Re-Imagining Community Conversation

Great post Barry. I’ve been thinking recently about how to get more people in Fresno engaged with what’s going on. I have a couple links from past TED conferences to share that hopefully get people to see the value of "bottom-up" innovation and collaboration. The invention of the mountain bike as discussed here proves that innovation doesn't only start inside the walls of a Google or Apple, but it starts around a group of interested individuals. http://blog.ted.com/2007/01/charles_leadbea_1.php One way to do it is through technology and creating an interactive website for Fresnans to share ideas, have those ideas archived, and easily accessible. (See www.groupsite.com for more ideas)

Perhaps more important though is the need for people to do less talking. The city hires consultants who deliver reports on different issues, but that is where things stop. There isn’t any follow-up and action. We need people who start the conversation by actually taking some positive action in the right direction. We need to be an area that encourages failure, otherwise we ensure mediocrity. And at this moment, there are some fun things that are happening in town that I am aware of that will give Fresno a bit of "Wow" factor. Those things that people outside of Fresno can see and say, “Wow. That’s cool. I wish we had something like that here.” But the only way to get that conversation is through doing. Showing people the benefit of what you’re doing based the results that you create. That is how Google, Apple, and Microsoft work. They create products and services that get people talking.

Through a YPO in town called FLYP (www.flypinfo.com), I'm currently working with Craig and others YPs in the DCR to put together a proposal for what we want to call the Downtown Academy. This group will consist of a select number of Fresno's most energetic and motivated young, creative professionals learning about the history and current entrepreneurial efforts being made to revitalize Fresno's downtown. They will then have the opportunity to visit other flourishing downtowns in California to put some perspective on what a vibrant, thriving downtown should look like. And this experience will culminate in a final project where participants will not only provide insight on what changes should be made downtown, but there will also be a group project put together by participants to transform downtown Fresno into a destination for a night. To show people what it can look like if we start doing something about it. Other things I can think of? Pecha Kucha & ArcHop, to name a couple off the top of my head.

Here's the analogy I often make. In elementary schools, we try to teach kids about grammar and spelling. But what if, instead of focusing on making our children such great technical writers, we focused on helping our children discover good stories or draw on personal experiences to write about before they approached writing from a technical standpoint? What if we gave them ideas to think and exposed them to the humanities and liberal arts, which would encourage them to let their imaginations run freely and then had them capture those thoughts on paper? That is when discussion runs at its best—when people can come into a situation with an open mind because they are inspired by something they have experienced, seen, heard, touched, tasted, etc.

So what are our biggest challenges as a region? Finding the people who are ready to give their time to help with local projects. Recognizing the great things people in our community are already working on—those projects that push people to think more innovatively and beyond their existing comfort zone. If seeing is believing, we need more people willing to put in the work to show others what’s going on.

And perhaps to the dismay of those with positions of privilege to lose, I think in the coming years we will see many of these innovative ideas that develop Fresno's "Wow" factor come to fruition. We need to keep the conversation alive and encourage people to communicate their ideas with one another openly and mindfully. But conversation alone is not enough. We need leaders and people in our community to inspire others to become movers and shakers. People willing to volunteer their time and energy after work to move the needle and create results. To have something to show to others so that people have something to discuss.

One final comment: we also need to look outside our area for new ideas. It's easy to get caught in what others are saying in the moment. But we aren't the only city trying to reinvent and reposition for the future. It just seems that way, until we travel outside of Fresno and take a look around and realize there are other people out there.

Tim,

Thanks for the links and the comment. I agree that talk without action is cheap. I think we have had a lot of that for a long time. I agree that we are missing a better online community for dialog and that it really should challenge people in regards to participation and engagement.

The Downtown Academy sound interesting as well. Are there any dates yet for when this is expected to launch?

At the risk of getting caught up in semantics, I'll respectfully disagree with both you - while talk really is cheap, I don't think we have enough of it. At least, not *meaningful* talk. The community overall suffers greatly from apathy and a lack of awareness, and to lead them to action, we have to first lead them to more meaningful dialog, at least if we want that action to stick.

James I would say it is semantics. I completely agree that there is not enough meaningful talk. In fact that is why I'm writing about this. I am only saying that talk is not enough. In relation to our challenges as a community, talking will only get us so far. At some point we must be willing to get involved and invest our time and money of the solutions.

So it sounds like there's a need for both more meaningful discussions such as this and more actions resulting from them.

That said, perhaps this discussion can set an example. What concrete actions can you now take to generate more dialogue and more resulting actions?

Brendan I'm glad you ask. My post tomorrow will outline what I feel is the best action step for better community dialogue and ways for us to hopefully move beyond just talk. Thanks for the comment!

I think in Fresno and in all communities there is only a small percentage of people who are concerned enough or have the time enough to really engage. Fresno is a fairly easy place to live: traffic congestion is not too bad, school quality while not so great people don't do much different than they would have normally, and crime is bad but not enough that people feel forced to move. When traffic got really bad in LA or Bay Area then the BART or subways were built and not before. When crime gets bad people then form neighborhood watches but not usually before.
It may take something like that to get people really engaged otherwise people are too comfortable or busy with their lives to get concerned . They all have opinions but usually not enough info to be an informed opinion.
One good thing about Fresno that even for a nearly 500,000 person city is that it is easy to engage other people who are also engaged either due to genuine love of community service or due to their occupations eg government workers.
Sometimes it just takes a small percentage of people to move the community in one direction or the other.