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It was about one year ago that 102 of us from Orange County visited Madison, Wis. What did this September 2006 trip accomplish? First, a bit of history. A previous smaller group of community leaders -- the Public Private Partnership -- had organized seven intercity visits between 1985 and 1997. The PPP fell apart after the death of Michael Hooker in 1999. Aaron Nelson from the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce re-organized a group of public and private community leaders under the umbrella of the Foundation for Sustainable Communities in 2005. The Community Leadership Council, with about 30 individuals, started meeting that year. The trip to Madison was the first intercity trip organized by the CLC. One initial task was to identify an appropriate city to visit. We were reminded that the intercity visits of the PPP were the impetus for several community institutions such as the Chapel Hill Downtown Commission and the community land trust. We selected Madison because it had many similar attributes. Before the trip, CLC members had monthly briefings on topics including the local economy, the ArtsCenter redevelopment project, transit, schools, work force housing and the environment. This was to ensure that CLC members were knowledgeable about all three legs of sustainability -- economic, social and environmental sustainability. Few of us could claim to be knowledgeable about all three. CLC members were encouraged to go on the trip. I was assigned the task of organizing a panel in Madison on environmental issues. I had to go on the trip. My husband referred to the trip as a boondoggle. "Why do you have to go to Madison? Can't you just get the information from Madison and discuss it in meetings here?" I myself had some reservations, but kept telling him that I heard others say the trip builds relationships which in turn helps the community. There were other skeptics who were convinced to go on the trip. I have heard some of them say that they were very glad they went. We are all ready to go on another trip. What happened to us skeptics? I make an analogy to going to summer camp. You get to meet and know people you don't run into during your regular routine. You develop a special bond by traveling together and attending various events over several days. Our trip drew 102 diverse leaders from across our community including the local business community, the nonprofit sector, elected officials and university leaders, as well as municipal and county staff. On the trip I spent much more time with individuals, some of whom I already knew and some of whom I had never met, than I did in going to a monthly meeting here. But unlike camp, where individuals disperse afterward, the relationships built during the trip were with fellow concerned community members. What has happened since then? One tangible project is called "Real Change from Spare Change." This program is modeled on the comprehensive approach to dealing with panhandlers in Madison. The Street Outreach Program was initiated a few months ago. The goal is to get the individuals on the street to the services they need. This effort is supported by several groups including the town of Chapel Hill, the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership, the Inter-Faith Council and others. This collaborative partnership between groups was prompted by the trip to Madison. In fact, the importance of collaboration was a primary conclusion many of us drew from the trip. Recently, we even changed the name of the group to Community Leadership Collaboration to reflect our new sense of identity. As for myself, I meet with a group called the Inter-City Visit Sustainability Workgroup. Five of us, very interested in environmental issues, started meeting earlier this year. We had been very impressed with a side visit to an organization in Madison called Sustain Dane, a consortium of 250 organizations working on sustainability. We plan to make a presentation at the October CLC meeting on our ideas regarding sustainability, all three legs of it. We are now including others in our group who did not go on the trip to Madison. This exemplifies the collaborative spirit we learned there. We hope to improve the community dialogue about initiatives which can further the environmental, economic and social sustainability of our community. The effects of the Madison trip continue through the relationships developed then. This can only lead to positive changes in this community. I look forward to going on another intercity trip in the future. I hope to get to know others in our community, get more ideas about how to enhance our community, and help further collaborative efforts. Bernadette Pelissier is a retired social scientist who lives in Orange County and serves on several community boards. Readers can contact her at bpelissier@juno.com or c/o The Chapel Hill Herald, 106 Mallette St., Chapel Hill, NC 27516. Author: BERNADETTE PELISSIER Columnist Copyright, 2007, The Durham Herald Company |
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