A high school teacher named Henry Littlefield once wrote an essay in the American Quarterly called “The Wizard of Oz: A Parable on Populism.” According Littlefield’s interpretation, L. Frank Baum’s immortal children’s book was full of thinly disguised allusions to the reform politics of the late nineteenth century. The Tin Man (whose joints needed constant oiling to function) represented the industrial worker. The intellectually insecure Scarecrow embodied the American farmer. The Cowardly Lion represented, the Populist-Democratic presidential candidate, William Jennings Bryan, an avowed pacifist. The yellow brick road symbolized the gold standard, and Dorothy’s magic shoes, which silver in the book, not ruby red as in the Hollywood film version, stood for the free coinage of silver, the main demand of the Populists. Others have added new interpretations over time. “Oz,” after all, was the abbreviation for ounces, the measure of silver and gold. Dorothy’s dog, Toto, represented the temperance movement, and so on.

Sadly, Littlefield’s theory has been thoroughly debunked by a succession of academic killjoys, professional historians who note that, among other things, author Baum was not in fact a Bryan Democrat, as Littlefield suggested, but rather a supporter of boring old William McKinley. One historian of consumer culture interpreted the Wizard of Oz, not as a critique of the Gilded Age but a celebration of consumer capitalism. Noting that Baum was a Theosophist who had once worked as window-dresser, this historian found the book to be an “optimistic, therapeutic text.” The Emerald City, in this interpretation did not represent Washington, but the 1894 Chicago World Exposition with its dazzling and Oz-like array of new products and inventions.

With its flying monkeys, witches and munchkins, the book and even more famous movie are clearly rich subjects for a variety of interpretations. Last summer, I witnessed an entirely new re-imagining of the Wizard of Oz, Dublin, California’s presentation at the All-America City Awards competition in Kansas City. (To be clear, it was KC, Missouri, not Kansas, but close enough). In this 10 minute tour of the city, Dorothy—who sang a mean version of Over the Rainbow, was taken on a tour of the Emerald City of Dublin. In this version, the Scarecrow represented the wisdom of city officials in implementing one of the most progressive and inclusionary housing policies in the state of California. Dublin being a mostly affluent Bay Area community, housing prices are intimidating to say the least.

Concerned that local teachers, firefighters, police and others wouldn’t be able to afford housing in the city where they worked, city council members enacted a comprehensive affordable housing policy. Over the last 10 years, the city’s programs have created nearly 1000 “below market” rental and owner occupied housing units, about seven percent of the city’s overall housing stock. Programs include Dublin’s Below Market Rate Home Program, which provides a supply of deed-restricted below market rate units, and a First Time Homebuyer Loan Program with down payment assistance and financial advice. Developers who cannot build the number of below market rate units required by ordinance can contribute to the Inclusionary In-Lieu Fee Fund, which the city uses to support non-profit developers in the construction of below market rate senior and multi-family rental developments.

Heart: The Tin Man represented the city’s heart in providing a home for the School of Imagination, an innovative and inclusive school readiness/early intervention program that partners typically developing kids with those afflicted with developmental disabilities. More than 300 children weekly participate in the programs they offer and they have served more than 3,000 children with speech delays, developmental delays and autism from throughout the region.

Courage:  The Cowardly Lion represented the city’s courage in making efforts to preserve its past and secure its future with environmental programs. The city formed a partnership to develop a historic park to be a living monument to the community’s agricultural past. To increase sustainability education, the city hosts a community volunteer event called Dublin Pride Week. As part of Dublin Pride Week, the city sponsors a Volunteer Day where residents engage the community in a variety of projects, including school beautification projects, clean water projects, and environmental program outreach.

In his essay, Henry Littlefield said he’d developed his Oz theory to make the forgotten world of the 1890s comprehensible to his students. “Consider the fun,” he wrote, “in picturing turn-of-the-century American, a difficult time at best, using ready-made symbols provided by Baum.” It furnished a teaching mechanism, he suggested, “guaranteed to reach any level of student.”

The same could be said of the Dublin presentation, which was corny, but also effective. Heart, head and courage—contemporary communities need of all those qualities they can get. It’s worth taking a look at thee archived video of Dublin’s Presentation. (link here.)

Granted, this unique approach might not work for all communities in addressing critical needs for its members, but it certainly accomplished its goal. There are a multitude of city, towns and parishes in need of bringing attention to an issue greatly affecting the community. Do you know of additional ways in which a community has brought awareness to a critical problem resulting in change? What was that change and how did it impact the community? We would love to know, so, please, fill the box below with your community’s story of success.

---

Mike McGrath is senior editor and chief information officer for the National Civic League. A former newspaper reporter and magazine writer, he is editor of the quarterly National Civic Review, which will be beginning its centennial year of publishing this spring.

Mike’s posts will appear every Thursday on the State of the Re:Union website.

We all know that change from within the community can be a powerful thing. But it can be just as difficult to keep so many voices on track to achieve a particular goal.

Gloria Francesca Mengual of Everyday Democracy: Ideas &Tools for Community Change offers some great advice for how to achieve “Community Planning for Success.” (Click to read original article.)

According to Mengual, “The most successful community-planning efforts involve residents as partners, from the early planning stage through to implementation.” She says that using professional planners to avoid conflict between residents might not be advantageous. The planning process will provide an opportunity for residents to express their passions about their community and offer ideas suited for their community. These should be planned community conversations.

“Residents identifying community issues and considering potential solutions together also creates a sense of accountability among participants.” Mengual offers guidelines for organizing community-planning dialogues that are based on experiences from successful planning efforts. (The following are abbreviated guidelines, but you can click here to read them in full.)

• Build Trust Up Front – help people understand their role in successful planning.

• Involve Everyone - Invite everyone in the community to participate – diversity creates strength.

• Hold Facilitated Dialogues – Create a dialogue guide reflecting community concerns and hopes.

• Follow-up - Give updates on the developing community plan and welcome feedback.

• Get the Word Out – Inform the overall community and let it work for your.

• Help Build Social Capital – Community planning dialogue participation yields favorable results and actions.

Maintaining community is a difficult achievement, but well worth the invested time. These are not lofty points set in place, they are tried-and-true rungs used to elevate to a community’s success. They are great morsels of information to keep close, even if community planning might be in the more distant future. Although these are some pretty great points of advice, these are just a few guidelines yielding rewarding results. What other outstanding considerations have helped your community achieve successful planning? Please use the box below to submit additional components that are working for your community.

[Recently] I was in Las Vegas where I discovered a community – once on top of the world – fighting to come back in the wake of the Great Recession. What people in Las Vegas are doing offers a vision of what it will take for communities across the country to rebound from this tough economic and social time. It’s not a mere roll of the dice that’s bringing Vegas back, but intentional actions to create real change and community.

The Harwood Institute worked in Las Vegas earlier this decade with the support of the Omidyar Network. In 2004 we produced a report entitled, On the American Frontier. It captured the incredible “can-do spirit, confidence, proven track record of growth, and innate sense of vibrancy” of Southern Nevada. For many people, Vegas was the best, last chance to pursue a customized version of the American Dream. But even then people were starting to wonder if they had too much of a good thing.

Today things are different in Vegas. For starters, the area ranks near the top in the nation in home foreclosures, school dropouts, unemployment and lost jobs, while philanthropic dollars have dried up. And yet, something genuinely hopeful is happening there, something worth paying attention to.

Political and civic leaders, including heads of major organizations, funders, the state senate majority leader, and public broadcasters gathered to hear my speech. In 2004, it might have been hard to gather such leaders for a similar event, and especially one where they so openly engaged one another. But now, despite the Great Recession – or maybe because of it – folks are creating new groups and relationships to get things done.

Many people came up to me during my time there to say that our work some five to 10 years ago had helped to seed the growth of new groups and strengthen existing ones. They told me we had helped them to see why it is so critical to turn outward and to think about change differently. One person even asked how I felt being back in town given that so much current activity can be traced back to our work. What I told her is that the real credit goes to people in Vegas – those individuals and groups that chose to step forward and use our work to innovate, experiment, and are now connecting their efforts to others. And it is an amazing collection of groups, which includes:

• Three Square
• Community We Will
• Southern Regional Nevada Planning Coalition
• KNPR and Vegas PBS
• Nevada Gives

What’s so promising in Vegas is that public innovators are creating a new civic foundation. Each group has its own promising story, and together they represent a major shift in the community. Now, all this movement is still just emerging, but the trajectory is clear.

These groups are boundary spanners, network builders, engagers of the community, and most importantly action oriented. It is this very foundation that is essential for a community to move forward. We all know the Vegas line, “What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas.” Well, I want to add a new line today: “What Happens in Vegas, Spreads beyond Vegas.”

More towns across the nation are heeding a similar community call as that of Las Vegas. Bettering the public through our actions now will carve out a path of change that helps guide representatives down the right path for your community. Isn’t it beyond time that a chance is taken on changing community through our own actions?

Does this sound like something already happening your in community? If so, we would love to hear some key concepts you think makes it work. Change only happens when action is taken, so write your thoughts in the box below and keep the momentum going.

Interested in learning more about what happens in Las Vegas? Click here to check out the SOTRU Las Vegas episode to find out about what’s going on.

---

A dynamic public speaker, Rich Harwood is a frequent keynote for foundations and national organizations. He is an expert contributor on national and syndicated media outlets including MSNBC, NPR, The Christian Science Monitor, CNN’s Inside Politics, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Special Report with Brit Hume, C-SPAN, and many others. He is also the author of Hope Unraveled: The people\’92s retreat and our way back (2005), Make Hope Real: How we can accelerate change for the public good (2008) and numerous studies, articles and essays chronicling vital issues of our time. His most recent written work, Why We\’92re Here: The Powerful Impact of Public Broadcasters When They Turn Outward, is being published and distributed in Spring 2011. You can follow him on twitter @RichHarwood and facebook.com/richharwood.

You can read Rich’s posts every Tuesday on State of the Re:Union’s website.

In this video interview, Capacity Building Beyond Community Services, the topic is the meaning of “community” and “neighborhood.”

You can watch the video here, or read the transcript below. Then use the comment section below to let us know what your definition of community and neighborhood is.

The National Teachers’ Initiative

At State of the Re:Union, we know that the best way to get to know a place, to understand the area and its residents, is through the stories of its people. For this week’s School Spotlight, we’re pulling back and panning outside of an individual school, to share the stories of those who are at the front lines of education, our teachers.

As part of the American Graduate series, our friends at Story Corps focused their incredible oral history project on ‘The National Teachers Initiative‘ and gathered stories from educators and the students they inspired. A special focus will be placed on teachers steadily working to increase the number of high school students graduating from high school who are prepared to enter into college and careers.

The palpability of the program can be felt through Story Corps’ explanation of how it works:  “By recording, sharing, and preserving their stories, we hope to call public attention to the invaluable contributions teachers have made to this nation, honor those who have embraced the profession as their calling, encourage teaching as a career choice, and unify the country behind its teachers—helping us all recognize that there is no more important or noble work than that of educating our nation’s children.”

Some 625 teachers are revered and celebrated for “the brilliant and courageous work” they provided for this initiative. Through telling compelling and poignant stories, the experiences of how teachers throughout America impact the lives of students are made evident.

From a neurosurgeon calling from several states away to thank the eighth grade science teacher who inspired him, to a very personal journey that made an English teacher into the man he is today, the stories of the National Teachers’ Initiative allow us to peer inside the personal journeys of men and women impacted by a teacher. Some journeys are filled with heartache, some with happiness, but all of the stories show the how the interactions between student and teacher make a difference in their lives, and that of the community. To read some of these Story Corps moments, click here and scroll down to “Listen To Stories.”

We live in a society that is filled with instant gratification, so to work in a profession that yields delayed results is an anomaly. Thus, being a teacher must take incredible stamina, patience and resolve. One such teacher, Renee Thorton of New York, NY provides a great analogy: “Even though you plant a seed and you don’t see it flourish or bloom, it’s there, and it grows.”

Most everyone can remember that one teacher who said or did something that made a very special impact influencing something in your life. It could be an educator from preschool giving you praise for some small thing, or a middle school teacher who helped you through a difficult time. Whatever the occasion, use the comment box below to tell us how a teacher made a difference in your life.

I’ve wondered about this. In science fiction, technology is often viewed as a threat to democracy, individual freedom or even (as in those cases in which robots try to take over) humankind itself. In real life, however, technology can help make our democracies work better.

I’m always looking for good examples of communities using technology or social media to engage people in the process of local problem solving and decision making. Here’s one: Olathe, Kansas, recently was named one of the top “digital cities” by the Center for Digital Government and Government Technology magazine.

Like most communities, the city has public meetings to discuss budget issues and holds them in different venues in an effort to get people to come. “In our experience, budget hearings at city hall were dwindling,” says Erin Vader, the city’s manager of communications and public engagement. “So you take it on the road and do road shows.”

But even going out to the neighborhoods and bringing meetings to the people didn’t seem to get the crowds, so the city’s communications and public engagement department went in search of new ideas.

So they decided to hold an E-Town meeting in the studio of the local government access cable station and to drive interest and participation with social media. Chris Hernandez, a Kansas City TV news personality hosted the meeting, which was cablecast and live-streamed, and members of the public asked questions to city council members via e-mail, the city’s budget web page, Twitter and facebook.

The city launched an online forum six days before the scheduled e-meeting, asking citizens to submit questions. Questions could also be submitted live during the meeting.

Local officials consider the experiment a success. The city’s facebook page saw an increase of about 60 percent in post views during the live-cast of the event and traffic on the city’s budget web page increased nine fold.

“We’re trying to meet the citizens where they are,” explained Chris Kelly, the city’s IT director Chris Kelly, “which is online.”

This is the 11th year the digital cities award has been given for cities that increase efficiencies and achieve better results by using technology. Olathe won first place in the category of cities with between 125,000 and 249,999 residents. The e-town hall wasn’t the only one reason for their award. Olathe has used technology to consolidate its 911 dispatch system with the county and used improve meter reading machines to save money, which is being used to promote other energy saving measures.

Getting people out to budget hearings can be a tough sell, especially in these days when the choices are almost always sub-optimal. Ordinarily, the public only gets involved when some favored program or department is facing the chopping block. But it is important these days when the choices are so tough that the public is both aware of and engaged in the process, and technology can help. Not just in discussing the issues, but also in giving citizens a role in helping local government do more with less.

One of the other localities named in the digital cities survey was Long Beach, California. I’ve been doing some research on the city’s efforts to eliminate its “structural deficit.” Better use of technology is one of the ways they are trying to save on labor and money.

The city recently unveiled its “Go Long Beach” app, which allows citizens with smart phones to report problems like graffiti, pot holes, downed traffic signs and weed strewn yards so the city can respond to them more quickly and efficiently. The app allows a user to take a picture of the problem and the GPS on the smart phone tells city crews exactly where to go.

Long Beach has also made strides in using technology for more efficient document storage, upgraded its fiber optic networks and used streaming video and social media to keep citizens in touch with what’s going on at city hall.

Technology is no panacea. And there is always a risk that the robots may in fact decide to take over, but in the meantime, these cost savings and interactive engagement possibilities can increase citizen trust and understanding of government and the challenges facing localities in this time of financial crisis.

---

Mike McGrath is senior editor and chief information officer for the National Civic League. A former newspaper reporter and magazine writer, he is editor of the quarterly National Civic Review, which will be beginning its centennial year of publishing this spring.

Mike’s posts will appear every Thursday on the State of the Re:Union website.

A Youth-Inspired School Project

State of the Re:Union  would like to call attention to some commendable youths and their exemplary actions. These Detroit students were not satisfied with the way their community was being portrayed in both national and local media. It was not necessarily a bad reflection upon their city, however, they didn’t feel that it was entirely accurate. So, with the help and encouragement of their teachers, they decided to do something about it.

According to the excerpt found on The National Writing Project – Digital Is Website, “We Want Our City Back” is a photojournalism project that grew out of students’ chagrin prompted by the media’s “biased” coverage. They felt that the heroes chosen by a highly-recognized magazine to represent Detroit was not enough. (You can read the original excerpt by clicking here.) So, taking this into consideration, these youths were asked to create a catalog of what they thought their community needed. After the list was compiled, focus groups were assigned photojournalism projects in the following topics, representing students’ concerns:

….

• Raise Your Voice - Group attempted to combat negative “images” of the city via the media in print, photographs, discussions.
  
• Crime Fighters – Group looked at violence and other issues that students viewed as a crime, such as having a lack of health care, not having access to grocery stores within their neighborhood, or when faced with an emergency – having no emergency responders or a delayed response.
• Power in the City – Students presented both scandal and abuses of power, authority and trust, as well as ways that they thought power in the city could be redistributed.
• Building Bridges - Students looked at segregation in the city based upon race, class, gender, religion, age, socioeconomic status.

After the assigned photojournalism task was finished, they created project boards displaying the photos they took depicting their thoughts and ideas. Resource binders created by these students further expounding upon their concern with the intent of educating others about the issue targeted by the project. With display boards and resource binders in hand, the student participants then went to a summit “where they interacted with invited speakers around the issues at hand.”

This project might not have yielded earth-shattering results, stopping the country in its tracks with all eyes on the Detroit community, but change rarely works that quickly. The most important thing that could have come from this project, did: Helping students develop critical thinking necessary to make a change within their own community. It also cultivated in them some solid reasoning skills, helped them learn what they want their city to represent, and made them aware that they can find solutions to issues. They now know – through experience – that inaction solves nothing, but critical thinking can help others understand what concerns are important to them. These photojournalism projects are an effectual way to disseminate concerns to others in their community and getting their voices heard.

There are so many ways for people to get their message out, but how is it done effectively? What are some other tactics used in your community to get people to actually listen and learn about important concerns? Use the comment section below – we would be indubitably delighted to know.

State of the Re:Union would like to share valuable knowledge (literally) on how to make your community a better place to live. In the article, 7 Holiday Events that Better Your Community, Houselogic.com provides some helpful hints on how to bring your community together and add value to your home, all by celebrating the holidays.

According to a study done by Director Dennis Rosenbaum of the Center for Research in Law and Justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the actions of organizing holiday events, gatherings and festivities can “help to foster higher property values, strong schools, and lower crime rates in your neighborhood.” Here are seven different ideas to inspire a neighborhood gathering this upcoming season:

1.) Sing Songs – One neighborhood near Brooklyn, New York, has been enjoying caroling since 1967 and speak highly of the camaraderie it has established and has this advice to offer: “Identify neighborhood streets heavy with holiday decorations. Festive residents will likely be most receptive to carolers. Ask volunteers to print song lyric sheets, post flyers announcing the event in advance, and bring a thermos or two of hot cocoa.”

2.) Holiday Parties with a Purpose – In New Orleans, Louisiana, one organization honors and awards its emergency first responders who’ve made a difference with an annual Christmas party. They say this event is a way of thanking these heroes and building neighborhood spirit.

3.) Swap Holiday Food - Organizing a neighborhood holiday cookie or dessert exchange promotes good feelings that are lasting.

4.) Organize a Search Party – In Maineville, Ohio, some families participate in neighborhood-wide holiday scavenger hunt. They have half of an hour to secure festive items listed, such as candy canes and tinsel. At the end, the family with the most items wins a $50 gift card. But the real prize is the fun.

5.) Share Holiday Giving – In Logan, Utah, in lieu of exchanging gifts and items with each other, some 50 to 60 neighbors use that money (an average $30 per family) and opt to pool money together to provide items to four families in need through a local organization. They get together at a neighborhood party to wrap these gifts they’ve purchased.

6.) Feed Your Friendly Neighbors – Some 100 residents in Wilmington, North Carolina, enjoy mingling at three neighbors’ homes via progressive dinners. Of course, this number can be scaled down. Hosts can decide to foot the cost themselves or make it a potluck, but the point is to get to know the families around you.

7.) Light Up the Holiday – A designated night during the holidays can be set aside for each family to line their home with 10-12 containers (as simple as altered milk jugs or water bottles) filled with votive candles. This is a great way to come together as a neighborhood and line the streets with warmth and cheer.

These are just a few simple ideas that can amount to huge investments in your neighborhood. Having a friend as a neighbor truly creates a bond, making a safer environment for all who live on your street. Friends, or just friendly people, take a vested interest in caring for one another. If something happens to a stranger, curiosity tends to be the cause of slower reaction time. However, if someone happens to a friend, the urgency to aid them becomes overwhelming. Which neighbor do you want living next to you? Is there something special that your neighborhood does for the holidays that brings good cheer and promotes friendships? Ideas, comments and thoughts are always welcomed at SOTRU, and we would love to hear more ideas advocating community, trust and friendship.

Beyond Basics in Tucson, Arizona

School Spotlight takes us to Roskruge Bilingual Magnet Middle School in Tucson, Arizona, where one special school program, Beyond Basics, is helping students in its community achieve better success in school by providing opportunities that expose them to the arts. To read the original article from Teaching Tolerance, click here.

According to its Web site, “Beyond Basics is a school-centered program that brings targeted reading, writing and other literacy and self-expression programs to students in grades pre-K through 12.”

Beyond Basics offers a program that takes place during the school day, with no cost to the schools, the district or individual students. This program is firmly based on the understanding “that children, exposed to educational curricula beyond the basic school system offerings, will obtain higher scores on exams and have a greater chance of achieving excellence beyond their public school careers.”

And Roskruge’s Principal José Olivas agrees. Beyond Basics has been working in his school, and Olivas says he needs no further proof that the program works. Students’ eligiblity for program participation is dependent upon maintaining a certain academic level. This gives the students a reason to work a bit harder in school, and they have been. In the article he states, “Without [arts classes], they might not concentrate on their other courses … Once they get a taste of success in whatever class it may be, it spills over [into other academic work].”

The work done by volunteers and staff members of Beyond Basics has been proven to help school children in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. They ”change their destinies by significantly raising their reading proficiency scores and providing developmental and emotional growth opportunities. Typically, we get children reading at grade level or above in six weeks. One hundred percent of the children we work with show improvement in literacy.”

Children who live in poverty tend not to have exposure to the arts. Beyond Basics President and Founder Pamela Good says “We want to expand their world in huge ways through the arts … When we bring art into the school it adds vibrance and creativity. When the students create art, they are being celebrated in that space. It breaks down so many barriers that we all have built up, but children in poverty might have built up many more.”

Good also says that this program is an answer for public education in poor schools. “We hear all the time what the problems are and it may take many, many years to solve some of those. But in the meantime there are little children that need the service.” It has made a profound difference in the lives of the students who are currently being served by the program. One eigth-grade girl says that she “works extra hard in her classes” to be able to sing in the mariachi band, an opportunity provided by the program.

The arts tend to be the first plan of attack when whittling away at budgetary matters, but more and more stories from around the country are proving that, just maybe, the arts are where the answers might lie. Think back to your days in school. What activities do you remember, and which ones made an impact? Attending music class was always my favorite escape from letters, numbers and tests. There is a symbiotic relationship between academics and the arts, and programs like Beyond Basics can help fill the gap that is so often spoken of. Know of another program helping students in need? You could always let us know. We love to hear about programs helping communities and students in need.

Although Thanksgiving is widely acclaimed as a day of feasts, family, friends, fun and football (the five F’s of Thanksgiving, but that is another post), it is important to remember that the first Thanksgiving was truly all about community. In SOTRU fashion, we would like to honor some organizations and communities embracing and perpetuating the spirit of the oldest American holiday tradition.

• Some folks at The Giving Heart organization in Richmond, Virginia, will celebrate Thanksgiving with The Giving Heart Community Thanksgiving Feast. Everyone in the greater Richmond area is invited, but a special invitation is sent “to the less fortunate, the elderly and those who would otherwise spend Thanksgiving alone.” At the end of this holiday feast, guests will be given a floral arrangement commemorating their celebration and have the opportunity to pick up a few necessities for staying warm, including a Giving Bag, consisting of “toiletries and other essential items that are created by many” in their community.

• Equinox Inc., a community service organization out of Albany, New York, will be hosting its 42nd Annual Equinox Thanksgiving Day Community Dinner. This long-standing tradition originally started in 1969, feeding 200 college students who were without family. Whether it is at a designated community location, or delivered straight to their door, today, more than 8,000 individuals who are lonely, homebound or homeless neighbors are served. This is truly a community-led effort, enlisting the help of around 3,000 community volunteers who make this day possible. “The Equinox Thanksgiving Community Dinner is funded entirely by generous donations from local businesses, civic groups, and private citizens. Cash, food, trucks, tables and chairs, cell phones, serving dishes, linens, aprons, soap, towels, and advertising are matched by the valuable help of our volunteers. Equinox is the coordinating and sponsoring agency. All surplus donations are used to assist needy families throughout the year.”

• And in Santa Monica, California, the Westside Thanksgiving Community Dinner and Celebration hosts a day filled with surprises, giving families and community members a lot of reasons to be thankful. “The Celebration is open to everyone. No reservations are necessary… just come to the 
Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on Thanksgiving day.  Dinner from 11am – 3pm.” But it doesn’t stop at dinner. All can participate in a day of free services that include: Thanksgiving Dinner, Children’s Entertainment, Basic Medical Consultation, Clothing Distribution, Haircuts, and Basic Eye Exams.

Kudos to these communities who practice the foundations of what Thanksgiving was first based upon: friendship, caring, sharing and being good stewards of humankind. During these times that are so often overwhelming and harrowing, communities such as these have become a mecca to American tradition. Thank you for your sacrifices, kindness, and caring. Thank you for your shining example of subservience, strength and leadership. And most of all, thank you for restoring a bit of  faith that some individuals have been working hard to chip away at. For this, we should all give thanks.

Last week’s defeat of numerous state referenda is proof that Americans are rejecting a scorched-earth approach to radically shift the nation’s political landscape. For weeks, people of every political bent have told us about their outrage, and now with these defeats they’re giving us clues as to what it means to move beyond the outrage. Common sense and the better angels of our nature may still prevail.

Let’s take Ohio and Mississippi as prime examples. In Ohio, a whopping 61% of voters rejected the governor’s attempt to significantly restrict public sector employees to engage in collective bargaining. In Mississippi, the “personhood” amendment also was roundly defeated 58 percent to 42 percent. Just a month ago polling suggested the amendment would win by 20 points.

In these and other states, advocates who seek to exploit society’s fault lines for their own have sorely misread the meaning of people’s outrage and how people want to get things done. Their actions are marches of folly that will produce dangerous repercussions: leading to wild swings in politics and public life, more acrimony and divisiveness, and more ideological battles.

All this is occurring at a time when our latest research in our Main Street study is showing that Americans want more problem solving, more fairness, pathways back into the public square to do things together, and the restoration of their faith in themselves and one another that we can get things done together.

Make no mistake people do want some real changes in such areas as collective bargaining, state and local budgets and corporate accountability, among others. Some Democrats and Republicans, such as New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, have diligently proposed tough measures in these and other areas. But Cuomo, like some others, has insisted on taking a balanced approach in his discussions with public sector employees and has avoided demonizing and bullying others, all while holding firm to a set of principles he believes are important to making progress.

What then are the implications? Take a look below at some of the words and phrases I’ve used in this piece. As you check out the two columns you’ll see that in many of the state referenda voting last week – and increasingly in many debates across the nation – most Americans are yearning to choose the right-hand column, while proponents of many amendments and politics as usual believe the left-hand column will win the day for them.

Road to More Gridlock	Road to Real Change
Radical shifts Acrimony and divisiveness Ideological battles Bullying Demonizing Win at all cost	Problem solving Moving forward Principle-based Better angels of our nature Common sense Build something

In our own lives each of us can make the choice to go down the road to real change. But this will require rejecting the road to more gridlock. Here are some easy ways to get started:

•    Look at your own work and community efforts and determine how you’re doing in terms of each column. Then, re-calibrate your efforts to clearly reflect the road to real change.

•    When you are in conversations with others – colleagues, neighbors, fellow parishioners, and others – be mindful of which column you’re in. Don’t let the conversation veer to the road to more gridlock. Instead, keep focused on the road to real change and you’ll see people regain a sense of possibility.

•    When you take in the news, notice how it is framed by the road to more gridlock, and then seek out news sources that illuminate the road to real change. You’ll be more engaged, and more apt to engage others.

Within our vast nation there are two seemingly contradictory desires at play:  the expression of outrage and a deep aspiration to move ahead productively. The truth is these desires are not contradictory at all. The first is a normal human emotion when people feel things are spinning out of control and no one is listening to them; the second is about creating the kind of society we want.

To get the country moving again, let’s choose the road to real change.

---

A dynamic public speaker, Rich Harwood is a frequent keynote for foundations and national organizations. He is an expert contributor on national and syndicated media outlets including MSNBC, NPR, The Christian Science Monitor, CNN’s Inside Politics, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Special Report with Brit Hume, C-SPAN, and many others. He is also the author of Hope Unraveled: The people\’92s retreat and our way back (2005), Make Hope Real: How we can accelerate change for the public good (2008) and numerous studies, articles and essays chronicling vital issues of our time. His most recent written work, Why We\’92re Here: The Powerful Impact of Public Broadcasters When They Turn Outward, is being published and distributed in Spring 2011. You can follow him on twitter @RichHarwood and facebook.com/richharwood.

You can read Rich’s posts every Tuesday on State of the Re:Union’s website.

Today, we’re sharing an excerpt from a post by Peter Block of Abundant Community. He tells how one community keeps growing the list of things to be thankful for: each other. To read the original excerpt in its entirety, click here.

Seeing the Abundance in the Neighborhood

The [following] story has the elements of what we can call a competent neighborhood. Creating competence starts with making visible the gifts of everyone in the neighborhood—the families, the young people, the old people, the vulnerable people, the troublesome people. Everyone. We do this not out of altruism, but to create the elements of a satisfying life. Here is a perfect example of how it works:

Last summer, when Theron looked through the open door of the metalworking shop Mr. Thompson had set up in his garage, the old man invited him in. Something clicked. Theron began to stop by every day, and he started bringing home metal pieces he’d learned to make.

Naomi could see Theron change. He was proud of what he made—Mr. Thompson even paid him to make a few things. Naomi said she’d finally stopped worrying about what Theron was doing after school. Jackie admitted that her son Alvin was in trouble, and she asked Naomi if there might be someone in the neighborhood whose skills would interest Alvin.

They knew that Gerald Lilly was into fishing, and that Sam Wheatley was a saxophonist, but that was about it. They decided to ask all the men in the neighborhood about their interests and skills. Mr. Thompson agreed to go with them. It took three weeks to visit all the men on the block. When they were done, they were amazed at what they had found: men who knew juggling, barbecuing, bookkeeping, hunting, haircutting, bowling, investigating crimes, writing poems, fixing cars, weightlifting, choral singing, teaching dogs tricks, mathematics, praying, and how to play trumpet, drums, and sax.

They found enough talent for all the kids in the neighborhood to tap into. Three of the men they met—Charles Wilt, Mark Sutter, and Sonny Reed—joined Naomi, Jackie, and Mr. Thompson in finding out what the kids on the block were interested in learning.

When they got together after interviewing the kids, Mark talked about a boy he met who knew about computers. Why not ask all the kids what they knew about? Then they could match adults to the kids, just as they planned to match up the kids with the grown-ups. When they were done, they found they had 22 things the young people knew that might interest some adults on the block.

The six neighbors named themselves the Matchmakers and, as they got more experience, they began to connect neighbors who shared the same interests.

The members of this community share this sentiment, “All the lines are broken; we’re all connected.  We’re a real community now.”

[These stories are what] thicken the social fabric. It makes the community’s gifts more widely available in support of the family. If we do it, even in small way, we find that much of what we once purchased is at hand: carpentry, Internet knowledge, listening, driving a truck, math, auto repair, organizing ability, gardening, haircutting, wallpapering, making videos, babysitting, house painting, accounting, soccer coaching, artistic abilities, cooking, fitness knowledge, sitting with the old or the ill, health remedies, sewing. And some of those things will come from the elderly, the young, the isolated, and the unemployed.

These local connections can give the modern family what the extended family once provided: A place with a strong culture of kin, friends, and neighbors. Together we raise our children, manage health, support local enterprise, and care for those on the margin.

SOTRU gives a tip of the hat to neighbors who create a self-reliant community, and more importantly, become a family through caring and sharing. This is an essential element of true community. This is what makes a great Thanksgiving story. Do you have a special tone running through your community that rings out songs of thankfulness? We would love for you to share them with us. It would give SOTRU one more thing to be thankful for.

---

Peter Block co-authored the book “The Abundant Community: Awakening the Power of Families and Neighborhoods.” He is a partner in Designed Learning, a training company that offers workshops to build the skills outlined in his books. He is the author of Flawless Consulting, Stewardship, The Answer to How Is Yes, and Community. He is the recipient of numerous awards, most recently the Organization Development Network’s 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award.