Smart Communities wow po EQ

Smart CommunitiesPearson Education is sponsoring a video contest to get more people out to vote. They are awarding a $2500 first prize and four $1000 runner-up prizes for videos that encourage young people to regiser, vote, and get more politically involved. Information is available on their My Space portal.The CIRCLE website presents research and trends in civic education and engagement. Also the Young Voter Strategies website gives lots of information on ways to attract young people to the political process. The time has never been more critical to have their voices heard.Yesterday I was the closing keynote speaker for the 69th annual meeting of the Association for Continuing Higher Education (ACHE). The theme of the meeting was "Refining our Mission: Continuing Education's Role in Outreach, Engagement, and Public Service." As I did my research for the speech, it became clear that the task for continuing education was not refining their mission but realizing it--it had been there all along. As I read about The Wisconsin Idea again--the concept that birthed modern-day continuing education, it became clear to me that continuing education was always supposed to be about solving problems. It was in 1904 at the creation of The Wisconsin Idea and is today, the vehicle by which a university shapes how it will work with its public constituency. Sure individual faculty members have consulting arrangements but it is continuing education that is the "face" organization for much of what the public understands about the resources of the university. Two publications from the Pew Partnership, New Directions for Civic Engagement and University+Community Research Partnerships give some tips on how this might be done gw2 gold.I also encouraged the group to think and organize themselves like the most successful global business. In the end wow po, in successful continuing education divisions, smart communities, and great companies, it getting the right people in the right places and investing in their growth and development that will drive your vision and allow you to realize your mission. I hope they got that point loud and clear.Yesterday my community of Charlottesville officially launched its Smart Beginnings program to improve early child development and get every child ready for kindergarten. This is a multiple-pronged initiative in our community and others in the Commonwealth. Here are a few things we learned: for every $1.00 invested in early learning and school readiness there is a 7 to 10 percent return rate; programs that target children from disadvantaged families have the greatest return; and before the age of five children develop the foundation for such workforce skills as critical thinking, teamwork and communication. If we want to be "smart" in Charlottesville and every other community, we must insure a smart beginning for all children. For more information on the economic returns of early childhood programs see Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.Great article by my friend Larry Lee on how one rural Alabama school has defied all the odds in test scores and achievement. This is a school and a community that missed the articles on why they shouldn't succeed. They just went about their work on helping all children reach their potential and the proof as they say is reported in this article. We will be reporting more on the importance of rural schools. In the meantime, read Larry's article and check out the Rural Schools and Community Trust website.LA is just more hip than the rest of us--let's admit it. The latest evidence of this is their school districts' new effort--My Future, My Decision--designed to prevent students from dropping out of high school and encourage those who have to come back. One of the most unique parts of the new program is the emphasis on social networking. Through a series of conversations with students who have dropped out, they learned that the best way to reach young people is in the places where they meet each other. Using this reconnaissance to know its audience, the school district is using a whole range of social networking vehicles to reach kids including text messaging, YouTube, MySpace, and youth-focused radio marketing. Featured messengers for My Future, My Decision will be students who dropped out and have come back to school. In addition to this outreach effort, the school district is adding more counselors in the most at-risk schools and employing a full-range intervention strategy to keep kids in school.I believe this comprehensive and yes--hip--approach has great promise. We will be following it and will keep you posted. More about the effort can be found on the My Future, My Decision website and in a terrific article by Lesli Maxwell in Education Week.If rural communities need a blueprint, read this week's blogs on rural revitalization. My only addition to is to emphasize the importance of leadership development. We have written extensively about the Horizons program's work with towns under 5,000 and the difference made using our LeadershipPlenty model wow gold. New, broad-based, and revitalized leadership is the key to making things happen. In some of the towns we have worked with in the Horizons program, they now have 30 more people dedicated to making things better. They are making a huge difference. See the difference that leadership development is making in New York Mills, MN and Presho, SD.Our final rural winner this week is Platte, SD, population 1,369. Platte is doing many things right but three of them relate directly to the Smart Communities model. First, on the economic vitality side they are promoting local businesses and a revitalized Main Street. Second, they are thinking long-term with a community daycare program. And third, they are promoting workforce devolopment and youth retention with their scholarship/job shadowing program for young people. What was impressive to the Federal Home Loan Bank folks and certainly to me, is that these are things that all communities could do and they are paying off. The local banks are actively involved which is also key. They have a "chat" feature on their website and area really appealing to tourists through their recreational assets. I salute Platte because they are doing what every small town should be doing--starting where they are and charting a course for the future wow gold. This kind of effort will preserve and enhance small town America.What can a town of less than 5,000 in north central Missouri do about its future? Well Brookfield, MO, thinks quite a lot wow gold ideal. Through a series of town meetings, the community is deciding its own course. The Hometown Competitiveness program has allowed Brookfield's citizens to discuss and decide the issues that they believe matter most to the future. As we say in Smart Communities, talk is action. That action in Brookfield is an emphasis on entrepreneurship, leadership development, local philanthropy, and youth--all critical elements in any community. What is impressive about the Brookfield model is that they understand that they cannot stop with economic development--the future of the community will be determined by the priorities set for economic, community, and civic development in tandem.So what must some of those priorities be? Just a cursory look at community data tells me that on the economic side living wage jobs are a priority--not just because everybody always says that--but because their median income is low compared to the state average and their poverty rate is quite high. Second, they must attract and keep more college graduates. With only about 10 percent in the community, they are behind here. This might require one of those "come back home" strategies for young people. And finally, they must leverage their existing assets (which are numerable) including a supportive business community to attract more new businesses and skilled workers. Brookfield is doing the right things to change the future.
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