Rebuilding Our Distressed Communities: Lessons From Flint
We have been working with our colleagues at Michigan State University to adapt our agile strategy training to the specific circumstances of distressed communities. These disinvested neighborhoods present particular challenges.
The starting point in these communities is different. They face a history of disinvestment that produces long-term scars. Oftentimes, like Flint, whole neighborhoods face trauma, as when a water system collapses or gang violence leads to spikes in teenage homicides.
New cultural competencies are required to bridge racial divisions. Deeply different perceptions hinder communication and the sharing of information and knowledge that can lead to trust.
Our collaboration with Michigan State involves addressing these difficult problems and leaning into the sharp points. We will present a Strategic Doing training specifically geared to distressed communities. The training will be held in Flint July 18-20, 2018.
This 3 day session is part of a broader effort to redesign training for community development professionals. The video below introduces our early work with the Flint core team.
An Introduction to Strategic Doing in Flint from Ed Morrison on Vimeo.
The Founder of the Lab at UNA and co-author of Strategic Doing: 10 Skills for Agile Leadership, Ed’s work has focused on developing new models of strategy specifically designed to accelerate complex collaboration in networks and open innovation. He is the original developer of Strategic Doing.