State of the Re:Union understands how necessary it is to have community involvement in the formula for success. When people come together for a common purpose, there are so many possibilities that become less intimidating and more achievable. Theatre@First, a community theater in Boston, is living proof that the coming together of community can make great things happen. (To read the original article in its entirety, click here.)

Source: bostonlowbrow.com - Theatre@First Production of "Dracula"

Two sisters, Beckie and Elizabeth Hunter, first formed the Theatre@First performing arts organization in 2003. They were inspired after they found themselves attending many community plays that Elizabeth’s husband was in. At first, the group started out as a cluster of friends and family, but the success of Theatre@First spread far and grew quickly. Today, it is a non-profit organization that has sustainable support by more than 700 people, 300 of whom are directly involved with putting on productions.

The sisters will tell you that the community is what has made their venture work. The group went from involving just friends and family to friends of friends, and before they knew it, they had people showing up off of the street to audition for their first production of “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.” Thanks to the support of community members, their first show was a hit, and people were soon asking when the next production was going to be.

The article “Theatre@First Puts the ‘Community’ in Community Theater” in Boston.com says that “… for all its success, Theatre@First remains focused on community over everything else.” According to the article, “Part of what makes Theatre@First different from other theater groups is its commitment to inclusivity. The mission statement says participants are welcome ‘at all levels of experience, without regard to race, color, religion, ethnicity, ancestry, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression, national origin, body type, age or disability.’”

Source: articles.boston.com: Two regulars of Theatre@First get engaged

For anyone who has wanted to try a hand at theater but is not really sure what they might have to offer, this is the ideal place to find out. People of all skill levels are welcome to participate, and often do. About half of the staff for each production put on are new. One member whose been working there for five years agrees. She says, “You meet so many people from different backgrounds and with different skill sets, especially, and you learn from everybody. And not just the theatre people – even the newbies have experiences to bring in.”

The dedication and longevity of the staff presence speaks volumes. Of the 38 people who helped with the first show, 12 are still working for Theatre@First. Hundreds more have joined since then. They have become a family. Literally. There are many people who have met, married and grown their families, all thanks to Theatre@First. Here, community and family are one in the same.

Theatre@First knows that it takes all kinds to make the “stage” go round, and have used that sentiment as stepping stones to great achievement. “We’re a community theater,” she added. “This is what we look like. These are the people in our neighborhood.”

Theatre@First is a shining example of how a community coming together can make a positive difference in the lives of many. Friendships are formed, bonds are forged, and neighbors begin to help turn the dreams of a few into the ambitions of many. Theater involvement is a wonderful way to create true camaraderie. Perhaps you know of a different approach involving community that has produced great results like Theatre@First. What are some other effective ways to get people of all levels, creeds and backgrounds involved in bringing community together? Let us know, fill in the box below with your favorite story of community.

A few years ago, I had a little problem with the voting. I’d signed up for a mail-in ballot and as soon as I did, I knew it was a huge mistake. All my adult life, I’ve been going through the civic ritual of showing up at the neighborhood polling place, being greeted by the friendly neighborhood poll worker, going into the little booth and casting my vote. As Election Day neared and I had yet to receive my mail ballot, I began to worry. What if it doesn’t show up in time? Can I go to the polling place anyway? What should I do? So who did I call? 311. The friendly guy on the other end of the 311 line answered my question and eased my anxieties about the late mail-in ballot.

In the late 1990s, the Federal Communications Commission came out with ruling giving local government a new tool, the “311” designation for non-emergency calls. The original idea was to take the pressure off of 911 call-in centers, which often got non-emergency calls from confused citizens. Hampton, Virginia, became one of the first cities in the country to create a 24-hour, seven day a week, one stop customer call center using 311. The goal was to provide customer service as quickly and efficiently as possible, minimizing the number of times citizens would have to hold on the phone and or by told to call another city department.

The 311 systems vary in quality and extent from city to city, and these days cities are cutting back on hours and services because of the budget crisis. But Hampton’s call center’s knowledge base allowed customer advocates to answer more than 4000 different questions about local government and other nearby public agencies. The system is based on keywords, allowing customer services advocates to quickly input questions and get the answer. It also gave the capability to directly issue work orders to handle problems such as potholes or downed streetlights.

The system has helped alleviate one of the biggest challenges in local government performance, the ignorance of many citizens about who does what, and thereby, who to call. In many regions, government services are dispersed between villages, townships, cities, counties and a myriad of special districts. Simply calling city hall, in other words, may result in nothing more than a referral to another agency or department. Now the customers/citizens have an easy task. When in doubt, simply call 311.

Calling 311: Somerville Mayor-Senator-Governor

Somerville, Massachusetts, a 2009 All-America, has a 24-hour 311 call center service allowing citizens to ask questions and make requests for service. Easy to answer questions are handled immediately. Others are answered in a timely manner through e-mail or a follow-up call, ensuring that citizens are not shunted from one department to another. Requests for service are entered into a database, given a tracking number so citizens can find out how things are proceeding.

In Somerville, the 311 system is a two-way street. The calls and work orders became an important source of data for the city’s data-driven performance management program, a system known as SomerStat, which was started by the city’s energetic mayor, Joseph Curtatone. The origins of SomerStat go back to 1994 and efforts by the New York City Police Department to link crime fighting efforts to timely, accurate data generated by police calls, computers and databases under the city’s CompStat program. Geographic information system software was used to pinpoint problem areas in the city and regular performance management meetings were held to ensure that resources were being deployed in the most efficient manner. The resulting drop in crime rates was dramatic, and other cities noticed. Baltimore created its CitiStats program using data to drive performance management in all city departments.

Somerville has added a new twist to the “stat” concept, combining it with good old fashion face to face meetings. Somerville began its ResiStat meetings in 2007 to complete the feedback loop between citizens and government. The comments and suggestions of residents are reported back to the SomerStat semiweekly data-driven performance evaluation meetings and compiled in an annual Resident Report that is published along with the official city budget.

Calling 311: NCL's All-American City Awards

As part of Somerville’s ResiStat” program, the mayor, the local alderman and other city officials meet with citizens in each of the city’s nine wards, which correspond roughly to neighborhoods, and five special interest groups (parents, young people and speakers of the city’s three main foreign languages—Spanish, Portuguese and Creole.) The goal of these public meetings is to present information generated through SomerStat, the city’s data-driven performance management system, and get feedback from citizens.

The 311 systems are great for answering questions quickly and easing the frustration of citizens who get tired of hearing, “sorry that’s not my department.” But at Somerville and other cities are proving, 311 can also help complete the information feedback loop between citizens and government, which is an important element of any thriving democracy.

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.

For this week’s School Spotlight, we at State of the Re:Union are saluting an organizational initiative being implemented into public education. The Citizen Schools is a network that began providing programs dedicated to assisting public middle school students in the Massachusetts area, but has since expanded its initiative’s reach.

Erik Schwarz created this organization after realizing that American students spend 80 percent of their waking hours outside school walls and yet only two percent of public funding supports out-of-school programs. Citizen Schools was founded to transform after-school programs from an afterthought into a powerful element of authentic, large-scale education reform. The organization’s program for low-income middle school students includes hands-on learning, discovery, teamwork and fun — in school buildings, led by professional educators and staffed by volunteer Citizen Teachers. Citizen Schools is a recipient of the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, recognizing “the most innovative and sustainable approaches to resolving the world’s most urgent social issues.”

When searching for more on this program, visiting the programs site provides and excellent description of what the call to action is: Citizen Schools was founded “to transform after-school programs from an afterthought into a powerful element of authentic, large-scale education reform. The organization’s program for low-income middle school students includes hands-on learning, discovery, teamwork and fun — in school buildings, led by professional educators and staffed by volunteer Citizen Teachers.”

This apprenticeship program gives children a chance to partake in hands-on projects that show students the relevance of school in everyday lives. They learn the math in used in cooking, the discipline it takes to rehearse a dance routine, and the science involved in recycling.

Source: The Bostonian Longhorn

Through the support of program sponsors, Citizen Teachers instruct 10-week apprenticeships. During this time, students work side-by-side with these experts and explore new professions, gain new and innovative skills, and create something for their community. When this 10-week period is up, the students participate in a “WOW!” event (an event aptly named after the verbal reactions from all who witness the incredible job performed by students). During the “WOW!” event, students are given the opportunity to turn the tables and put their apprenticeship into practice through teaching adults on the subjects they have learned.

The Citizen Teachers are going a step further in their apprenticeship efforts and are continuing to volunteer into the school year. These volunteers want to help create classroom learning that can actually be applied to real life scenarios. As an example, some attorneys from a local firm will teach a course on the business side of sports called “Buying the Celtics.” Another topic will teach students about developing online marketing campaigns for a real corporation, and yet another course will allow students to learn JavaScript programming with Google engineers. Needless to say, doing this will help reinforce relevance in the school day, bolster new interests, and strengthen motivation for students.

This fledgling program has already gained notoriety in communities it serves, evidenced by a laundry list of accomplishments. The following bullet points addresses some of the achievements found on the Website. This information reflects successful effectuation of the program by 2010′s end:

• Citizen Schools’ network has grown from a one pilot site serving 63 students to a seven-state network with 37 sites serving 4,500 students.
• In 2009, external evaluation results conducted by Policy Studies Associates demonstrate that Citizen Schools is effective in engaging at-risk middle-school students and building a bridge to high school. For the cohort of Citizen Schools students whose graduation status is available, 75% graduated from high school in 4 years, compared to 58% for the district overall.
• In 2009, Citizen Schools played a large role in encouraging Congress to pass the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act. In addition, Citizen Schools worked closely with the office of the late Senator Kennedy on legislation introduced this past summer to expand the learning day and involve community partners in that effort.

The Citizen School network is creating a vested interest in the communities who are fortunate enough to have this program. Through getting professionals involved with students, a symbiotic relationship is formed. When community leaders and members volunteer to teach their skills, they receive a bird’s eye view of exactly what our youth are experiencing in education and supplementing areas that are vitally important to the success of these students. The children are able to conceptualize and truly understand (something that is not really done until most people are in their late teens) why continuing education is important.

There are so many efforts and initiatives across the country that are striving to achieve these results. While this prototype might not be ideal for all students, it certainly proves that there are solutions out there. We just need to keep trying until we find what works. Everyday, people are becoming more involved in finding what works for their community. Would this work for yours? If so, is there anything that might need to be amended in the program’s setup? Do you know what, if any, initiatives are being implemented in your area schools to assist students and teachers? There is no one-size-fits-all solution, but it gives me a sense of hope to know that this important issue is making its way to the forefront of some great minds in America. Does this include you?