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Strengthening Trust, Leadership, and Community
Greensboro, North Carolina is a community at crossroads. Over the last two decades its economy, politics, demographics and landscape have changed. It is a community that continues to be filled with strong faith institutions and residents from diverse backgrounds. Despite a history of strong religious connections and diversity, Greensboro struggles with authentic inclusion and engagement of citizens. It is at the crossroads of a “business as usual community” and a “community thriving in its diversity”.
A citywide Social Capital Benchmark Study was conducted in early 2001, by the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro. Different dimensions comprise what is deemed "social capital." Among them are: social trust; political participation; civic leadership and associational involvement; informal social ties; diversity of friendships; and civic engagement at a community level. At the heart of social capital is the question of whether or not people can trust one another. Greensboro ranked below average in terms of social trust and informal socializing. The study was repeated in 2006 and while improvements were made in informal socializing, Greensboro continues to rank below average in social trust.
Social trust is an important component of building community. Trust can be built through shared activity and connectivity. In an effort to address this issue the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro partnered with UNCG’s Center for Youth, Family and Community Partnerships, and the City of Greensboro Human Relations Commission, and designed the IMPACT Greensboro program.
IMPACT Greensboro is a unique leadership program and reflects a redesign of the Mosaic project, originally launched in 2005 to pair people of diverse backgrounds to spend quality time together and develop friendships. The premise was that friendships would “expedite the building of trust between diverse people, foster an inclusive culture, create new understandings, and break down barriers that block connectivity”. IMPACT Greensboro will build on the Mosaic project’s successes and add elements which will improve the process and outcome. A 11- month process has been developed to examine the dynamics of diversity, leadership, and community building. Participants—to be known as “change agents” - will be recruited for the program who represent the best of our diverse community and are capable of inspiring hope for the future of our community. IMPACT Greensboro will showcase how ordinary citizens from different backgrounds can forge authentic and meaningful relationships while solving differences and finding shared values and solutions to day-to-day issues in our community.
The objectives identified for IMPACT Greensboro are to:
- Forge collective ways to address and impact key community interests and concerns;
- Provide participants with a deeper understanding of core community issues and the importance that relationships play in effectively addressing issues.
- Create an ongoing dialog on community issues and an ongoing method for interaction.
- Create a vibrant network of community “change agents” who are equipped to identify and tackle community issues
The project incorporates five dimensions:
1. 90 initial participants become officially known as community “Change Agents”;
2. Core Groups will explore five critical issues in Greensboro (from 6 options: Race, Criminal Justice, Neighborhoods, Settlement City/Immigration, Education, Economics), and develop strategies to address these matters;
3. Skill building and education on cultures, relationships, race, gender, economics, and community issues will be added. Networking and relationships will also be a focus. Participants will be divided into five “community issue” core groups and smaller groups of six within the Core Groups. This will allow for a strengthening of the partnerships.
4. Action on matters which build community utilizing diverse viewpoints of existing and emerging leaders.
5. Evaluation methodology will measure the effectiveness of the process, level of engagement, and resulting change in participants’ perspectives and actions.
The goal of IMPACT Greensboro is to develop a comprehensive process that provides a framework for dialogue to increase the capacity of participants to: 1) understand and respect one another; 2) find value in diversity; 3) forge collective ways to address mutual community interest and concerns; and 4) build bridges of trust among Greensboro's diverse citizens.
Building this new social capital framework will increase trust, mutual understanding, shared values, and behaviors that bind members of networks and communities to make cooperative action possible.
Become a "Change Agent"
The IMPACT Greensboro Program invites you to apply for the 2008-2009 class. This unique program presents you with the opportunity to work together with others to develop an understanding of the issues and challenges of our community and collectively forge new ways to address them. A unique process of education, skill building, and study groups has been developed to examine the dynamics of diversity, leadership, and community building. The program culminates with a community wide summit designed by the participants to provide facts, realities, and recommendations about the future of our city. The community will benefit from your wisdom, values, and leadership qualities. We invite you to join us in developing this new network of allies to benefit the common good of our community. Together we can rekindle dormant community visions for our future, refresh current leadership, and empower emerging leaders to create avenues for change in Greensboro.
The selection committee will review applications. They will evaluate applications in search of individuals who have a strong sense of community and a proven commitment to serve. They will select applicants who reflect the diversity of the community, encompassing people from many backgrounds, varied education levels, and who represent different professions. Applications will be evaluated on a first come, first serve basis and spaces in the program are limited. Applications must be received by December 3, 2007. Final selection and notification of acceptance will take place the week of December 21st.
Format
- Participants reflect the diversity of the community and show up as peer citizens, to be confirmed by December 21, 2007.
- Kick off seminar on January 10, 2008
- 90 participants will form 5 core groups
- 18 participants per Core Group
- Within the Core Group 3 subsets of 6 participants will form a small groups
- Professional Facilitators will guide the Core Group process
- Eleven-month series of Modules, either 4 or 8 hours in length
- Facilitated Dialogue that will allow the citizens :
- to really hear one another;
- to expand their awareness and knowledge of other perspectives;
- to search for deeper truths on behalf of creating a better community;
- to create a depth of understanding of the issues;
- to seek innovative and practical ways (common sense) the issues might be addressed;
- to develop consensus across the Core Groups prior to presenting to the community;
- to present the findings and recommendations to officials and the larger community in a community summit; and
- to engage others in an intentional way to become a part of the process.
- Focus on trust, diversity, and improvement of civic life in the City of Greensboro, and the opportunities for improvement, community issues and/or concerns of the citizens
- Between Sessions small groups meet
- Modules 4,5 ,7 and 8 will focus on Deeper Conversations about specific topics
- There is no cost to participants thanks to generous underwriting by sponsors
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