President’s Blog – Week Four
Years ago I was leading a class on community effectiveness. I asked the class what they liked about living in the South. (Later, we talked about what they did not like.)
Different students said things like the climate, the food, a more relaxed pace, and similar things. Then one of the students said, “What I like about the South is that people can just talk.” Another student, from a northern state, said, “And that just drives me crazy!”
As we talked about talk, we understood that talk is social radar. It helps us understand the context in which we live. Of course, it’s a characteristic of close-knit communities, not just a southern one.
“He said what?” “Well, that’s just like him.” “All those Smiths are like that.”
In my past two notes, I have commented that this Center fosters talk that leads to making better choices about how we act to improve our common lives. I again quote our friend, Tom Walker, “What would work better in our community if we worked better together?”
David Mathews uses another analogy. He points out that difficulties along the Gulf Coast in the face of storms is that the wetlands have been damaged. Wetlands cushion the land against the changing nature of the weather and its effects on wind and water.
Wetlands are the mediating factor between turmoil and stability. The same is true of the relationships that citizens create among themselves for making better sustainable choices. Resilience is a popular word recently applied to this needed community characteristic.
So this Center is about fostering resilience. Our primary vehicle is Alabama Issues Forums. You can see further detail about AIF with another click on this website.
This coming year we will focus on concerns about drop-outs from our schools. This concern affects educational levels, available labor, and public health. Drop-outs create social costs. We have to choose how and when we will pay those costs.
Eventually, AIF may have more than one issue for annual focus. For example, we might address a question involving a community and its educational resources. We might also address an issue involving economic development. We might also address an issue involving public health. All three are interrelated. They together make up community prosperity.
Each individual issue is important. But there is overarching importance. Developing more effective choices about specific issues fosters a more creative approach to any common challenge a community may face. That work sustains the wetlands of community choice making between turmoil and stability.
The next question is how?
- Bob McKenzie
