had arrived in caravans of satellite trucks as if drawn by some dark star of calamity.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Clark’s response made us think about how often the media swoops in during the immediate aftermath of tragedies. It’s understandable; they need to be there to inform the public about what happened. But sometimes reporters’ approach comes across as insensitive. And after awhile, these “what happened” stories can make the world feel like a callous place. The persistent focus on death and devastation ignores the fact that there are stories of resilience and recovery to be told.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What if newsrooms were to put as much emphasis on recovery and restoration as they did on tragedy and devastation?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What if, instead of reporting so many “what happened” stories, journalists reported more “what’s next” stories that explain how people and communities are finding the strength to move on after experiencing tragedies or other difficult times? What if newsrooms were to put as much emphasis on recovery and restoration as they did on tragedy and devastation?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is not unlike Victor Frankl’s premise in “Man’s Search for Meaning” — even in the concentration camps during World War II, there were people who were able to find meaning in their circumstances and find inner strength.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I get it — these stories aren’t always easy to report. Journalists are strapped for time and resources, so the thought of spending an extended period of time following people and communities through their recovery process can seem unmanageable. And sometimes, people don’t want to talk to the media. I think the media could build trust, though, by telling stories about resilience and recovery — aka restorative narratives. These stories would show the public that journalists are invested in telling important stories that have a meaningful impact. I’d like to think that if more journalists told stories about resilience in a particular community, they could help other communities learn how to become more resilient.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">This seems to imply a deeper idea — that journalism doesn’t just reflect what happens in a community but actually helps to shape what a community becomes. Am I right about that?</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TENORE: Yes. There’s been a lot of talk recently about how the media can help rebuild struggling communities. This is especially true in Detroit, where media startups like <a href="http://www.detroit143.org/" style="border: 0px; color: #2b86a5; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Detroit143</a> are trying to improve community life and create meaningful change. Two other projects — the Detroit Journalism Cooperative and Zero Divide — are also trying to play a role in Detroit’s revitalization and recently received funding from the Knight and Ford foundations. <a href="http://ivoh.org/two-new-media-projects-aim-play-role-detroits-recovery/" style="border: 0px; color: #2b86a5; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In a release about the projects</a>, the Knight Foundation’s Katy Locker made a good point:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“How residents and policymakers understand and deal with Detroit’s crisis will have repercussions decades into the future. … Some say the bankruptcy could herald the start of a recovery, but that can only happen if the community is informed and engaged and has a plan for continuing improvements the day after bankruptcy. Nonprofit journalism can help.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At ivoh, we believe restorative narratives are part of this equation. We’ve written and talked a lot about restorative narratives, but we would like to do – and learn – more.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Can you point to some examples of restorative narratives?</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TENORE: One example of a restorative narrative is Josh Haner’s <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/08/sports/beyond-the-finish-line.html?pagewanted=all&_r=3&" style="border: 0px; color: #2b86a5; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">New York Times video about Jeff Bauman</a>, a Boston Marathon survivor who lost both of his legs and is now learning what it means to move on in the wake of tragedy. It’s a poignant video that shows a progression from physical and emotional pain to recovery. (Haner just received the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for his essay on the same subject.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On ivoh.org, we recently profiled <a href="http://ivoh.org/element-hope-dallas-morning-news-girl-closet-series-resonates-readers/" style="border: 0px; color: #2b86a5; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">another restorative narrative</a> by Dallas Morning News reporter Scott Farwell. He wrote <a href="http://res.dallasnews.com/interactives/2013_October/lauren/#.Up_JmmRDuf8" style="border: 0px; color: #2b86a5; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">an eight-part series</a> about Lauren Kavanaugh, a young woman whose mother and stepfather locked her in a closet, starved her and abused her for six years. The story is painful to read in parts, but in the end it shows how Lauren is learning to cope with her hardships. (Farwell was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing for his work on the same subject.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Farwell told me that Dallas Morning News Editor Bob Mong read the first draft of his story and said it needed “more hope”:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“He wanted me to reconfigure the first few days to give more of a whiff of hope — to let people know that this was going to be a painful journey, but if you stuck with us, there would be some emotional payoff in the end and something restorative that you could look forward to. … He was right,” Farwell told me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The response to the story ended up being “unprecedented.” It generated half a million unique page views during the eight days it ran online, and the paper’s print circulation increased by 5 percent that same week, Farwell said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That says something about the appetite for this type of content.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">What effects do you see restorative narratives having on readers and the broader communities?</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TENORE: I think restorative narratives have the potential to make a big impact. The trick is getting media practitioners — and higher-ups — to see their value.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There’s been a lot of recent research on resilience at places like the University of North Carolina, Vassar College and the University of Pennsylvania.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And some news organizations (but not enough!) see the value in resilience reporting. The BBC’s Media Action project, for example, is geared toward showing how the media can improve humanitarian responses and increase resilience. <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaaction/what_we_do/humanitarian" style="border: 0px; color: #2b86a5; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The BBC explains</a> that “Media and communication can help build the resilience of people vulnerable to shocks and long-term trends by providing information, by changing attitudes towards risk and innovation, by supporting dialogue that will facilitate positive change and by encouraging greater accountability in service provision and policy making.” <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaaction/where_we_work/middle_east/lebanon/syria_refugees.html" style="border: 0px; color: #2b86a5; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">For one of its projects</a>, BBC Media Action <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m72aO5lCXfk&list=PLuvkxTBwQE1YU4yqf7WhE3M5FyuJ5rZKG&index=6" style="border: 0px; color: #2b86a5; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">created a series of films</a> aimed at helping people cope with life as a refugee.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There’s also <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/jan/27/what-makes-a-city-resilient" style="border: 0px; color: #2b86a5; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">the Guardian’s new “resilient cities” project</a>, which focuses on resilience in cities around the world. The project is being funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, which is also funding a resilience reporting fellowship in collaboration with the <a href="http://www.apnorc.org/Pages/default.aspx" style="border: 0px; color: #2b86a5; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research</a>. The center has been studying the <a href="http://kripalu.org/blog/thrive/2014/01/22/five-things-resilient-people-do/?utm_source=Thrive&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=012214ResilientPeopleDo" style="border: 0px; color: #2b86a5; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">factors that make someone resilient</a> and is<a href="http://www.apnorc.org/projects/Pages/The%20AP-NORC%20Fellowship/about-the-fellowship.aspx" style="border: 0px; color: #2b86a5; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">sponsoring a nine-month-long fellowship</a> “to train a reporter to take a rigorous look at the academic literature on resilience,” <a href="http://www.cjr.org/the_observatory/associated_press_recover_resil.php" style="border: 0px; color: #2b86a5; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">the Columbia Journalism Review reported</a> in November. Trevor Tompson, director of the Center, told CJR that the fellow will study data analysis and social sciences research to learn how to tell more nuanced stories about resilience:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“A lot of the coverage of disasters had to be pretty anecdotal … There’s a lot of storytelling, but it’s hard to connect it to the big picture. … If [research is] not accessible to journalists for news then we’re missing a huge opportunity to get that information out there to people who could really use it.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As we dive deeper into the concept of restorative narratives, we hope to learn more about the impact they have on communities.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Is there evidence that this approach is good for a publisher’s business as well?</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TENORE: Journalism’s going through a tremendous amount of change, so I think there’s a lot more openness to different types of storytelling than there used to be.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">People’s appetite for news is changing, and with that change comes opportunity — to tell stories that shift the traditional journalistic focus from tragedy to recovery.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We’ve seen this with the rising popularity of sites like Upworthy and BuzzFeed. Recently, Time Magazine <a href="http://ideas.time.com/2013/08/21/how-the-news-got-less-mean/" style="border: 0px; color: #2b86a5; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">highlighted research</a> indicating that “the recipe for attracting visitors to stories online is changing. Bloggers have traditionally turned to sarcasm and snark to draw attention. But the success of sites like BuzzFeed and Upworthy, whose philosophies embrace the viral nature of upbeat stories, hints that the Web craves positivity.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">People’s appetite for news is changing, and with that change comes opportunity — to tell stories that shift the traditional journalistic focus from tragedy to recovery.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I talk with journalists who are producing stories along these lines, they say there’s an interest in this type of content. Take <a href="http://www.wbur.org/kindworld" style="border: 0px; color: #2b86a5; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">WBUR’s Kind World series</a>, which we wrote about on ivoh.org recently. WBUR producer Nate Goldman created the series because as a way to counteract negative news fatigue — the feeling that news stories are too heavy and depressing. The series, which highlights the power of small acts of kindness, generated a huge response from readers of WBUR’s website — so much so that the station decided to do a radio series to accompany the online component of the project.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Other news sites, including Global Voices, have launched “<a href="http://globalvoicesonline.org/-/topics/good-news/" style="border: 0px; color: #2b86a5; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Good News</a>” sections, for lack of a better term. Global Voices’ section isn’t about fluff pieces; it’s about featuring solutions journalism that helps people identify ways they can help their communities. As more news sites experiment with this type of storytelling, I think they’ll start to generate more interest in it and see a payoff.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And there’s the Solutions Journalism Network, which has recently made great strides in helping journalists report on solutions to social issues — instead of always focusing on problems.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">What shortcomings do you see in the ways many journalists usually cover these stories?</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TENORE: When I mention the phrase “restorative narratives,” some people think I mean feature stories or human interest stories. Restorative narratives tend to go deeper; they address harsh realities and show a meaningful movement — from heartbreak to hope, tragedy to recovery, and so on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Other times, I’ll come across a story that I think is a restorative narrative based on the headline, only to find that 90 percent of it is about a tragedy and 10 percent is about restoration. That’s not a restorative narrative; restorative narratives address tragic circumstances, but they give equal or greater weight to the restorative aspects of a person’s story.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Restortative narratives tend to go deeper than feature stories or human interest stories; they address harsh realities and show a meaningful movement.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Over the next year, we plan to deepen our understanding of this genre by creating programs that will enable media makers to report stories on social issues within the framework of restorative narratives. We want to convene dialogues with these media makers to hear what they’ve learned and to get a better sense of the impact their stories have had.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Sometimes a news event seems just all-around bad. Is there always a hopeful side of a story to present? How should journalists identify the hopeful story angles?</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TENORE: That’s a good question. Not all stories about a tragedy can be turned into restorative narratives. Time is a critical component of restorative narratives. You couldn’t write a restorative narrative about a person in the immediate aftermath of a tragedy/difficult time because it would be inauthentic; the person wouldn’t have had time to heal yet. Sometimes these stories take months, and even years, to report.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some storytellers have a tendency to wrap up stories with a pretty bow and end them on a happy note. But this approach can feel forced. Recovering from something doesn’t mean that everything’s all of a sudden perfect. Recovery is a journey and a process of discovery — one filled with twists and turns, bumps and setbacks. Good restorative narratives embrace this idea.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">How can journalists get more involved with your organization or find more resources for embracing this approach?</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TENORE: We hold an <a href="http://ivoh.org/join-us-images-voices-hopes-2014-summit/" style="border: 0px; color: #2b86a5; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">annual media summit</a> at a retreat center in the Catskills, New York. This year’s summit is June 26-29 and will be centered on restorative narratives. We have a great group of speakers — including Andrea Elliott and Ruth Fremson, the reporter and photographer behind The New York Times’ “<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2013/invisible-child/#/?chapt=1" style="border: 0px; color: #2b86a5; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Invisible Child</a>” series, and <a href="http://www.americanpressinstitute.org/publications/good-questions/moving-toward-whole-story-9-good-questions-david-bornstein-solutions-journalism-network/" style="border: 0px; color: #2b86a5; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Solutions Journalism Network co-founder David Bornstein</a>, who will lead a workshop.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We welcome anyone who’s interested in restorative narratives to attend. We’ll also be having a series of local conversations around the country, where we gather people from the media and the arts to talk about restorative narratives and other related topics.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Reposted from www.americanpressinstitute.org</span></div>
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The Whitman Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03387251117710399845noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904089138181212180.post-64660850976401615062013-11-22T14:05:00.001-08:002013-11-22T14:05:53.137-08:00TWI Grantee Voice of Witness receives the Smithsonian “Ingenuity Award” for Social Progress<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">by Pia Infante</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We are proud to share that on November 21, 2013, mimi lok, Executive Director of Voice of Witness was joined by the organization's founder to receive the Smithsonian's "Ingenuity Award" for Social Progress. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Smithsonian magazine editor-in-chief Michael Caruso wrote in the official announcement: “We’ve polled the directors, curators and staffers at the Smithsonian Institution to find those innovators who are revolutionizing their fields with recent, high-impact achievements. While their work is different in objective, each winner is embracing the Smithsonian’s mission to increase knowledge and shape the world of tomorrow. We are delighted to showcase their work across all platforms.” </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">Read the full feature </span><a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/ideas-innovations/Upending-the-Narrative-of-the-Great-Man-of-History-231147231.html#Eggers-ingenuity-collage473.jpg" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">Congratulations mimi and Voice of Witness!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>The Whitman Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03387251117710399845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904089138181212180.post-30040607921744016422013-09-03T11:32:00.000-07:002013-09-11T17:57:34.517-07:00ivoh explores and defines restorative narrative<div>
<span style="font-style: italic;">This post was originally posted at <a href="http://ivoh.org/exploration-of-restorative-narrative/">http://ivoh.org/exploration-of-restorative-narrative/</a> and has been written by </span><a href="http://ivhadmin/" style="font-style: italic;">Steve Myers</a><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span><br />
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Nailing down the attributes of hazy concepts is never easy, and the early going of ivoh’s exploration of “restorative narrative” was no exception.</div>
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Maybe that’s why the room came alive when journalism professor and ivoh board member Jon Funabiki (photo above) suggested we make a list of “what’s in and what’s out” to help us define this emerging media genre.<br />
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“No gloss,” Funabiki began, echoing the view of ivoh founder Judy Rodgers, who first got the organization thinking about restorative narrative and insisted it be rooted in often painful reality.<br />
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“Knowledge-based,” Funabiki added, picking up on one of the elements listed by Harvard professor Tom Patterson as he discussed his forthcoming book, “<a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/book/228197/informing-the-news-by-thomas-e-patterson">Informing the News</a>.”<br />
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Funabiki, Rodgers and Patterson were among several dozen participants in a gathering ivoh (Images & Voices of Hope) sponsored earlier this month in the Catskills to examine the idea of restorative narrative and brainstorm ways that ivoh could encourage its practice.<br />
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Reading from his notbebook, Funabiki added a few more attributes: “Not so broad-brush,” “authentic,” “leading to positive outcomes,” “journalism with purpose and intent.”<br />
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He also put some things on the “what’s out” list, including: “happy and misleading,” “exclusive focus on the negative,” “leading to despair.”<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://ivoh.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ivoh-yearwood-et-al-300x225.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://ivoh.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ivoh-yearwood-et-al-300x225.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">John Yearwood flanked by Kelly Cornell and Keith Hammonds</span></td></tr>
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Although not especially visible on the current media landscape, restorative narrative is <a href="http://www.connectingforchange.ca/questions_new_narrative">an idea that, in one form or another, has been under discussion for some time</a>. Other organizations are pursuing media forms with significant overlap, including <a href="http://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/">The Solutions Journal</a>and the <a href="http://solutionsjournalism.org/">Solutions Journalism Network</a>, and ivoh leaders expressed interest in collaborating with such ventures. Keith Hammonds, COO of the Solutions Journalism Network, participated in ivoh’s gathering.<br />
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Much of what was on Funabiki’s list could be said of other forms of journalism and media, of course.<br />
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As the group discussed several stories and documentaries (see list in right rail beneath our Twitter feed), we quickly identified ways that these stories were different. It became clear that these stories didn’t simply transmit facts, but helped to transform a situation. We noticed they didn’t dwell on human suffering — neither did they overlook it — but they looked beyond to see what comes next.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Restorative narrative defined and deconstructed</span></b><br />
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Many questions remain, but a working definition emerged: “Restorative narrative is an honest and sustained inquiry that reveals opportunity in times of disruption. It expresses empowerment, possibilities and revitalization.”<br />
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Roberta Baskin, president of the ivoh board, suggested boiling that down to six words, perhaps these: “Restorative narrative reveals opportunity in disruption.”<br />
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Here are some characteristics that, considered together, help differentiate this type of work from most types of storytelling:<br />
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<b>It’s forward-looking.</b> It highlights hope and choice. While most stories focus on what brought us to where we are, a restorative narrative pays special attention to what’s next. It searches for resolution. Conflict and challenges are necessarily part of the story; the difference is that the story focuses on how people respond.<br />
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Watch <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/08/sports/beyond-the-finish-line.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&">The New York Times’ video about Boston Marathon bombing survivor Jeff Bauman</a>. The story isn’t about him losing his legs in the blasts; it’s about him learning to find a new equilibrium on his prosthetic legs.<br />
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<b>It considers the effect of the narrative on the audience. </b>A story can change its audience. It can stay with them, a constant reminder of what’s possible. As several people mentioned, witnessing an act of kindness has an effect on someone — they’re more likely to do something kind themselves. Restorative narrative seeks that effect; it’s deliberate without being manipulative.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Participants view a CBC report about a student who <br />returned to high school after dropping out.</span></td></tr>
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<b>It’s authentic.</b> Storytellers may have to look harder for a restorative narrative, and they may have to ask different questions to find it. But the process must be intellectually honest, rooted in an inquiry rather than an argument. This framework cannot be imposed upon every story. Storytellers cannot gloss over important challenges and questions.<br />
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In an authentic restorative narrative, the hope comes from within. Listen to Dan Grech and Kenny Malone’s radio story about <a href="http://wlrnunderthesun.org/2010/07/after-the-quake-patients-and-healers/">an unexpected moment of hope in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake</a>. The characters in the story are lifted up, and we along with them.<br />
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<b>It’s sustained.</b> Time is a key factor in discovering a restorative narrative. The story of a disaster does not have to end with the last funeral or moment of silence. Jeff Bauman’s story would have been different had it been told after a few weeks rather than a few months. It’s difficult to stick with a story when there are no obvious events driving it forward, when you can’t see where it’s going. As storytellers, can we pay attention long enough to see the signs of the new normal?<br />
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<b>It awakens a sense of human connection.</b> A restorative narrative resonates with audiences by making them feel connected to their communities. It creates a forum for discussion, perhaps literally. And it reminds people of what they can accomplish by working together.<br />
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<b>It’s action-oriented, though not prescriptive.</b> A restorative narrative empowers the audience to act, but it doesn’t necessarily advocate for a particular solution. The action could vary; it could be as basic as enabling people to connect with other members of their community or to help the victims of a disaster. Perhaps it brings a massive social problem, like Detroit’s blight, down to human size <a href="http://afterthefactoryfilm.com/synopsis/">by showing how some people are improving the blocks around them</a>. The story may equip people to deal with their own suffering.<br />
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Storytellers may want to consider a strong post-publication action plan. Philip Lauri, one of the creators of “<a href="http://vimeo.com/34660991">After the Factory</a>,” which shows similarities between the Polish city of Lodz (prononced “woodge”) and Detroit, said his team is directing some of the film’s proceeds to community initiatives.<br />
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Martha Bebinger, a WBUR radio reporter whose report on “<a href="http://www.wbur.org/2013/06/25/moral-injury-research">moral injury</a>” was reviewed by the group, asked how journalists can best allocate their time among conflicting responsibilities of pursuing new assignments vs. sticking with stories for the long haul.<br />
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<b>It’s responsive to the community.</b> In the aftermath of a tragedy, people are often searching for answers and ways to help. A restorative narrative can help with both (though answers may not come as quickly as ways to help). The best storytellers get in tune with the community to know what people are searching for at that time. If not, one risks telling a story that rings false or fails to respect what the community has been through.<br />
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<b>It reveals something universal, yet localized.</b> The most moving, most memorable stories connect us to a universal truth or experience. Restorative narrative aims to address a common experience, truth or feeling that reveals something about a universal theme as well as the particular focus of the media at work.<br />
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Lorie Conway’s documentary, “<a href="http://ruleoflawfilmproject.com/">Beatrice Mtetwa and the Rule of Law</a>“, focuses on the human rights lawyer in Zimbabwe who serves as the film’s main character, but also highlights the universal theme of “the rule of law” that supports the film’s relevance to circumstances far removed from Harare.<br />
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<b>It’s character-driven.</b> Not just a compelling character, but the right one. In discussing <a href="http://www.radio-canada.ca/widgets/mediaconsole/medianet/6749932">a series of stories he supervised for Canadian Public Television</a>, Eric Le Reste described how he guided his reporters on a story about a teenager who had dropped out of school, then returned and was about to graduate. Suddenly, the presumed story line was interrupted when the student cheated on a test.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Bob Walter, Vanessa Trengrove and other participants</span></td></tr>
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As the reporting unfolded, the main character shifted from the student to the school principal who refused to give up on the young man. And sometimes, as illustrated in “After the Factory,” it’s something other than a person — in this case a couple of cities — playing the role of main character.<br />
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<b>It looks for root causes.</b> Many stories address symptoms and effects; restorative narrative requires the storyteller to look deeper. Lorie Conway could have produced a documentary about the poverty, violence and decay underway at the hands of President Robert Mugabe. The filmmakers looked at what lay beneath the decay of a society and found that it was the erosion of the rule of law.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Some risks inherent in this type of storytelling</span></b><br />
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Most of the potential problems we imagined involve insufficient intellectual honesty — succumbing to the temptation to let the best of intentions overwhelm the facts of the matter. Some examples:<br />
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<b>Overreaching.</b> Not every search for a restorative narrative will find one. With inquiry rather than argument as the guiding technique, the media maker is better equipped to root the reporting in reality. Timing is important. Especially in the aftermath of violent or tragic events, restorative narratives often take time to take shape.<br />
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<b>Lack of context.</b> Authors of a restorative narrative may be tempted to omit details that complicate or conflict with the arc of the story. Smart decisions about what to leave out is a hallmark of good storytelling, and restorative narratives will often focus more on the hope ahead than the horror behind. But taking that too far results in a distortion that serves no one.<br />
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<b>Understanding key stakeholders is key.</b> In describing <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/03/04/130304fa_fact_aviv">how the journalists at the Newtown Bee covered the Sandy Hook shooting</a>, The New Yorker reported that Editor Curtiss Clark “wanted the paper to draw the community together, to reclaim its routine. … In crafting a redemptive narrative, the Bee avoided much of the story. For weeks, the paper simply focussed on documenting acts of benevolence.”<br />
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One could argue that the rest of the story was being amply covered by other media. It’s important to tell the audience, perhaps explicitly, what is being left out.<br />
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<b>False positives. </b>Restorative narrative does not mean the good guys win, or that the positive narrative promoted by a company or community should be accepted without question. Especially when an uplifting angle serves particular interests, skepticism is called for as much in restorative narrative as it is in other forms of nonfiction storytelling.<br />
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<b>Journalists aren’t trained to do this kind of work.</b> Most journalists have been trained, on the job if not in the classroom, to begin their reporting with a focus on a problem. Although effective as far as it goes, such an approach often fails to discover the full arc of the story. Other approaches (ivoh favors the <a href="http://appreciativeinquiry.case.edu/">Appreciative Inquiry</a>method) pursue what is working and will require new training.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://ivoh.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ivoh-eric-300x225.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://ivoh.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ivoh-eric-300x225.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Eric Le Reste discusses Canadian Public <br />Television project on returning student</span></td></tr>
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Restorative narrativists are probably a self-selecting group. Journalists <a href="http://www.poynter.org/how-tos/leadership-management/167592/four-types-of-journalists/">who think of themselves as storytellers, not newshounds or systems analysts</a>, will want to do this kind of work. Some already are.<br />
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As an organization, ivoh is focused on all forms of media, including music, the arts and advertising as well as journalism. A presentation by <a href="http://www.rikimoss.com/sculpture/sculpture.html">artist Riki Moss</a> and a performance led by <a href="http://www.michaelfitzpatrick.com/Michael_Fitzpatrick/BIO.html">cellist Michael Fitzpatrick</a> prompted discussion of restorative narrative in those media. But for the most part, this initial inquiry focused on various journalistic platforms.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Help us figure out this niche of storytelling</span></b><br />
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In the process of trying to define this thing called “restorative narrative,” we often felt the need to defend why this is a valid form of storytelling — why it isn’t a whitewash of reality.<br />
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Conflict is one of the core elements of journalism. When people complain about the media’s focus on “bad news,” the standard response is, “It’s not news if the plane lands safely.”<br />
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If we were to dig into people’s complaints, perhaps we would discover that they aren’t really talking about good news vs. bad. Maybe people simply lack the media vocabulary to explain what they would like to see more of.<br />
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We hope that we’ve laid the groundwork for this discussion.<br />
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In the coming weeks, we’ll point out stories that have characteristics of restorative narrative. You can help us by tweeting with the #restorativenarrative hashtag or tweeting to <a href="https://twitter.com/ivohMEDIA">@ivohMEDIA</a>. Ivoh is planning a larger gathering June 26-29, 2014 to further explore restorative narrative. If you’re interested in taking part, please contact <a href="mailto:bmitchell@ivoh.org">Bill Mitchell</a>.<br />
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In the meantime, let’s continue the conversation in the comments below. What’s your view of restorative narrative? How might media makers pursue it to maximum effect?<br />
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(Bill Mitchell contributed to this report.)</div>
The Whitman Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03387251117710399845noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904089138181212180.post-31950618214039303732013-08-30T10:45:00.000-07:002013-08-30T10:45:12.159-07:00An Interview with David Inocencio of the Beat Within<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><i>We're pleased to re-post Katy McCarthy's <a href="http://www.juvenile-in-justice.com/an-interview-with-david-inocencio-of-the-beat-within?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JuvenileInJustice+%28Juvenile+In+Justice%29&utm_content=Yahoo!+Mail" target="_blank">recent interview</a> with David Inocenio of The Beat Within, which appeared in Juvenile In Justice. TWI has been supporting The Beat since 2007.</i></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.juvenile-in-justice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/579043_10151481562268898_1040877756_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.juvenile-in-justice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/579043_10151481562268898_1040877756_n.jpg" width="235" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">“The Beat Within” by Casper. <br />Image courtesy of The Beat Within.</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">David Inocencio is the coolest. He’s one of those guys who starts talking about his passion — bringing a voice to the voiceless incarcerated masses — and you think to yourself, “Why can’t everyone be such a badass crusader for human rights and the arts?” But that’s just what David does. As founder of The Beat Within, David Inocencio works to bring a crucial expressive outlet to kids behind bars. The Beat Within is two things: a biweekly publication of writing and art from inside juvenile halls and prisons, and a workshop program inside juvenile halls across the U.S. It all started in 1996, when David started facilitating writing workshops in San Francisco juvenile hall. What he found was staggering, that young people behind bars had so much more to say than was perhaps revealed in a police report or psychiatric evaluation. He found that what he could provide them with, a voice and a place to air it, was critical to their self-esteem and ability to feel connected to the outside world. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">A San Franciscan born and raised, David always knew he wanted to make a difference in his community. “In the late 80s/early 90s I saw the drug (crack) epidemic, rising youth violence and the decline of the public schools and I figured that I needed to connect with this population because their truth wasn’t being told,” he said. “I knew it was important to tell their story to their peers and also to those outside the system.”</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">The writing and art produced by young TBW participants is poignant and tragic. Each piece — be it a poem or a drawing — paints a humanizing and complex self-portrait of a young person’s life history. Oftentimes, that is a history riddled with abuse, neglect, poverty, drug abuse and violence. The writing is also deeply insightful. Every piece I read is a reminder that these children are just that — children, with sorrows and hopes and dreams that need to be expressed and listened to.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">Today, 17 years since their humble beginnings, The Beat Within has expanded exponentially to serve over 5,000 youth annually through workshops operated in 13 California county juvenile halls and at facilities in Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, Hawaii, Oregon and in Washington, DC. Good news for you, they are always accepting donations and volunteers! But if you’re not convinced yet, read on. You will be.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><b>Katy McCarthy: So, how did The Beat Within get started?</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><b>David Inocencio:</b> I saw a need for it. I was working at the juvenile hall in San Francisco and through that work I recognized a real need to give these young people a voice. They were being unheard in every aspect — everywhere from the courtroom to their day-to-day lives. In the work I did prior to The Beat Within, I did a great job of building relationships. So, when I approached the juvenile hall in San Francisco about starting writing and conversation workshops there was no red tape — with open arms they embraced my visions. I didn’t know I was going to start a publication. This was January 1996. I just knew the importance of listening to human beings and building trust. I saw what you got out of that. You got young people hungry to connect. That there was more to their stories than a police report, a psyche evaluation, etc. Little did I know at that point that my colleagues from Pacific News Service and I, especially Sandy Close (who believe in my work and my vision), were creating the template of The Beat Within, which would become what it is today.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.juvenile-in-justice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/540668_10150715913263898_255176923_n-300x230.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.juvenile-in-justice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/540668_10150715913263898_255176923_n-300x230.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Art from youth in Bernalillo County, New Mexico. <br />Image courtesy of The Beat Within.</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">Nine months later Tupac died and around the young people I was working with came an outpouring of response, and it was so moving I knew I needed to publish this writing quickly so that people could know how they felt. It was shortly thereafter, in September 1996, that we committed to being The Beat Within — a weekly publication of art and writing from inside the hall.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">TBW is more than a publication. It is truly organic and has organically grown. It has moved beyond the city and state. There is a lot of hunger from other counties to be a part of this form. They see it as truly a lifeline for these young people — giving a voice to the voiceless. I am blown away by how many counties have embraced TBW and our work. We’ve been able to connect with so many institutions. People really feel a connection with the work.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">A judge in San Francisco told me once that the TBW publication was a real window into the world of these young people. Young people who are up against it dealing with hard choices and raising themselves. We need to pull them into the conversation. It’s an amazing resource guide if you use it that way, a great indicator of what the struggles are. A lot of the same issues keep popping up. Issues of family, dysfunction, addiction, and above all a hunger to connect and be heard.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><b>K.M: What is the most important issue TBW is working on today?</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><b>D.I: </b>Giving a voice to the voiceless. Empowering these young people to realize how important their voices are and that there is a platform and a place for them to be heard. They have to make the ultimate choice — low road high road: do I abuse my body or feed it with knowledge? So we do our program, and they need to realize it’s their choice to change their lives. That’s a lot for a young person. They also have this amazing opportunity to tell the system (and their peers) where it’s broken and what it needs. We encourage them to be teachers and to share their truths.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><b>K.M: I’m sure in your work you have encountered people with amazing/heartbreaking stories about their experience with the juvenile justice system. Can you share one with us?</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><b>D.I: </b>There was a fourteen-year-old boy, James, charged with a double homicide for gang related killings. He raised himself in the youth system, before being sent off to adult prison where he would serve 30-years to life. James is someone I worked with closely. The juvenile hall feared him in a sense. They wanted to segregate him from his peers, because of the high profile nature of his case, so they kept him in isolation for long stretches for a couple of years. He should have been put in the maximum-security unit with others, yet they isolated him from everyone, so he wasn’t in our weekly writing workshops, but afterwards I would always stop by his cell and talk to him and give him a prompt and a copy of the beat. The facility administrators kept him disconnected, but they allowed him a pencil and paper. He would give me these amazing writings. He also, at that time, was a new father. Fresh out of 8th grade he and his girlfriend got pregnant. So he’s coming to terms with being a father. I worked with him over time, and he delivered some of the most powerful, eloquent writing I’d ever read at that time. I was able to watch him grow from a 14-year-old wanting to be the biggest, baddest gangster to an 18-year-old realizing he had thrown a part of his life away. It’s the whole idea of seeing him grow and how powerful an outlet The Beat was to him. He ended up with this amazing following because the facility allowed me to publish his work. Writing was his way of communicating with his peers, and it was so respectful that all of us could embrace it, despite the sign on his cell door saying that no one should communicate with this minor.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">There are so many stories of young people learning how powerful their voices were after working with us. In some cases there have been lawyers and advocates using TBW as a character witness in helping shed light that this young person, their client, has grown up quite a bit in the system and is not the same person who initially walked in, thanks to their writing. Of course, action speaks louder than words, but these young people have only their words until they are given, if they are lucky, a chance to put their words into action. The Beat is consistent in their lives when there isn’t any consistency, so these kids trust and share with you. There is so much more to them.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><b>K.M: What are TBW’s goals for the future? Where do you want to see TBW go?</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><b>D.I:</b> I want to take care of funding for the next year. We still do workshops EVERYDAY, but I had to cut the publications back to two double-issues a month. It’s just a matter of getting the word out, being the face in the community, and building relationships with folks that can share the vision. This year I’m blown away by how many folks in the Midwest want to get involved and get their kids involved — Illinois, St. Louis … We are also connected with a juvenile hall in El Salvador, where two Fulbright Scholars are working so we’ve been able to feature those kid’s writing for the past couple of months. I aim to see that The Beat Within is alive and well in 10-20 years, staying true to our mission of giving a voice to the voiceless.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.juvenile-in-justice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/998763_10151618639828898_280017943_n-284x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.juvenile-in-justice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/998763_10151618639828898_280017943_n-284x300.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Artwork by Rhonda Jones. <br />Image courtesy of The Beat Within.</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">When the initial workshops happened in 96’ I stressed to the kids that “no matter where you go, just keep on writing—whether it’s prison, a solitary housing unit, or freedom.” We publish works from those who have moved on beyond juvenile hall and want to stay connected and share their stories: The Beat Without. They want to reach out, to donate their words to help break the stereotypes. That prison isn’t cool. These stories speak to the youngsters. It’s important to get the elders to be a part of the conversation and to include that in our publication.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><b>K.M: How is TBW distributed to those on the inside?</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><b>D.I: </b>When we had money, we had an out-of-control mailing list of prisoners who wanted it and couldn’t afford it and we would send a copy to them. Now, things are tighter. Everyone who gets published gets a copy of it in the mail, and kids in every workshop take away a copy. At a workshop on Tuesday night, all 150 kids walked away with a copy to read in their cells.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><b>K.M: What does a workshop look like?</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><b>D.I:</b> Workshops are all one hour — they all have the same writing prompts, no matter where you are (D.C., S.F., N.Y.). The leaders give the kids the prompts, they discuss them as a group, the leader shares a passage, and then we all share our stories. Once we exhaust the 3-4 prompts we break off into writing groups. Ideally there are 2-3 facilitators per class and we walk around and check in, helping with grammar, sometimes checking in to talk about the stress of court tomorrow and just listening. Maybe there is another kid who can’t write, but wants to be in the publication… we may be helping him or sitting with him penning his story. They know its cool because it gets published and goes to all these interesting institutions — more than 25 — beyond their own. I want them to feel an ownership. The other night I told kids, “I spoke at SF State and told them about the success of our project and your writing.” It takes a whole community to pull it off. At the end we open it up for them to read what they’ve written aloud and we all clap. The counselors and the guards standing nearby are always blown away when they hear these kids talking about longing for the touch of their mothers, the fear of the unknown, saying “all I want to do is be home with my mom and I cry in my pillow.” When these kids write, a lot of pain and weakness comes out. And then we make sure that every young person walks out with a publication. Speaking of the publication, we also make sure that every entry that is published in The Beat Within has a response from us adults. We want the young person to know at least one person is paying attention to what it is they are writing about.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><b>K.M: What is the best thing that a concerned citizen can do today to get involved in your work?</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><b>D.I:</b> Donations of any size are always needed and appreciated and can help us with our printing costs for the 60-80 page publication. We are always accepting volunteers. We have monthly training sessions. We have over 200 volunteers, all just trying to touch lives. All it takes is an individual with an interest in wanting to touch lives. All ages are welcome, though you have to be at least 21 years old to go into juvenile hall.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">Thanks David! </span><br />
<br />Stay connected with <a href="http://beatwithin.org/">the Beat Within</a>!<br /><a href="http://www.juvenile-in-justice.com/www.facebook.com/thebeatwithin">Facebook.com/thebeatwithin</a><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/_thebeatwithin">Twitter.com/_thebeatwithin</a><br />Also: through <a href="http://beatwithin.org/">their website</a> you can get access, with a small donation, to most of their publications!The Whitman Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03387251117710399845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904089138181212180.post-42354379049750225202013-08-23T14:22:00.001-07:002013-08-29T12:18:11.951-07:00From The Kids’ Table To The Adults’ Table: Taking Relationships Seriously in a World of Networks<div style="text-align: right;">
By John Esterle, Malka Kopell & Palma Strand </div>
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<i>Thanks to all our colleagues who shared this story! Thanks to </i><i><a href="http://www.pacefunders.org/" target="_blank">PACE</a> for making it available to its members and to </i><i><a href="http://www.cingib.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Cindy Gibson</a> who sent it to her national network. </i><br />
<i>Follow the links to read the insightful introduction to this article from Niki Jagpal on <a href="http://blog.ncrp.org/2013/08/networks-relationships-and-foundations.html" target="_blank">NCRP’s Blog</a>, the kind words of the <a href="http://www.ncglists.org/news/?p=4767" target="_blank">NCG</a> and Phil Buchanan's highlight on <a href="http://www.effectivephilanthropy.org/blog/2013/08/philanthropy-end-of-summer-beach-reading-part-3/" target="_blank">The CEP blog</a>.</i></div>
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<u style="text-align: left;">You can download the article on <a href="http://www.thewhitmaninstitute.org/articles.html" target="_blank">The Whitman Institute's website</a>.</u></div>
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In recent years, funders, practitioners and academics have been paying increased attention to the key role social networks play in addressing issues of public concern. Collective impact, funder-supported grantee networks, and cross-sector collaborations all reflect this trend. </div>
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Our own experiences—in philanthropy, consulting, and academia—lead us to applaud the network “crescendo” and join the chorus. We want to pause the music for a minute, however, to issue a challenge. </div>
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Networks are made up of people—people who are in relationship with each other. But we’ve noticed that paeans to networks do not always encompass lifting up the importance of relationships. For networks to fulfill their promise, that has to change. </div>
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It’s hardly news to say that personal relationships built on trust, respect, and empathy are an important factor in creating resilient, adaptive, and innovative organizations and communities. Indeed, people working in a range of contexts and settings often say that personal relationships are foundational to their work. Why is it then that when it comes to writing grant proposals and measuring impact, relationships - and the processes involved in building them—too often recede into the background? </div>
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The need to start prominently raising this question is what moved the three of us to write this article. Our operating assumption is that taking networks seriously means that we all—especially funders—must take relationships seriously. Devoting adequate resources to building and sustaining authentic relationships is key to greater progress on a wide variety of fronts. </div>
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<b>From the Kids’ Table to the Adults’ Table</b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ETZ6vGWKn-Y/UhaqZeJAnKI/AAAAAAAAAWE/31Km0fYbKvk/s1600/growing+up.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="256" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ETZ6vGWKn-Y/UhaqZeJAnKI/AAAAAAAAAWE/31Km0fYbKvk/s320/growing+up.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Photo Credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/evilerin/" target="_blank">Evil Erin</a> on Flickr</td></tr>
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There is often an awkwardness in taking relationships seriously. Particularly when it comes to funding decisions, relationships have been seated, so to speak, at the “kids’ table.” We think that it is time to bring them to the fore, to invite them to the “adults’ table”—even though this may entail a gawky “adolescent” phase. Identifying sources of discomfort will help. </div>
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Four sources of discomfort are immediately apparent. First, our society has traditionally seen the cultivation of relationships as a “soft skill,” a manifestation of heart rather than head. Heart and head are understood to be two distinct aspects of the human experience, and Western culture reveres the head, the cognitive. As Descartes said, “I think, therefore I am.” Recognizing both that the dichotomy between “hard skills” and “soft skills” is false and that “soft” and “hard” skills are equally essential moves us toward taking relationships seriously. </div>
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Second, we live in an individualistic culture. Independence, personal autonomy, and freedom have historically been our most cherished values. Networks and their relationships, however, embody interdependence. Liberian peace activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee has described the African concept of “ubuntu” as capturing an awareness that “I am what I am because of who we all are." Recognizing that the individual and the social are inextricably intertwined supports taking relationships seriously. </div>
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Third, we lack agreed-upon criteria for measuring relationships and their quality, perhaps because of our historical and cultural inattention to and undervaluation of relationships. With increased attention to and respect for relationships, progress on this front is already evident. For example, work on “Emotional Intelligence” (Daniel Goleman) and on increasing the vocabulary of emotion (Marshall Rosenberg’s “Nonviolent Communication”) helps us assess and measure relationships. </div>
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Fourth and finally, relationships take time, yet our culture focuses on the short term. Impatience is not simply an individual characteristic; immediacy is institutionalized. We discount the value of future costs and benefits in public and organizational decision-making in favor of those closer to hand. Countering this pull means intentionally lengthening our time horizon and allowing the time for relationships to grow. </div>
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<b><b>“Soft” relationships for “hard” problems </b></b></div>
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But what do high-quality relationships really bring to the table? For one, they often bring a new perspective. According to Martha McCoy, Executive Director of <a href="http://www.everyday-democracy.org/" target="_blank">Everyday Democracy</a>, an operating foundation that focuses on community change, “if you and your network partners aren’t in a good relationship, you don’t listen to each other. And more important, you don’t have the potential to change each other. This inhibits problem-solving.” </div>
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McCoy adds that high-quality relationships “have the power to disturb the status quo. Some people think that relationships are all about not rocking the boat – i.e., “can’t we just all get along?” But an authentic relationship can provide the catalyst and the support for difficult change.” </div>
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Matt Leighninger, Executive Director of the <a href="http://www.deliberative-democracy.net/" target="_blank">Deliberative Democracy Consortium</a>, a national network of civic engagement and democracy-building organizations, emphasizes that strong relationships open up perspectives on community problems: “Current problem-solving structures in communities are often fairly narrow. People in issue-based institutions don’t see the relevance of other issues or citizens with broader interests. Holistic, sustained networks of relationships help get past these silos.”<br />
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These benefits aside, you can see how the sources of discomfort about relationships play out in terms of funding. Foundations can be notorious for their short attention spans. In the drive toward measurement and metrics, talking about relationship-building as a measure of impact may seem suspect, so it’s safer not to go there. Finally, if relationships are important, might that not apply to funders too? If they’re asked to walk their talk, what might that mean for their relationships with their grantees? With other funders? Exploring those questions asks a risk-averse sector to enter risky territory. </div>
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Fortunately, we are seeing concrete examples of what can happen when funders recognize relationships as having a place at the theory-of-change table—when funders support strengthening relationships where they are weak … or absent. <a href="http://www.barrfoundation.org/fellows/program-detail/" target="_blank">The Barr Foundation’s Fellows Program</a>, for example, supports the “nurturing” of cooperative relationships among Boston’s non-profit leaders over time with the identified purpose of encouraging the emergence of a more “collaborative culture. “ (Stanford Social Innovation Review Summer 2012) </div>
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Peter Pennekamp, President Emeritus of the <a href="https://www.hafoundation.org/" target="_blank">Humboldt Area Foundation</a> on California’s northern coast, describes a very intentional and strategic relationship-building initiative that addressed a stalemate between oppositional networks that pitted the timber industry against environmentalists. “By facilitating the development of relationships between local timber and environmental leaders, the existence of which at first had to be profoundly confidential due to both sides’ perceived risk in meeting, a third network, based on concern for a shared community, was born.”<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Funders and non-profit leaders in relationship at TWI's 2012 retreat.</td></tr>
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<b><b>Funders as Community Members </b></b></div>
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When funders support relationships, they open themselves up to becoming part of the relational web of their communities, which can provide additional opportunities for positive change. Leslie Medine, Executive Director of <a href="http://www.onthemovebayarea.org/" target="_blank">On the Move</a>, an incubator for community initiatives driven by young leaders in Napa, California, attributes the effectiveness of a neighborhood initiative to create opportunities for Latino youth to this mutuality: “In this network, more than any other that I’ve ever been a part of, all the partners involved – the school principal, the local hospital outreach director, the primary funders and our key young leaders – all of us understand that our work is totally interdependent. To each of us this means that I literally can’t get my work done without you.” </div>
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Similarly, Lyn Wallin Ziegenbein, Executive Director of the <a href="http://www.peterkiewitfoundation.org/%E2%80%8E" target="_blank">Peter Kiewit Foundation</a>, a private independent philanthropic trust in Omaha, Nebraska, says, “We place a high priority and value on building enduring relationships with our grantees. That aspect of our work transcends individual grants and moves our entire body of work toward Mr. Kiewit’s fundamental goal for his philanthropy: to build and sustain the communities we share, literally and figuratively. As we see it, the Omaha community is relationships.” </div>
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This true interdependence – including funders in the mix – paves the way for the kind of deep collaboration and problem-solving that is necessary to tackle complicated community problems.<br />
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<b><b>The Civity Networks Project—Taking Relationships Seriously</b></b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo credit: 1stdibs.com</span></span></td></tr>
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We are currently working together—John as funder, Malka as lead practitioner, and Palma as advisor—on a networks project that takes relationships seriously: The Civity Networks Project. Using Silicon Valley as a test site, and partnering with the <a href="http://www.siliconvalleycf.org/" target="_blank">Silicon Valley Community Foundation</a>, the Project seeks to build the social trust that enables regional problem-solving by strengthening civic networks in the region. </div>
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Rather than creating a new network, the Project is designed to “tune up” the networks that currently exist in the region. As a first step, 50 leaders are chosen strategically to represent a wide range of issues, groups, sectors, and geography. Then, a deep, individualized intervention invites each leader to see him or herself as a regional actor and to align his or her work with the good of the region as a whole. </div>
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The centerpiece of the intervention is a one-on-one in-person meeting with each leader. The intervention focuses on crystallizing each leader’s intent to build relationships that enhance “civity”—the kind of cross-cutting social trust that underlies the region’s capacity to address regional challenges and seize regional opportunities. From that first one-on-one meeting grow additional opportunities for each leader to deepen his or her self-reflective experience and to take additional steps to act on that experience. </div>
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The theory of change envisions these network “tune-ups” leading to “butterfly effects” that contribute to regional resilience by instigating small but important improvements in how each leader operates within his or her own networks. When key leaders pay attention to, cultivate, and enrich the location and quality of the relationships within their own networks, “civity” and social trust increase and regional problem-solving improves. </div>
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The Project includes an evaluation component to both assess Project results and gain information about existing civic networks and the relationships within them. We believe that the relationship-focused Civity Network Pilot Project will enhance our understanding and therefore our ability to harness the power of networks. Taking relationships seriously, in our view, entails the kind of rigor the Project embodies.<br />
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<b><b>Relationships in the Foreground </b></b></div>
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The Whitman Institute, the independent foundation that John leads, periodically gathers its own “network” to build and deepen relationships and to cross-fertilize stories and ideas. After its last retreat, Jon Funabiki, the Executive Director of <a href="http://rjcmedia.org/%E2%80%8E" target="_blank">Renaissance Journalism</a>, an interdisciplinary center in San Francisco that identifies and sparks new journalistic models that serve communities, wrote: “Relationships have been important to me for many years. Yet they have always been in the background, rather than the foreground. I will work harder to nudge them forward from now.” </div>
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It’s time for all of us –in our various sectors—to move relationships to the foreground to enhance our picture of social change. Let’s begin; let’s experiment; let’s share what we learn. </div>
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<b><u>About the Authors </u></b></div>
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John Esterle is the Executive Director of <a href="http://www.thewhitmaninstitute.org/%E2%80%8E" target="_blank">The Whitman Institute</a>, an independent foundation that invests in the power of relationships, constructive dialogue and the connections they generate to trigger problem solving and creative approaches required to achieve a healthy, peaceful, equitable and sustainable world. As President Emeritus he serves on the board of <a href="http://www.pacefunders.org/%E2%80%8E" target="_blank">Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement</a>, is a member of <a href="http://www.leaderspring.org/%E2%80%8E" target="_blank">LeaderSpring</a>’s Leadership Council and <a href="http://www.activevoice.net/" target="_blank">Active Voice</a>’s Advisory Committee, and co-chairs <a href="http://www.ncg.org/s_ncg/sec.asp?CID=11386&DID=25893" target="_blank">Northern California Grantmakers’ Organizational Effectiveness and Professional Development Committee</a>.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xWVIF8khKLQ/UhaceTXhOoI/AAAAAAAAAVM/qJ_SA7tfalg/s1600/Malka.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Photo credit: http://www.communityfocus.org/staff.html" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xWVIF8khKLQ/UhaceTXhOoI/AAAAAAAAAVM/qJ_SA7tfalg/s1600/Malka.jpg" title="Malka Kopell" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Photo:<br />www.communityfocus.org</span></td></tr>
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Malka Kopell is an expert in the field of civic engagement and collaboration. In 1990, she founded <a href="http://www.communityfocus.org/" target="_blank">Community Focus</a>, a non-profit that works with local governments to develop and facilitate cross-sector collaboration to address tough problems in communities. She served as a program officer at the <a href="http://www.hewlett.org/%E2%80%8E" target="_blank">William and Flora Hewlett Foundation</a>, supporting civic engagement and conflict resolution programs around the country, and she was the first managing director of the <a href="http://pacscenter.stanford.edu/" target="_blank">Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society</a> at Stanford University. She currently assists governments, non-profits and foundations to develop and support stakeholder networks.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kAOzCWIW-1g/UhacNPu3JYI/AAAAAAAAAVE/YYEwCSQ63e4/s1600/Palma.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kAOzCWIW-1g/UhacNPu3JYI/AAAAAAAAAVE/YYEwCSQ63e4/s1600/Palma.jpg" title="Palma Strand" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Photo: www.creighton.edu</span></td></tr>
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Palma Strand is a Professor of Law at the <a href="https://www.creighton.edu/law/faculty/strand/index.php" target="_blank">Creighton Law School</a>, where she is associated with the <a href="http://www.creighton.edu/werner/" target="_blank">Werner Institute of Negotiation and Dispute Resolution</a>. She teaches Civic Organizing and Democracy, Local Government Law, Alternative Dispute Resolution, and Street Law among other courses. Prof. Strand has done extensive civic engagement work in metropolitan regions including Washington, DC and Omaha, NE. She has ties to the creators of the civic organizing approach and developed the concept of “civity.” She is the current Chair of the <a href="http://www.policyconsensus.org/uncg/" target="_blank">University Network for Collaborative Governance</a>.</div>
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<b>For more information about the Civity Networks Project, contact </b><b>Palma Strand at <a href="mailto:PalmaStrand@creighton.edu">PalmaStrand@creighton.edu</a> and Malka Kopell at <a href="mailto:malka.kopell@sbcglobal.net">malka.kopell@sbcglobal.net</a></b></div>
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The Whitman Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03387251117710399845noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904089138181212180.post-35461901624311504832013-08-15T14:14:00.001-07:002013-08-15T16:27:07.296-07:00Purpose & Passion: 3 Stories<div class="MsoNormal">
By John Esterle<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VJ9eoiaJ7Go/Ug1QVFgTLQI/AAAAAAAAAUU/JuWF6GMfM80/s1600/jon+funabiki.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Jon Funabiki" border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VJ9eoiaJ7Go/Ug1QVFgTLQI/AAAAAAAAAUU/JuWF6GMfM80/s200/jon+funabiki.jpg" title="Jon Funabiki" width="145" /></a>In our summer newsletter, Jill Blair framed TWI’s theory of
change as dialogue + connection + relationships = impact.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How to capture that equation in compelling
and creative ways is an ongoing question for TWI – as it is for many who
participate in gatherings that open up spaces for meaningful conversation and connection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
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Jon Funabiki, Renaissance Journalism’s Executive Director admirably
meets that challenge with his recent posts about<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Purpose and Passion,” a storytelling retreat
for journalists that RJ organized – and that TWI was pleased to support. I urge
you to read all three.<br />
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In<a href="http://renjournalism.org/2013/07/journalists-reflect-on-their-purpose-passion/" target="_blank"> his first post</a>, Jon provides a thoughtful overview of
what transpired and some of the people involved.<br />
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<a href="http://renjournalism.org/2013/07/pondering-the-perils-of-wearing-a-mask-to-work/" target="_blank">His second</a> explores the metaphor of wearing a mask and the question:
“What does it mean if we can’t be our “authentic selves” with our colleagues?”
Certainly, this is a question that applies to all of us no matter what field we
are in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was in a small group conversation
just this week that asked: What does it mean if funders and grantees (or grant
seekers) can’t be their authentic selves with each other?<br />
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His third post, “<a href="http://renjournalism.org/2013/08/listening-for-when-the-bow-string-sings/" target="_blank">Listening for when the bow string sings</a>,”
offers some wisdom and a lovely metaphor that emerged from their discussions.<br />
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Taken together, Jon’s three posts paint a powerful picture
of what can happen when we create the time and space to share stories and
engage in deep inquiry and reflection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>One of the journalists who participated wrote, “It is so rare to be able
to connect with colleagues in this field in such a personal human way.” With
more reporting like Jon’s, I think such efforts might indeed become less
rare.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And if they become more
commonplace ( a guy can hope!), who knows what might happen?</div>
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The Whitman Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03387251117710399845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904089138181212180.post-15330996704086029892013-08-01T11:56:00.000-07:002013-08-01T11:56:08.318-07:00Be the Cheetah! Nonprofit Leadership For Our Time<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="https://www.compasspoint.org/sites/default/files/images/Blog/CJCallen.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="CJ Callen" border="0" src="https://www.compasspoint.org/sites/default/files/images/Blog/CJCallen.JPG" title="CJ Callen" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 16.363636016845703px;">By CJ Callen</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Originally posted at: </span><a href="http://www.compasspoint.org/blog/be-cheetah-nonprofit-leadership-our-times" style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">http://www.compasspoint.org/blog/be-cheetah-nonprofit-leadership-our-times</a></div>
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While recently scanning <em>The New York Times</em> I came across this promo for the article “<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/13/science/agility-not-speed-is-cheetahs-meal-ticket-study-says.html?hp&_r=0" target="_blank">Cheetahs’ Secret Weapon: A Tight Turning Radius</a>”:</div>
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“A study shows that the large feline’s key to hunting success is not its speed but its skill at leaping sideways, changing directions abruptly, and slowing down quickly.”</div>
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Perhaps no truer set of words capture what it takes to effectively lead a nonprofit organization in 2013. In the past, I have observed a reverence for powerful organizations that move quickly (though not necessarily adeptly or with finesse). Accelerating at their rapid pace they tend to catch the attention of investors, which fuels the cycle of speed and power. Of course, when things unexpectedly get in the way and impede progress, they are often not able to adapt and their fall can be a hard one.</div>
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I’m a firm believer in a different approach, one that honors power and control – and adaptability, and which will ensure ongoing success even when roadblocks pop up. As a nonprofit leader at the helm of an organization that is over 20 years old, I don’t think power alone will do. Because we are older we can’t move with the speed that comes from being the new kid on the block. We are mature and, so, more complex, which tends to reduce our MPH. But we have self-knowledge that we have learned in our journey coupled with some interesting moves and the flexibility of a studied yogi. This has helped our organization to stay focused and remain alert, to spot opportunity and pursue it, and to slow down quickly to seize opportunity and make forward progress. Like the cheetah, our success lies in our ability to adapt to what’s happening around us and to recalibrate our path accordingly. No time for strategic planning here but this approach reflects a deep appreciation of strategic thinking coupled with immediate action.</div>
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<tr><td valign="top">So how can we build organizations that can turn on a dime? How can we build in our board cultures a reverence for power combined with dizzying control? These are the true moves needed to ensure meaningful systemic impact. And just to be crystal clear, when I say to my fellow nonprofits, “Be the cheetah,” I don’t mean be predatory but, rather, use your skills in surprising ways for far superior results. Work in ways that build your “flex” muscles. Have fun with your new dance moves.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.compasspoint.org/sites/default/files/documents/ToThePointmages/cheetah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Cheetah" border="0" height="200" src="https://www.compasspoint.org/sites/default/files/documents/ToThePointmages/cheetah.jpg" style="border: 0px; text-align: right;" title="Cheetah" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;">Image: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/51614258@N00/3347978472/in/photolist-66RgmL-67zmc5-6f5QAL-6g29n8-6mKqrc-6mPAd3-6sqaJH-6DfYXj-6Er7Hd-6JHedX-6JMiuE-6WvKAp-6WvKCZ-6WzKUo-6WzKVU-724Y6F-8HQmnw-8UfWg5-8mDi4h-bbgJ6F-cEXUWu-cEXTHU-bXeWmW-bXeUf7-bXeLTo-bXeRu3-bXeNLE-8">Mara 1</a></td></tr>
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Here’s my story of turning on a dime. Our organization was approached to support the work of the White House Council for Community Solutions my third day on the job. We had to shift course quickly and demonstrate extreme flexibility in order to take on this new area of work on a national stage. It has had its ups and downs but I am glad that we embraced the risk and took on the work. We have learned so much that will only make us more limber when the next opportunity rolls around and we need to leap sideways, change directions abruptly, and slow down quickly.</div>
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<strong>Ok, so now that you’ve got this concept flowing in your nonprofit executive blood stream, what do you do with it?</strong></div>
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<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">Use it to help your board understand how the strategic planning work you are doing will help you have the clarity and internal capacity to turn on a dime.</li>
<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">Use it to reassure yourself when others think that the way to the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/greeks/jason_01.shtml" target="_blank">Golden Fleece</a>is a fast straight run for the goal and you’re the lone voice for growing something slowly and thoughtfully.</li>
<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">Use it to become a more <a href="http://www.ocvets4pets.com/archive17/Leadership_in_a__Permanent__Crisis_-_HBR.org.pdf" target="_blank">adaptive leader</a> who is not afraid to turn on a dime because you are confident that it is the key to success.</li>
<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">Use it to jump-start a conversation among funders and nonprofits about the adaptive approaches needed to build strong social justice movements. (For my action step on this, please see the invitation below.)</li>
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In closing, with the cheetah analogy in mind, I offer you a couple of resources that I continue to revisit because they help me build my flex muscles. They are ones you may be aware of, yet they are always worth another visit.</div>
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<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><em><a href="http://heathbrothers.com/books/made-to-stick" target="_blank">Made to Stick</a></em> by Chip and Dan Heath – I’m a student of big ideas and how change happens. This book helps us think about how to make our ideas sticks. It challenges our thinking in the best of ways and builds our “flex” muscle to make us better, more adaptive leaders.</li>
<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><em><a href="http://www.sethgodin.com/sg/books.asp" target="_blank">Tribes</a></em> by Seth Godin – My last blog was about the importance of <a href="http://www.compasspoint.org/blog/find-your-tribe-%E2%80%9Cwho%E2%80%9D-leading-change" target="_blank">finding your tribe</a> and this book is all about that. Every leader needs to find the tribe that will give her the support to try new things and to move with power and control.</li>
<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><em><a href="http://www.thelittleprince.com/" target="_blank">The Little Prince</a></em> by Antoine Saint Exupéry – This is one of the most popular reads in the entire world and no surprise why. It inspires us to be our best, most creative selves and strikes at the heart of what it means to be a leader who is both adaptive and true. It is a reminder that when I say, “Be the cheetah” I don’t mean “Be the predator” but, rather, “Be your best self.”</li>
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<b><span style="color: orange; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">An invitation: Let’s learn together about movement building</span></b><div>
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On a related note, I want and need to be in conversation with others who are committed to and want to be better at building a movement for social justice and racial equity. By “others,” I mean activists and funders alike because we both play critical and complementary roles in building strong and effective social justice movements. On the one hand, my glass is full: I have change agent colleagues whom I can talk to about our work – the good, the bad, and the ugly. On the other hand, my glass is empty: I don’t have a group of funders whom I can meet with to discuss our mutual leadership roles in movement building. I want to bring together funders and nonprofit leaders who are ready for regular, open, and honest conversations so that we can engage in playful inquiry, learn from each other, and stretch our thinking.</div>
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In my last blog post I invited new nonprofit executives to join me in forming a conversation group; I was able to form a group that continues to meet and grow in numbers. My new invitation is a seemingly more difficult quest given the power dynamic that often exists between funders and nonprofit staff. But I am up for the challenge and have in my back pocket a few strategies for diminishing the dynamics – trust me, I’m a funder and a nonprofit leader. Wearing those hats has afforded me plenty of empathy to spare for both.</div>
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<em>So donor or funder, if you are interested in joining in conversation, please let me know. </em>I’m keeping my fingers crossed because I want a conversation and am tired of the dance. :) I’m sure there are like-hearted funders out there who want the same. I look forward to meeting you.</div>
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You can reach me at <a href="mailto:cjcallen@yli.org">cjcallen@yli.org</a> or <a href="mailto:cj@thewhitmaninstitute.org">cj@thewhitmaninstitute.org</a></div>
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The Whitman Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03387251117710399845noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904089138181212180.post-20709220276568115972013-03-05T13:46:00.004-08:002013-03-05T13:46:51.163-08:00Find Your Tribe: The “Who” of Leading Change<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 16.363636016845703px;">By CJ Callen</span><br />
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Originally posted at: <span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.compasspoint.org/blog/find-your-tribe-%E2%80%9Cwho%E2%80%9D-leading-change">http://www.compasspoint.org/<wbr></wbr>blog/find-your-tribe-<span style="background-color: white;">“who”-</span><wbr style="background-color: white;"></wbr><span style="background-color: white;">leading-change</span></a></span></div>
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Recently I found myself chatting with someone with roots in philanthropy about my current effort to lead my organization in a process of re-imagining our future to increase our social impact. That person provided her insights and support; she recognized that my “big idea” for my organization sounded like it built on our organization’s history and strengths. She also understood that I was doing this as a process of co-creation involving all our stakeholders.<br />
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Time flew by because I did not need to explain all my terms and she had no defenses up or agendas hidden. She told me to “Find your tribe!” so that I can be surrounded by positive supporters who can help me maintain the momentum as I shepherd my organization into a new era – a transformation that won’t happen overnight. “Will you be a member of my secret brain trust?” I asked. “Yes,” she responded. And with that, I have my second member of the trust. (The first member is a wonderful funder who is a thought partner but not a financial supporter.)<br />
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What a refreshing connection! The day before, I suffered through a meeting with a person in the world of philanthropy who (1) condescendingly asked me if I had involved anyone else in this process (huh?!) and (2) employed the arrogant royal “WE” when I used a term that they assured me only they really understood from where they sat. I sent the person a thank you note, but no response – and no surprise. Grace rarely follows arrogance. Looking back, I can now say “definitely not my tribe,” move on, and not let that weigh me down.<br />
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But it gets better: After my meeting in which my friend and colleague told me to find my tribe, I found another person who understood instantly what I was trying to do, and who encouraged me and started to connect me to others who might help me figure out how best to do it. (Yeah, another new member of my tribe!) In addition to providing me with instant inspiration, she gave me a great reading list for nonprofit leaders willing to engage in playful inquiry and to take on risks – and sometimes fail – all in service to greater impact:<br />
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<a href="http://www.startwithwhy.com/Read.aspx">Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Action</a> by Scott Sinek – This book got me with the title alone. For years, when working in the philanthropic sector, I noticed that funders often discussed the “what” and sometimes the “how” of what they do but rarely the “why.” This book captures what I tried to do: to help funders connect deeply to the “why” of their work.<br />
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<a href="http://beingwrongbook.com/">Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error</a> by Kathryn Schulz – This book reminds me of the old song lyrics, “If loving you is wrong, I don’t want to be right.” Now the trick is to go from celebrating failure in all its glory in theory to placing it squarely in the reality of the nonprofit and foundation boardroom.<br />
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<a href="http://charlesduhigg.com/the-power-of-habit/">The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business</a> by Charles Duhigg – The bad news is that we all have some bad habits and sometimes are blind to them, but the good news is that we can be intentional about changing them.<br />
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My addition to the above list: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Habit-Learn-Use-Life/dp/0743235274">The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life</a> by Twyla Tharp. Any nonprofit leader embarking on a major change to their organization is going to have to call mightily on their often underutilized right brain. This book provides some good guidance on how to do that.<br />
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So here I am: building a tribe as I launch into an exploration designed to transform my nonprofit enterprise. My hope is to have the opportunity to share my story over the next two years, invite others to share theirs, and thereby break the isolation. As nonprofit leaders charged with the improbable and sometimes the impossible, we need to be proactive about creating the community or finding the tribe that will make or break our ability to advance change (from the inside and outside) that matters.<br />
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What will happen next? I don’t know but I promise to stay honest and share the true unfolding of the story. I stand before you vulnerable, excited, anxious but not alone!<br />
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Speaking of “tribes” and “community,” here’s an update: In my last blog post I asked for new executive directors (one year tenure or less) to join me in a supportive community for periodic discussions about our leadership experiences and I got it! Several new nonprofit executives jumped at the offer to start a conversation group. The five of us (with aspirations to be seven) now meet every six weeks for just an hour and a half to connect, share, and explore issues in a safe space. Will you join us in this tribe?<br />
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In community,<br />
CJ<br />
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P.S. In the “so good I just had to share with you” category, there was a billboard with this slogan that resonated with me: “Humankind. Be Both.”<br />
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Resources:<br />
Read CJ’s 05.09.12 blog post: “<a href="http://www.compasspoint.org/blog/reflections-reflective-leader-authenticity-authority">Reflections of a Reflective Leader: Authenticity as Authority</a>”<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Trapeze image: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/marksetchell/27963341/">Mark Setchell</a><br />Tulip top image: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinksherbet/5665080897/sizes/l/in/set-72157610551917961/">Pink Sherbet Photography</a></span></div>
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The Whitman Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03387251117710399845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904089138181212180.post-62377380463178194312013-02-21T17:06:00.000-08:002013-02-21T17:12:00.564-08:00Connect To A Network Of Likeminded Organizations<div style="text-align: justify;">
At the Whitman Institute, we invest in the power of <b>relationships</b>, constructive <b>dialogue</b>, and the <b>connections</b> they generate to trigger problem solving and creative approaches required to achieve our vision. As we move into 2013, we are looking towards inviting ever more opportunities for our network to connect to each other. In that vein, we have "found" some of you online and compiled 2 lists of places to roam to better learn about what people in our network are up to, what questions they sitting with, and what they are working on. You can also find the list of blogs <a href="http://www.google.com/reader/bundle/user%2F17465298769372814813%2Fbundle%2FNetwork" target="_blank">here</a> and the Twitter feeds <a href="http://www.twitter.com/twi_2022/network" target="_blank">there</a>. Enjoy!</div>
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Follow us <a href="http://www.twitter.com/twi_2022" target="_blank">@TWI_2022</a> and subscribe to our blog (on the right hand side of this post)!</div>
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Did we forget to add you? If you are a member of our network and we forgot to put you on our lists, send us an email with your links at <a href="mailto:whitmaninstitute@gmail.com" target="_blank">whitmaninstitute@gmail.com</a>.</div>
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The Whitman Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03387251117710399845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904089138181212180.post-60861913128648630522013-01-11T15:02:00.001-08:002013-01-11T15:03:24.662-08:00Happy New Year!<b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Happy New Year, everyone! </b><br />
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We hope you have glided with grace, ease, and vibrance into 2013. Here are a few notes for our network that we send with love into these first, fresh days of the year.</div>
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<b>A New Face</b><br />
We're welcoming Fabienne Doze to the team to provide much needed, hands on communications and administrative support a few days a week.<br />
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Fabienne is a recent graduate of Golden Gate University where she received her Master of Arts in Psychology with honors. She volunteers for the International Coach Federation - San Francisco Bay Area Coaches as Director of Virtual Programs where she researches and tests technology for virtual meetings and coordinates gatherings in the Bay of San Francisco. During her studies, she worked as the Global Strategic Initiative Manager for a social media start-up and was responsible for developing and launching some the organization's largest Organizational Development programs. Prior to her Master, she pursued a Bachelor of Business Administration in France during which she worked in Business Development, Communication, Marketing, Public Relations and Management Consulting for a variety of businesses in many countries, such as France, England, Morocco, and the United States. Welcome Fabienne!<br />
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<b>Connect, Connect, Connect</b><br />
We want to gently remind you about the TWI Connection Fund. Fiscal Year 2012-2013 Connections Fund: As a way to encourage our network to be in relationship we have set aside resources for “connecting.” Up to $1,000 per nonprofit organization that attended the retreat is available. For budgetary reasons, we are limiting the eligible organizations to either current or former grantees. This resource is an invitation to follow up on conversations, to come together for mutual learning and support, or to just get to know each other and explore possibilities. The funds are unrestricted and can be used for travel, meals, renting space, etc. Configurations can be of any size as long as at least two of you are partnering on an endeavor to connect. This resource is available from August, 2012 until June 30, 2013.<br />
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Participation is completely voluntary and emergent. Our aim here is to experiment with how we can support connection and collaboration within the TWI community in ways that move both our individual and our collective work forward. Please let us know if you have any questions, and contact Pia or John if you'd like to pursue a connection.<br />
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<b>You Make Us Smile</b><br />
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We look forward to hearing your stories of struggle and triumph, and laughing with you in the coming year. Without you, there is no magic amalgem of good people and organizations that we are happy to call our network. Thank you for all the ways you creatively are demonstrating the potential and power of TWI's mission:<br />
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<i>We invest in the power of relationships, constructive dialogue and the connections they generate to trigger problem solving and creative approaches required to achieve our vision of a healthy, peaceful, equitable and sustainable world.</i></div>
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The Whitman Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03387251117710399845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904089138181212180.post-45270018491514508292012-10-05T12:14:00.001-07:002012-10-05T12:14:52.961-07:00Interactive CA Voters Guide<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><img alt="imgres.jpg" src="webkit-fake-url://05579AFE-B3D4-4AE8-BD3E-554122A2DD50/imgres.jpg" /></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TWI partner City Club is happy to introduce a new resource, powered by the wisdom of California voters. This free, non-partisan resource is intended to support thoughtful civic engagement by lifting up the voices of citizens who will be impacted by the policy initiatives on the ballot this November.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222;">In fact, a few days ago, Living Voters Guide was awarded first prize is the Evergreen State Apps Challenge, a brand new competition hosted by the State of Washington, King County, and the City of Seattle to encourage local entrepreneurs to build mobile software applications that help people create useful experiences out of the data that government provides.</span></span><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">An interactive Voters Guide for Californians</span></span></b></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">to exchange thoughts and opinions on statewide ballot propositions</span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://cali.livingvotersguide.org/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">cali.livingvotersguide.org</span></span></a></span></b><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"></span></span></span></i></b></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">written </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">by </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">the people</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">and</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> for </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">the people</span></span></b></div>
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</span>The Whitman Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03387251117710399845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904089138181212180.post-85510893888354535702012-08-02T12:03:00.000-07:002012-08-02T12:03:12.048-07:00Reflections of an Art House Filmmaker in a YouTube World<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">By Sam Green</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">These are
exciting times for documentary filmmakers like myself. With technological
advances from newly affordable HD video cameras to avenues of dissemination
like YouTube revolutionizing the field, it’s never been easier to make a film
and get it out there. People all over the globe who had once been voiceless can
now be heard. <br />
<br />
Some parts of this new world, however, are less great. Filmmakers now have to
accept that people will often watch our work on tiny screens––an iPad, a
laptop––while checking their email, the weather, and dealing with a million
other tiny distractions. The old world where a viewer sat in a movie theater
giving your film her rapt attention is no more. <br />
<br />
Many filmmakers, myself included, find ourselves at a crossroads: we either
embrace this new viewing paradigm, or we make something that cannot be consumed
in such a fleeting manner. I’ve actually tried to do both.<br />
<br />
Over the past few years I’ve begun making “live documentaries”––these are events
where I narrate a film in person and cue images from a laptop, while a live
band performs an original soundtrack as the film plays. (I have a new “live
documentary” touring this fall called <a href="http://samgreen.to/">The Love
Song of R. Buckminster</a> Fuller, which I'm performing with the legendary
indie rock band <a href="http://yolatengo.com/">Yo La Tengo</a>.) I adore this
form of filmmaking because it’s a way to hang on to the live experience of
seeing movies, which I feel is a precious thing. It shouldn’t be lost. When you
see a movie in person you experience it with others. You share in some sort of
communal time and space, and then continue the experience through conversations
afterward. All of these connections around the film are often as important as
the film itself. So the "live documentary" format is a way for me to
fight the tide of isolation and home viewing, and try to bring people together
to experience my films.</span><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kBWG6gKZldk/UBrMTkHimHI/AAAAAAAAAM8/24M_Vkyvem4/s1600/TheUniversalLanguage_Poster.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kBWG6gKZldk/UBrMTkHimHI/AAAAAAAAAM8/24M_Vkyvem4/s1600/TheUniversalLanguage_Poster.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kBWG6gKZldk/UBrMTkHimHI/AAAAAAAAAM8/24M_Vkyvem4/s320/TheUniversalLanguage_Poster.png" width="213" /></a></div>
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That said, I am also very interested in utilizing the power of the Internet as
a distribution system for a diverse and disparate viewership. I recently made a
documentary about Esperanto called <a href="http://esperantodocumentary.com/">The
Universal Language</a> and decided that there would be no better project to
experiment with online distribution than this one. <br />
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Esperanto is an artificial language invented by a Polish eye doctor named
Ludwig Zamenhof in the late 1800s. Zamenhof believed that if everyone in the
world spoke a common, neutral language people could overcome war and racism.
Although Zamenhof’s dream might seem naive to us today, during the 1920s and
30s there was a huge Esperanto movement worldwide.<br />
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Today, surprisingly, a vibrant Esperanto movement still exists. Estimates range
from 50,000 to 2 million present-day speakers of the language, and every summer
there is a world Esperanto congress in a different city. I attended a couple of
these and was surprised to find 2,000 to 3,000 Esperanto speakers each time,
traveling from all over the world.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Sv7bNfZbIqw/UBrMfTnj9_I/AAAAAAAAANU/zqW97RNuIL0/s1600/190_1_B.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Sv7bNfZbIqw/UBrMfTnj9_I/AAAAAAAAANU/zqW97RNuIL0/s400/190_1_B.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A4g27yXEctI/UBrMip3pyFI/AAAAAAAAANc/WcrZSPLrXM0/s1600/Screen+Shot+2012-07-31+at+12.37.21+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Because Esperantists (as they are called) are such a scattered, global
community, how could I effectively reach out to broad swathe of them? The
Internet! Right now, for the first time ever, filmmakers can distribute
our own work online solo––no iTunes, no distribution company, no one else
needed. Last year, my Bulgarian friend Stoyan Dabov set up a great
website for the film (in both <a href="http://esperantodocumentary.com/">English</a>
and <a href="http://esperantodocumentary.com/eo/about-the-film">Esperanto</a>) where
people can download a file and watch the film instantly on their own TV or
computers.<br />
<br />
It can’t be overstated how radical this new technology is for filmmakers. In
the past a filmmaker was dependent on a distributor or studio in order to get a
movie out into the world. They were the ones who had the networks and
relationships to put a videotape or DVD on store shelves and ultimately into
the hands of a viewer. Filmmakers occasionally did this on their own, but it
was an epic and uphill struggle.<br />
<br />
It’s only been in the past year or two that the technology has evolved to the
point where a person can download an entire film relatively quickly (movie
files are generally huge files!). With The Universal Language, we're able to do
this through a company called Topspin, which actually takes care of the
downloading and billing, but the person who is purchasing the film never leaves
our site. Again, this is revolutionary; it's the first time ever that a
filmmaker can get a film out into the world this independently, and it is an
exciting moment! <br />
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It’s been interesting to see how this kind of thing can work. Over the past
months, I’ve been surprised by the steady stream of people downloading The
Universal Language from our site. Every day there are people all over the world
watching the film and hopefully thinking about Esperanto, the concept and role
of language, and other issues the film raises, which is so neat. </span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UuXcxUGa0zs/UBrMaMoZuNI/AAAAAAAAANE/Mne6bGL9YxU/s1600/esperantists.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UuXcxUGa0zs/UBrMaMoZuNI/AAAAAAAAANE/Mne6bGL9YxU/s320/esperantists.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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On the other hand, it’s been clear that the notion that one can just put
something out on the Internet and people will flock to it, or that it'll “go
viral,” is plainly naive. With the deafening roar of so many books and movies
and albums and causes all vying for attention online, we really had to promote
and market the film like crazy in order to get people to notice. But this has
been a good challenge. It's spurred us to create a blog on our site where we've
posted interviews and short articles for Esperantists and non-Esperantists
alike, for which we've been continuing to research new and
interesting Esperanto-related leads. (A recent example: <a href="http://esperantodocumentary.com/blog/esperanto-pirates">an interview with
one of the many Esperanto-speaking members of the Pirate political party in
Germany</a>.) <br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A4g27yXEctI/UBrMip3pyFI/AAAAAAAAANc/WcrZSPLrXM0/s1600/Screen+Shot+2012-07-31+at+12.37.21+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="131" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A4g27yXEctI/UBrMip3pyFI/AAAAAAAAANc/WcrZSPLrXM0/s200/Screen+Shot+2012-07-31+at+12.37.21+PM.png" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">So this whole thing has been a real learning experience. Yes, technology is making
us all more scattered and frazzled and isolated, but it's also providing us
with first-time-ever opportunities to reach out and make contact with each
other. The other day some Esperantists in the Congo got in touch to let us know
about a screening of The Universal Language they had recently. I was struck by
the fact that although we might not have reached the world of peace and
internationalism the Ludwig Zamenhof imagined when he created Esperanto, in
some small ways technology is helping us to lurch in that direction.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FYkGYvqS4m0/T75clk4p_3I/AAAAAAAAAMg/VdI_63AM3dk/s1600/network.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FYkGYvqS4m0/T75clk4p_3I/AAAAAAAAAMg/VdI_63AM3dk/s320/network.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">By Pia Infante</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The practical magic and inspiration of Boston's Barr Fellows Network <a href="http://www.interactioninstitute.org/files/SSIR%20Summer%202012%20-%20Barr%20Fellows.pdf">story</a> is captured simply by the following admission from Lyndia Downie, Executive Director of Pine Street Inn, - </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">"<b>I'm not sure I buy all this network theory, but I love the people in this network</b>."</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I encourage you to study this living history of how providing sometimes long divided (and very different) local leaders with opportunities to renew, connect, innovate, and be fish out of water together (in the global south) are some of the building blocks of "networking a city." </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In the Barr Foundation's learning partnership on networks with the Interaction Institute for Social Change, they coalesced existing understandings of networks and decided that the network they sought to seed and support was one of connectivity for the sake of connection and relationship. Nothing more. Nothing less. And waited to see what would organically emerge from this. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">These are 3 distinctions I found useful:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Connectivity network: loosely structured with no expectations of shared accomplishment (read here: relationship over time without pressure to perform)</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Alignment network: shared vision</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Action network: people mobilize towards common goals and collective action</span></li>
</ul>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In the event that this case study not only intrigues, but inspires an open source open spirited desire to copy, here are some guiding thoughts:</span><br />
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<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Prepare to invest in sabbaticals and disruption.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Select from a broad base and be flexible. </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Engage a network knowledge partner and assess early and often.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Recognize that the funder-grantee relationship is complex.</span></li>
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<br />The Whitman Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03387251117710399845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904089138181212180.post-60928704294480471462012-05-16T09:53:00.000-07:002012-05-16T09:53:12.209-07:00Reflections of a Reflective Leader: Authenticity as Authority<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ee62O1Yqoro/T7PZJHanzEI/AAAAAAAAAMU/RowjdlYjXUc/s1600/reflection.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ee62O1Yqoro/T7PZJHanzEI/AAAAAAAAAMU/RowjdlYjXUc/s1600/reflection.jpg" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">by CJ Callen</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">TWI Trustee CJ Callen, who has recently taken the helm at the <a href="http://www.yli.org/">Youth Leadership Institute</a>, blogged about her learning so far in this new role. Take a peak at CJ's <a href="http://www.compasspoint.org/blog/reflections-reflective-leader-authenticity-authority">thoughts</a> on leadership transition, the importance of reflection, and translating learning into practice - in this piece, published on CompassPoint's blog earlier this month.</span></div>The Whitman Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03387251117710399845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904089138181212180.post-83987580002151361682012-04-19T09:32:00.010-07:002012-04-27T17:48:57.818-07:00Is Grantmaking Getting Smarter?<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uyT_jT8LoPg/T5BwPeyuAAI/AAAAAAAAAMA/Wp-woP6d9q0/s1600/brain.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5733205736908783618" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uyT_jT8LoPg/T5BwPeyuAAI/AAAAAAAAAMA/Wp-woP6d9q0/s400/brain.jpg" style="float: left; height: 224px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 225px;" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: verdana;">By John Esterle<br /><br />In 2011 </span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.geofunders.org/"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Grantmakers for Effective Organizations</span></a><span style="font-family: verdana;"> heard from 775 foundations about grantmaking practices GEO identified as contributing to healthy and successful nonprofits (general operating/unrestricted grants, multiyear funding, and capacity-building support) With </span><a href="http://http//www.geofunders.org/storage/documents/2011_geo_field_study_final.pdf"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Is Grantmaking Getting Smarter</span>?</span></a><span style="font-family: verdana;">, GEO reports on the results of their survey.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: verdana;">Unfortunately, the answer to their question is "no." </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: verdana;">On the bright side, grantmaking isn’t getting dumber as GEO found “little to no movement across a variety of practices from whether a foundation provided some level of general operating or capacity-building support to whether they tracked administrative requirements to their reasons for conducting evaluations.” As they point out, no backsliding is something to note in the current economic climate.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: verdana;">That said -- and in what will come as no surprise to nonprofits -- GEO states that "general operating and capacity-building support are still some of the hardest funds to come by." This, despite the fact that over the last decade, "Groups like the Center for Effective Philanthropy, FSG, The Bridgespan Group, Nonprofit Finance Fund, TCC Group, GEO and others have built a body of research about what works."<br /><br />So, if evidence based research isn't changing anyone's mind, what is? GEO posits this answer: </span></div>
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: verdana;">"When we looked at the data to see what kinds of funding practices are common among grantmakers with an ear to the ground, an interesting pattern began to emerge. It turns out that when funders had strategies in place for listening to and learning from grantees, they were more likely to increase these types of support."</span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: verdana;">Makes sense to me!</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: verdana;">So, it appears you can amass a pile of evidence about the value of certain grantmaking practices, but it is only when you create opportunities for real listening and dialogue, when you build a different kind of relationship between funder and grantee, that behavior shifts (something to think about when we look at the "impact" of process and relationship-based work). GEO also notes that "there does appear to be a link between looking outside the foundation's walls and the kinds of funding decisions grantmakers ultimately decide to make." </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: verdana;">Foundations of course are not the only organizations and institutions struggling with how to bring new voices and ideas into their decision making processes. Indeed, they have lots of company on that score. And often those ignored voices are not only outside an institution's walls, but inside them as well. For instance, if foundation staff, rather than trustees, made more of the decisions about types of support, I suspect we would see more widespread implementation of the practices GEO is advocating for. So, how do we create opportunities for more trustees to listen and learn from grantees?</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: verdana;">As I read GEO's report, I was reminded of Joaquin Alvarado's recent </span><a href="http://current.org/tech/tech1205alvarado-commentary.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">commentary</span></a><span style="font-family: verdana;"> following his sudden exit as </span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/americanpublicmedia.publicradio.org/"><span style="font-family: verdana;">American Public Media's</span></a><span style="font-family: verdana;"> senior v.p. of digital innovation. I met Joaquin through TWI's support of the APM's </span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.publicinsightnetwork.org/"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Public Insight Network</span></a><span style="font-family: verdana;">. I think Joaquin's insightful reflections about public broadcasting are well worth reading and have implications for many fields. Here's something he wrote that sticks with me:</span></div>
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: verdana;">"Change cannot be a complaint. It cannot be motivated by frustration or disapproval. Change is a creative enterprise. It requires courage and clarity. Change is about realization, not real estate. We cannot occupy our way to it. If we seek change, we must accept responsibility for creating it. We must take risks -- personal and institutional. The ratio of risk-takers among the stakeholders is not high enough in public broadcasting to motivate significant change. The ratio can rise, however, if leaders act with that intention and take responsibility for bringing the outsiders into Public Broadcasting."</span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: verdana;">We hear about supporting risk-taking all the time within philanthropy, yet as the GEO report makes clear, in fundamental ways the status quo remains alive and well when it comes to how grants are made and how foundations interact with nonprofits. Shifting that means bringing the voices of grantees more intentionally into discussions of not only what gets funded but <span style="font-style: italic;">how</span> it is funded. In an environment where foundations are continually developing strategic plans, that seems like one strategy well worth pursuing.</span></div>The Whitman Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03387251117710399845noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904089138181212180.post-41000136389076329012012-04-16T09:54:00.004-07:002012-04-16T10:05:35.171-07:00Cross Fertilizing with InCommons<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lHtyEjDwB9o/T4xPRzgdqqI/AAAAAAAAAL0/I7O9jY0yNac/s1600/blow.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 275px; height: 183px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lHtyEjDwB9o/T4xPRzgdqqI/AAAAAAAAAL0/I7O9jY0yNac/s400/blow.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5732043593038539426" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:85%;" >In the interest of continuing to cross fertilize ideas with others interested in promoting listening, trust and relationship building processes, and respectful exchange, here's a <a href="http://www.bushfoundation.org/blog/incommons-joins-other-changemakers-whitman-institute">blog post</a> about TWI's 2012 retreat by Catharine Jordan, of the Bush Foundation. </span><br /><br /></span></span>The Whitman Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03387251117710399845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904089138181212180.post-44970979309187642892012-03-30T13:23:00.010-07:002012-03-31T14:41:53.446-07:00The Whitman Institute Retreat 2012<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yx_RPGSI3do/T3Ya1LSOdVI/AAAAAAAAALo/gI8i2VyfhN0/s1600/chaminade.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L1cU1sLvbCE/T3YWeNjAreI/AAAAAAAAALc/mXR6BgtU5PI/s1600/TWI_Retreat2012_groupshot.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 388px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L1cU1sLvbCE/T3YWeNjAreI/AAAAAAAAALc/mXR6BgtU5PI/s400/TWI_Retreat2012_groupshot.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5725788684536557026" /></a><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">By Pia Infante</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >TWI's 4th retreat, like many of our previous retreats, was marked by bountifully good weather, rich conversations and connections, and a sensibility of community and renewal.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">Yet, something happened this time. Something distinct, and extraordinary. I left, and many reported similarly, feeling powerfully connected, renewed, vibrant and inspired. One participant thought that this year's retreat was 100 times the potency of the last one. Perhaps the gatherings have simply built momentum over time.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">There were certainly some structural distinctions:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >Doubling previous participant cohorts, the group numbered 71 people - including current and former grantees, the trustees and staff, other funders, and kindred spirits. </span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >It was our most diverse group of participants in terms of experience, region, race, age, culture, affinity, gender, orientation, roles and relationships to TWI.</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >More structured elements, where storytelling and topic-based conversations were baked into a more facilitated design.</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">The location, Chaminade in Santa Cruz, offered a wonderful blend of shared and private space.</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">We sometimes started or ended with the reading of poetry. </span></li></ul><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; font-size:85%;" ><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yx_RPGSI3do/T3Ya1LSOdVI/AAAAAAAAALo/gI8i2VyfhN0/s400/chaminade.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5725793477112788306" style="float: right; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 194px; height: 259px; " /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >Perhaps, too, it is that TWI has recently set off towards a distinct point in time when the foundation will sunset. The inquiry and exploration about the living legacy the Institute will leave behind was a profoundly awakened one.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >As Jill Blair noted in a recent email strand about the many sparks of connection and collaboration that have already followed the retreat: </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >"When we speak about the value proposition for the Institute's approach, this (collaboration/connectivity) is what we mean. The <b>time</b> we take to <b>talk </b>and to <b>trust</b> is time well spent - it is worth it because it builds better understanding and because it builds a basis for better collective work." </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">We are delighted that many of those who joined us are continuing to cross-fertilize, connect, and collaborate in myriad ways. We are also excited to join in, where possible, the proposed regional gatherings and re-groupings that are in the works. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; ">Lastly, we deeply appreciate the rich contributions of each and every person who joined us, and will take into deep consideration all that was shared.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"> </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div>The Whitman Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03387251117710399845noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904089138181212180.post-71372104354558423272012-02-15T20:28:00.000-08:002012-02-15T20:35:17.614-08:00Cultivating the Habits that Support Democracy<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zTGhlBcmAQc/TzyG6hOFOrI/AAAAAAAAALQ/oBQbIPfTj5k/s1600/P1040597.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zTGhlBcmAQc/TzyG6hOFOrI/AAAAAAAAALQ/oBQbIPfTj5k/s400/P1040597.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5709586767506913970" /></a><br /><!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">By Terry Chadsey</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Many years ago I had a formative experience in my own understanding of democracy. I was invited to facilitate a Land Use Task Force public meeting in a community best described as transitioning from rural to suburban. Their last meeting had ended in a fistfight.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(34, 34, 34); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">I began the meeting by playfully talking about how I was invited to help guide the process, but that I was neither a referee nor a police officer. Rather, I told those gathered that evening in a school cafeteria that I was a teacher and I had spent many years learning with school children about our democracy. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">I said that the most important thing I learned was that we often mistakenly think that democracy means, "I get to say my truth" but in fact that's not quite accurate. What democracy means, I said, is that we get to protect the rights of others to say their truth </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">even when we feel they are wrong. </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Many in the room smiled and nodded knowingly. As we listened to the wide-ranging public testimony, I invited everyone in the room to hold that thought: that we were gathered to protect the rights of each other to speak even when we felt they were wrong.</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">One of the Task Force members had brought her ten-year old son and eight-year old daughter to the meeting. With the children's and mom's permission, I place the two young people front and center facing the crowd. On my signal, they held up signs to mark the speaker's allotted time. The gathered adults help those children hold the space for each person to have their say.</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Over the years, I've thought a lot about that night. Such a gathering created to hear a wide range of opinions and viewpoints is all too rare. Therein lies a collective dilemma that Parker J Palmer, founder and senior partner at the Center for Courage & Renewal, has brought to public discussion with his latest book, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Healing the Heart of Democracy: the Courage to Create a Politics Worthy of the Human Spirit. </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Parker explores how rebuilding the failing infrastructure of our democracy involves each of us cultivating five habits of the heart in our daily lives and work. These habits form the foundation of democratic society. They include: an understanding that we’re all in this together, practicing hospitality across lines of otherness, creative tension holding, developing a sense of voice and agency and the capacity to create community. The group gathered in that school lunchroom struggled to practice all five. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(34, 34, 34); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">At the Center for Courage & Renewal, we're exploring ways to help interested citizens cultivate these habits. In partnership with writer </span></span><span style="color:#2356C6;"><a href="http://www.courtneyemartin.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Courtney Martin</span></span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">, we've recently launched </span></span><span style="color:#2356C6;"><a href="http://www.couragerenewal.org/actioncircles"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Healing Democracy Action Circles</span></span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">, with an invitation and resources for people to organize actions circle to explore and apply these habits in their own communities. I hope you will join us.</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">What stories are formative in your own experience of democracy? </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></span></span></p> <span style="color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Where do you practice and learn about the habits of the heart in your community or your organization? </span></span></span><!--EndFragment--><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span></span><div><span style="color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span style="color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span style="color:#222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span style="color:#222222;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Terry is the </span></span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(34, 34, 34); "><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Executive Director at the Center for Courage & Renewal.</span></span></i></span></div><!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;font-size:13.0pt;color:#222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->The Whitman Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03387251117710399845noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904089138181212180.post-51469862986182933732012-01-25T20:21:00.001-08:002012-03-27T14:14:58.659-07:00TPOWS: Media As Mediation<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E0bBeDo1FcA/TyDaOvYpUUI/AAAAAAAAALE/kozNafvEzZQ/s1600/MSNBC_2.tiff"></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Z9rdzklgb7Q/TyDVIEqvLNI/AAAAAAAAAK4/6Mij7-B65DY/s1600/venn.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 219px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Z9rdzklgb7Q/TyDVIEqvLNI/AAAAAAAAAK4/6Mij7-B65DY/s400/venn.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701791462919711954" border="0" /></a><br /><!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--StartFragment--><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">By Evelyn Messinger </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">There has been a flurry of attempts lately to connect the two political movements of our time, Tea Party and Occupy. As a television news producer who often works to </span></span><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://citizenschannel.org/nation.html">expand participatory democracy</a></span></span></u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">, this one hits my sweet spot: it’s newsworthy, it’s dialogue, and the way the media report it will really matter.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">The Tea Party burst on the scene in 2009, and Occupy Wall Street in 2011. On a superficial level, their rallies look surprisingly similar: compare this typical Tea Party </span></span><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://bit.ly/zchRcN">event</a> </span></span></u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">in Medford, Oregon; and an Occupy protests in the same </span></span><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://bit.ly/wS7BCL">place</a></span></span></u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">two years later. Journalists and commentators have noticed some </span></span><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://reason.com/blog/2011/10/12/the-possibility-of-a-tea-party">shared concerns</a></span></span></u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">, and </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">numerous </span></span><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/congressional_job_approval-903.html">polls</a></span></span></u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">show a large majority of Americans, cutting across divisions of race, class and political orientation, are unhappy with the current state of affairs. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">The</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> ideological, economic and cultural divisions among Americans are real, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">but were these groups to join forces, even on just a few issues, the results could be profound.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">This is where the media come in. So far, there are only sporadic accounts of meetings between Occupy and Tea Party activists (for simplicity, lets abbreviate these as TPOWS). The number of spontaneous TPOWS gatherings that go unreported cannot be known, but when they are covered </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">(for example, this one in </span></span><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://yhoo.it/uesdgg">Memphis</a></span></span></u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">, the </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">discussions focus on participants’ shared interests, and people do not scream at each other. When a news event leads and doesn’t bleed, it bodes well for reasonable discourse. Besides Tennessee, there are reports from </span></span><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://bit.ly/w0Icc6">Virginia</a></span></span></u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">, </span></span><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://bit.ly/zXNVJU">Louisiana</a></span></span></u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">, and a handful of other places.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">But TPOWS encounters have, generally speaking, taken two forms: besides the “Let’s sit around the table and seek agreement” model, there are debates, usually generated by news media and staged for TV, that focus on political differences:“Let’s argue with each other on TV.”</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">These conflicting forms of news coverage raise the question: what narrative will come to define TPOWS: A powerful union of the majority intent on sweeping away corruption, or another brick in the wall of division? The future depends on which narrative takes hold. If argument supersedes agreement, efforts to unite the citizenry around shared concerns will have very limited effect, while the divisions that have paralyzed our government will be held in place, even expanded, through a focus on rancor and discord.</span></span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238);"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E0bBeDo1FcA/TyDaOvYpUUI/AAAAAAAAALE/kozNafvEzZQ/s400/MSNBC_2.tiff" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701797075023909186" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 231px;" border="0" /></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">First, let me wear my journalist hat and make the case for the “debate” version.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> News has value precisely because it roots out differences and reports on conflict. The perfect example of this is an adventerous online TPOWS “discussion/debate” livestreamed on MSNBC’s </span></span><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://on.msnbc.com/ydqNZA">website</a></span></span></u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">, which used the Google+ Hangout multiple-webcam format to interview three Tea Party and three Occupy stalwarts. The goal was to bring up the differences between the two groups’ philosophies. To its credit, the program did not slow its hectic pace to focus on arguments that erupted. Then again, when issues arose that might have led to agreement, the host did not stop to discuss these, either. The result is an enlightening exploration of the philosophical differences between these groups.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">And yet, despite its title, the MSNBC online encounter was rarely a “discussion” </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">or</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> a “debate.” It was a serial interview of six people, with the news host firmly in charge. Participant’s comments were cut off as needed, and the subject was changed whenever the host said so.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">A sadder example, in which the news process defeated dialogue but very little was learned, appeared on the NPR program, “Tell Me More.” Ironically, the segment is titled, </span></span><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://n.pr/u0HBm">Tea Party and Occupy: Can’t They All Get Along?</a></span></span></u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> Well, no – because the reporter won’t let them! Although the segment included the respected facilitator Richard Harwood, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">who was apparently shanghaied into participating, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">the host Michel Martin cut him off as Harwood asked his very first question! Apparently she was just too eager to get to the disagreement part to bother with fuddy-duddy facilitation. The Tea Party and Occupy guests obliged, and the result was a predictable battle.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">This is the crux of the issue we are exploring here, the degree to which the media call the shots. </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Rule of Thumb Number One:</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> the more the conversation is controled by TV producers, the more “differences” rather than “similarities” will set the tone.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">In a blog </span></span><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/%28http://bit.ly/zNdbk2">pos</a>t</span></span></u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">after the NPR program, Richard Harwood drew a conclusion from his experience: in-person “talk-around-the-table” is the only way to successfully connect Tea Party and Occupy activists.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> But this means that the powerful forces of mass media are free to shape the TPOWS narrative as one of conflict. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Harwood’s instinct, to take advantage of the offer to use media, is likely based on knowledge we all share: in today’s world, leveraging change requires media presence. So let’s turn the issue on its head: if an attempt to engage citizens in dialogue using media doesn’t work, then what aspects </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">of the media format</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> should be changed to make it work?</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Some years ago, this thought would have not occurred to anyone. We all would just throw up our hands and accept that this is the way media work. But today, broadcast, print and web outlets of every type are exploring citizen engagement, and willing as never before to allow the public a voice. So, rather than trying to wedge meaningful dialogue into news formats designed to create conflict, better to begin working with media outlets interested in allowing citizens to drive the dialogue, and create formats that serve the needs of the people. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">There is an excellent example of this approach, an experiment by the Southern Oregon Public TV series, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Immense Possibilities</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">, in which the host, Jeff Golden, brought together activists from both sides. To a TV producer’s eye, the </span></span><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://bit.ly/ws4zRE">show</a></span></span></u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">lacks a certain </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">pizzazz</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">, but fancy elements are easier to create than a genuine discussion in which Tea Party and Occupy adherents are willing to talk – and listen – to each other on camera. Golden made it work in a surprisingly simple yet brilliant way, which is the </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Second Rule of Thumb</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">: He invited people who were curious about the other side and willing to talk, rather than seeking the ‘leaders’ or people representative of one specific aspect of each movement. The fact that the participants turned out to be leaders of their movements, though not necessarily officially, says a lot for this approach.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">I must note that Golden is a long-time resident of Southern Oregon, a skilled facilitator, journalist and former County Commissioner, so he is known and respected by both Tea Party and Occupy activists in his area. Yet I believe his program could be a template to help pioneer a format that is not yet defined. Our non-profit organization, Digital Citizen, is developing a </span></span><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://bit.ly/ywEHGR">process</a></span></span></u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">to leverage the voice of the citizen into the policy discourse that shapes our nation, and we will soon be working with Jeff and the TPOWS folks (the aforementioned </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">pizzazz </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">is our job).</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Local newspapers with strong websites are also good places to create civilized dialogue formats. One of our partners, the Kansas City Star’s election </span></span><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://bit.ly/cEMmqY">site</a></span></span></u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Midwest Democracy Project, is fertile ground for creating dialogue on similarities. Newspapers have a long history of editorial-page citizen engagement that puts a high value on the thoughts of their readers. Newspapers also have partnerships with local radio and TV outlets, which could lead to a successful version of the </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Tell Me More</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> debacle.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Let me conclude with </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Rule of Thumb Number Three:</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> Act while the formats are still evolving. All those who value unity over discord must get to work now, while the templates of the TPOWS narrative are still in play. If you are an activist, it’s time to look at those on the other side as fellow citizens and find shared concerns, lest both movements be divided and conquered by the very powers you are dedicated to reigning in. If you are a journalist, remember that the fame of no less a professional than Ted Kopple is based, in part, on his skilled management of televised Town Hall meetings in the 1980s. And if you are a facilitator, join up with the nearest journalist and make your mark on history, before its too late.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">***</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> <!--StartFragment--> </span></span></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><i>Our Guest Blogger this week is Evelyn Messinger, president of Internews Interactive, who is a television and Internet producer, and a pioneer of citizen engagement projects that define the parameters of digital connectivity. Her credits include daily news, features and documentary programs for the BBC, Link TV, PBS, PTV stations, CNN and others. She served as a non-profit executive for the Soros Foundation and the international media NGO, Internews Network.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><i>This article is one of a series exploring the role of media in politics as the 2012 election approaches. Please see: </i><b><i><a href="http://to.pbs.org/ni7Epf">Attack of the Attack Ads</a></i></b><i> </i><i>and </i><b><i><a href="http://to.pbs.org/rBF9wS">Convergence 2.0</a>.</i></b><i> </i></span></p> <!--EndFragment--> </span><p></p> <!--EndFragment-->The Whitman Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03387251117710399845noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904089138181212180.post-20559115854725631102012-01-20T10:05:00.000-08:002012-01-25T20:40:25.905-08:00Internet Blackouts, The Republican Primaries, & The Power of Silence<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4yHwLqHtTWY/Txm5WgmQ6WI/AAAAAAAAAKs/zFarrNP6pb4/s1600/Fotolia_16150650_S1-150x150.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wVJZaHxsBHo/TxmxY-g0ShI/AAAAAAAAAKU/b_rq_iKiF7A/s1600/201201191642.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vyztrYEnUUo/TxmxLyM2NHI/AAAAAAAAAKI/wbZ1XfFSy48/s1600/blackout.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 284px; height: 177px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vyztrYEnUUo/TxmxLyM2NHI/AAAAAAAAAKI/wbZ1XfFSy48/s400/blackout.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5699781619426407538" border="0" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">By Pia Infante<br /></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I've </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">been thinking about the power of silence. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The successful, wide-spread website blackout and viral organizing of the past week to protest the SOPA bill in the U.S. House of Representatives and PIPA bill in the Senate sends a loud message. These bills have drawn the </span></span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/19/technology/protests-of-antipiracy-bills-unite-web.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">ire</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> of many in the tech industry and beyond, citing that the legislation parameters proposed are "</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">too broad" and will "threaten free speech, stifle innovation and most likely will not even effectively eliminate piracy." </span></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"></span>Tracking the phenomenon, the </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">NY Times</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/19/technology/protests-of-antipiracy-bills-unite-web.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">reports</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> that "by </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Wednesday morning, several lawmakers had reconsidered their support of the bills — one in the House, one in the Senate." And not just a handful of lawmakers changed sides after millions expressed their opposition online. In a </span></span><a href="http://boingboing.net/2012/01/19/how-the-internet-blackout-affe.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">graphic illustration</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, Mark Fraunfelder shows that 15 lawmakers abandoned their support for the bills while 70 lawmakers suddenly went public with their opposition.</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wVJZaHxsBHo/TxmxY-g0ShI/AAAAAAAAAKU/b_rq_iKiF7A/s400/201201191642.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5699781846069692946" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 400px;" border="0" /></span></span></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In fact, CBS news </span></span><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57362675-503544/pipa-sopa-put-on-hold-in-wake-of-protests/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">reported</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> in the last hour that "</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Senate and House leaders announced Friday they are postponing work on two </span></span><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57360665-503544/sopa-pipa-what-you-need-to-know/" style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">controversial anti-piracy bills</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> in the wake of large online protests that spurred several congressmen to rethink the legislation." This unfolding series of events hearten the wary dreamer in me </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">-perhaps the promise that technology can increase public influence on how our democracy is governed is one that we can continue to live into. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Republican presidential nomination circus, most recently taking place in the U.S. South, has also brought up for me the power of silence. I can't help but experience the vociferous voices of the potential nominees as a cacophony of blustery promises, threats, personal attacks,</span></span></div><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AeEYGb2bYGs/Txm38BW6MfI/AAAAAAAAAKg/EeG3OWIQA10/s400/Republicans-at-CNBC-debate.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5699789045198631410" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 213px;" border="0" /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">and shameless self promotion. Now, I will own that I'm biased, en general, against the two party system - I'm not certain that it allows candidates who are truly in the game to help everyday people any real chance at the White House. In fact, the same kind of highly publicized drama on the Democratic stage might also sound much the same to me. In any case, when I do follow along I find that muting helps me observe the energy, body language, and messages of the candidates. I wonder how silence might serve any one of them.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I don't know that silence without a strategy could benefit anyone, but the power of ceasing normal activity or simply refraining from joining the fray cannot be under estimated. In high school debate, I remember the coach reminding us that we didn't have to fill up our allotted 3 minutes with words. She suggested that a thoughtful pause could enhance our point quite effectively. In my own life, I am attempting to invite silence into my daily practice - to remember that silence can invite others or innovation in or prompt the unnecessary thoughts and worries to take their leave of my mind. I also listen better, and hear more when I'm not putting anything into the space, which elicits untold gems of insight.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The website blackouts of the past week, with major industry giants like Wikipedia leading the way, were to me an indication of how thoughtful the strategy of silence can be. And how effective.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238);"><br /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div></div>The Whitman Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03387251117710399845noreply@blogger.com0