Neighborhoods Without Borders: Engaging in the Crucible of Flint

UOE Strategic Review August 2012

Presentation by Bob Brown

How I used i2i framework to:

• Conceptualize and implement a major community initiative

• Clarify engagement and action in a desperate and disparate environment

• Think about faculty engagement

• How I did all of this without explicitly showing community partners the i2i framework

Crucible

1. A vessel made of a refractory substance such as graphite or porcelain, used for melting and calcining materials at high temperatures.

2. A severe test, as of patience or belief; a trial. 3. A place, time, or situation characterized by the

confluence of powerful intellectual, social, economic, or political forces: "Macroeconomics . . . was cast in the crucible of the Depression"

Understanding the context for Engagement: The Crucible of Flint

Starting in the late 1960s Flint has

suffered from 50 years of disinvestment, deindustrialization, depopulation and urban decay, as well as high rates of crime, unemployment and poverty.

The Crucible of Flint

• 1978: 80,000 GM employees

• 2010: 8,000 GM employees

The Crucible of Flint

• May 2002, Ed Krutz appointed as the city’s Emergency Financial

Manager

The Crucible of Flint

•2010 Headline: Flint, still is number one for

violent crime in the nation

The Crucible of Flint

• November 2011, Governor Snyder appointed Michael

Brown as the city's Emergency Financial

Manager

• But we are numb to words and stats

• Here is the crucible of Flint

– my city in pictures

• People were working on saving Flint

• Understanding they actions led me to think more about protective factors

Neighborhoods Without Borders

Neighborhoods Without Borders

We are mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, grandmothers and

grandfathers, business people and pastors, educators and students,

administrators and workers coming together in a grassroots and community effort to significantly improve the over-all quality of life in Flint neighborhoods.

Neighborhoods Without Borders • Increasing our collective impact by building on the efforts

of the good work currently being done by many groups and caring individuals

• Using existing resources or assets to transform

neighborhoods

• Creating doable action focused on Lifelong Learning, Jobs and Money, Retail Renaissance, Community Safety, Gangs and Ex-offenders, Housing, Healthy Residents, Arts & Culture, Opportunities for Youth, and Parks, Open Space and Greening

Neighborhoods Without Borders

• Facilitating more collaboration, communication, and partnerships across existing networks in Flint without creating another administrative structure that needs to be funded

• Creating innovative solutions for eliminating inequities and disparities

• Facilitating an ongoing series of work sessions to create monthly action until all our neighborhoods are reclaimed.

Neighborhoods Without Borders Neighborhoods Without Borders uses Strategic Doing, a process which

enables people to form action collaborations quickly, guide them toward measurable outcomes, and make adjustments along the way.

During a Strategic Doing Action Session people are led through a

structured set of conversations and guided to define 5 things: • Opportunities • At least one outcome with characteristics and metrics • At least one initiative or project • A complete action plan • A plan to meet again

Neighborhoods Without Borders The process focuses on four key questions:

WHAT COULD WE DO TOGETHER?

– Look first at assets within the group at the table. – Next look to see how combining the known assets might offer new opportunities.

WHAT SHOULD WE DO TOGETHER? – Choose the opportunity with the most traction among group members – Define within the opportunity an outcome with SMART goals and metrics. – Evaluate the options for action and help narrow the scope of activity by focusing on no more

than three goals initially. WHAT WILL WE DO TOGETHER?

– Draft an action plan – Make public commitments to “do” the action steps. For each action step who is the

responsible entity and what are the “due dates?” WHAT’S OUR 30/30 – Reporting action for the past 30 days and planning action for

the next 30 days? – Decide how the group will communicate (face‐to‐face, internet, email, weblogs, etc.). – Set a date, in the next 30 days, for follow ‐up, reporting and adjustments.

Neighborhoods Without Borders Housing

Stable, quality housing is a key component of a healthy neighborhood, but

local markets vary widely. Today many neighborhoods are struggling to deal with the on‐going foreclosure crisis. In the past few years, the

foreclosure crisis in the housing market has grown exponentially, not only adversely affecting major financial institutions, but also jeopardizing the livelihoods and homes of many low‐income families and the stability of

entire neighborhoods. A concentrated number of foreclosures in a given neighborhood can quickly lead to abandonment, declining property

values, tax delinquencies, and increased crime. Many communities that have taken years—in some cases decades—to renew are at risk of deteriorating rapidly in light of widespread mortgage foreclosures.

Focus Statement: Focus Statement: How can we use our existing resources

and assets to support access to decent affordable housing through revitalization of local vacant and existing

Neighborhoods Without Borders

Cross generational career summit: building a culture of advanced learning for African American

boys & girls

Non‐traditional training for existing and start‐up neighborhood businesses

Connecting Neighborhood Safety Efforts

Job Fairs for Ex‐Offenders

Neighborhoods Without Borders

Urban Homestead Initiative

Use Networks to Promote Health

Partner with businesses to help maintain or improve the open spaces surrounding their

building areas

Neighborhoods Without Borders Work to be done

• Understanding knowledge needs in focus areas of Lifelong Learning, Jobs and Money, Retail Renaissance, Community Safety, Gangs and Ex‐offenders, Housing, Healthy Residents, Arts & Culture, Opportunities for Youth, and Parks, Open Space and Greening

• Connecting more MSU and UM Flint researchers with the

knowledge needs in the above 10 focus areas • Engaging additional neighbors and groups and helping them build

their capacity to use strategic doing within the NWB framework. Not everyone needs to come to the monthly city‐wide action session.

A Final Word

• The i2i framework facilitates the type of engagement between science and community that is absolutely critical for the future of world

• In my city, in the crucible of Flint, the i2i

framework helps to create MSU transformative engagement that saves lives, and neighborhoods, and environments, and economies, and will help all of us in Flint to reclaim our future