Category Archives: Intentional Communities

Approximately 30 antique tractors from around Missouri paraded down Circle Drive. Photo by Katherine.

Greetings, friends! It feels good to be writing again to yall after so long. Katherine here, with a few musings for your reading pleasure.

This week has seen a lot of high energy around the village with workshops, visitors, and tractors! After a successful Milkweed Mercantile Natural Building workshop last week, followed by the CSCC Natural Building workshop (both of which I cooked for), we launched immediately into the second visitor program of the season and a yoga retreat (for which I am also cooking). With all these people in town, I can tell you that mounds of kale and lambsquarters have been devoured!

With hungry appetites satiated by good food, much rejoicing has been had! The rain and winds lent themselves to an exciting stage for our community courtyard and the magic continued when someone brought out the hand drums to play with. I grabbed my little accordion and along with another melodica, the dancing ensued. I have so many appreciations for the gifts people bring to our village and music is one of them!

It seems that since then, the frivolity has yet to cease. Just this weekend there was a bonfire hosted by the visitors, capture the flag with the tri-communities, a pizza party with out-of-town friends, and a dance party with the yoga folks! Whew!

Amongst the activities was still daily life of gardening, committee work, and down time for self-care. I love having so many social opportunities and also appreciate a good book at home.

One shift that our village is experiencing as a whole is the choosing of a new Village Council (VC). The VC makes decisions on behalf of the community in lieu of full membership meetings and operates internally by consensus. Five people currently serve on the VC for a two-year term and the terms are staggered so that we elect new cos (co = gender neutral pronoun some of us use as a noun) every year. We had one full group plenary meeting to discuss slates of willing council members and will take two weeks of process time before coming back as a group to make a decision. With such a spectrum of Rabbit talents, many factors are considered in order to make up a holistic council for serving the community. For me, there feels an ease with the distribution of responsibilities to keep our village functioning.

And wait! Didnt I mention tractors?! Yep! Around 30 antique tractors from around the state drove around our very own Circle Drive and showed off their history. Rabbits gathered and waved from our Main St. as the parade went by, and it was fun afterwards to mingle with folks as they idled their machines and took a look around our village. I appreciate the opportunity to chat with farmers I may not otherwise bump into on the street, and the juxtaposition of them with the yoga attendees. There are so so so many different types of people in the world and Dancing Rabbit is one place that some of them may come together.

If you want to come learn, play, and experience ecovillage life in northeast Missouri, please check out our websites, http://www.dancingrabbit.org and http://www.milkweedmercantile.com. There are work exchange opportunities, tours, and every Thursday plain ol good food being served at Pizza Night. Remaining Milkweed Mercantile workshops this year include Preserving the Harvest: The Basics of Fermenting, Canning and Cheesemaking, and an all-level writers workshop, Digging Deep, Practicing Courage and Speaking Out.

Maybe one of these days well get to meet through a shared-values experience like environmental awareness, inner-sustainability, or social change, and youll get to try my home-made pink mashed potatoes for yourself! (The secret is in the beets.)

Thanks for reading and until next time, (please) be excellent to each other!

Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage is an intentional community and educational nonprofit outside Rutledge, MO, focused on demonstrating sustainable living possibilities. We offer public tours of the village on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of the month, April-October; the next is this Saturday, July 8th at 1 pm. Reservations not required. Tours are free, though donations to help us continue our educational and outreach efforts are gratefully accepted. For directions, call the office at 660-883-5511 or email us at dancingrabbit@ic.org. To find out more about us, you can also check out our website: http://www.dancingrabbit.org.

Original post:

Workshops, Visitors, and Tractors - Memphis Democrat

By Rabbi Deborah Waxman

These are the times that try mens souls. While Thomas Paines famous first sentence of his Common Sense pamphlets supporting the American Revolution could use some serious updating in terms of gender inclusivity, his sentiment, unfortunately, feels quite contemporary.

The Reconstructionist Rabbinical College recently held its graduation ceremony for the class of 5777, celebrating a dynamic, talented and passionate group of new rabbis. I reflected to the hundreds of people who gathered that, even as we celebrated, we were also coming to terms with the conclusion of a most challenging academic year. The RRC community and most people associated with the Reconstructionist movement began the year believing that America and the Western world were traveling on a trajectory that was bending toward justice. These beliefs and we ourselves have been destabilized.

Political developments, the rise in anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, the closing of Americas doors to refugees and the attempts to roll back the monumental gains made by the LGTBQ community all demonstrate that this trajectory has been rudely interrupted. Months after the most shocking presidential election in my lifetime, it feels to me that we are in the midst of a significant rewriting of the history of the post-World War II era.

We are still working out how to discern, how to react and, most importantly, how to act.

Several things are clear to me. Never has there been a greater need for progressive moral leadership and for communities that are at once intentional and welcoming. To face these times, Jews and the people who make their lives with us can draw on and must advance powerful, bedrock Jewish values: tzelem Elohim (we are all created in Gods image), ki gerim hayitem (remember that you were strangers), ahavah rabbah (there exists an expansive universal love we can draw upon), and tikkun olam (the world is broken and it is our task to repair it).

Across North America, people of faith have responded to the challenge of history by working to make the world and their local communities a better place. Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and people of no faith stood alongside Jews in the wake of cemetery desecrations. So many of our progressive coreligionists have taken to the streets and airports in defense of refugees. At the local, state and national levels, progressive Jewish voices have responded to the challenge of our time with a clarifying vigor.

Recently, Rabbi David Wolpe, an articulate thinker about matters of faith and public life, published an op-ed in the Los Angeles Jewish Journal that argued that rabbis should keep politics off the bimah. All we hear all day long is politics, he wrote. Can we not come to shul for something different, something deeper? I want to know what my rabbi thinks of Jacob and Rachel, not of Pence and Pelosi.

I agree with Rabbi Wolpes premise that rabbis are trained to be experts in Jewish texts and traditions, not in political science. Yet I also believe the synagogue bet knesset, or house of gathering in Hebrew must not only be a house of worship and study but also must be an engine of justice and compassion.

Rabbis and religious leaders can and must talk about contemporary social and political issues in ways that speak out of and back to Jewish values.

We are often called the people of the book, but lately, our movement has embraced video as a means to encapsulate our message, to tell our story in a contemporary idiom. In our third annual video report, called Lets Journey Together, we name, confront and illustrate the darkness of our age. In it, compassion, meaning, community and adaptation prevail. We surely dont have as much control over the course of history as we do over a video script. Yet, by framing and articulating a way forward, we offer a vision for how to navigate the spiritual challenges of our times.

I invite you to journey with us through these challenging times and into the future.

Our congregations offer meaning, connection, conversation and, when needed, healing and support.

This past year reminds us all how much our voices matter, how much Reconstructionist Judaism and progressive religion more generally act for the good. We may never get to a point in history where our souls wont be tried. Yet together, we can work to tilt the moral arc of the universe toward justice.

Wont you join us on this journey?

Rabbi Deborah Waxman, Ph.D., is president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and Jewish Reconstructionist Communities.

See the article here:

Let's Journey Together - Jewish Exponent

Sara Greene

Van Buren is one of five counties in Arkansas with a high level of youth and young adults ages 16 to 24 who are not in school and not working, which is described as youth disconnect, in the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, County Health Rankings Key Findings 2017.

It is the eighth year for the nationwide report which provides a snapshot of how healthy the nation is by county and the ways communities are working to improve health, but 2017 is the first year the youth disconnect measurement has been included in the report.

Why is youth employment and education being included in a health report?

Youth disconnect has health and economic consequences for the community. Youth disconnect is higher in rural areas and these same areas also have high rates of teen births, single-parent households, child poverty, and lower levels of educational attainment.

According to the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services Local Area Unemployment Statistics report from April, the unemployment rate in Van Buren County is about five percent, which is higher compared to the Bureau of Labor Statistics statewide average of 3.4 percent as of May.

Its a possible indicator of less part-time jobs for teens and young adults in areas such as clerical or food service, because older members of the workforce are either in, or seeking those jobs. This lack of employment for teens isnt just a lack of income. Its a missed opportunity to learn some of the life lessons only a first job can teach and the new measurement points out something many rural folks already know: keeping young people busy can keep them out of trouble.

Among Arkansas 75 counties, Van Buren ranks 25th in health outcomes, which measures how healthy residents currently are; but ranks 51st in health factors, which measures opportunities for residents to be healthy in the future.

In the demographic breakdown for Van Buren County, the report found that about 21 percent of the population smokes, 36 percent of the adults are considered obese, and 33 percent of the population is physically inactive.

Van Buren County outpaced the state average in other areas. The report found only 12 percent of the population drinks excessively compared to 15 percent statewide, 17 percent are involved in social associations compared to 12 percent statewide, and 91 percent of the population are high school graduates, compared to 85 percent statewide.

The featured finding in the report was that premature death is rising across all ethnic groups and community types, particularly when it comes to drug overdoses.

Drug overdose was the leading cause of premature death in all age brackets and community types, but motor vehicle crashes and firearms fatalities contributed heavily to premature death among 15 to 44 year olds. The study included both intentional injury deaths; such as homicide and suicides, and unintentional injury deaths, such as accidental drug overdoses, motor vehicle crashes, falls, and suffocation.

Residents in rural areas had the highest death rate due to suicide and unintentional injuries, while residents in urban areas had the highest death rate due to homicide, but lower rates of death due to unintentional injuries.

As the report points out, each county and community is unique, but this annual statistical study helps community leaders evaluate their situations, think about available resources, and develop plans for better outcomes.

Read more:

Work, education has early impact on rural health - Van Buren County Democrat

PALATINE, Ill. A former Catholic church official fired from his suburban post in 2014 after announcing plans to marry another man is now part of a new faith venture billed as an alternative Catholic worship experience.

Colin Collette is music director for Agape: A Community of New Hope in Palatine, described as an intentional Eucharist community rooted in the Catholic tradition.

The group, which Collette helped start in the Palatine basement of co-founder Jill Piccolino, is not sanctioned by the Archdiocese of Chicago. Agape now meets in the sanctuary of the 171-year-old St. John United Church of Christ in Palatine and offers a weekly 5 p.m. Saturday Mass led by a Catholic priest or lay person.

We get together for Catholic Mass, said Collette, 56. We really started with folks that just did not feel that they could, with any integrity, still be part of a church that could treat people the way I was treated.

Collette was fired from his 17-year post as music director of Holy Family Catholic Community in Inverness after announcing his engagement to Will Nifong. A federal court in April ruled in the archdioceses favor in a discrimination suit brought by Collette.

St. John Pastor David Foxgrover said Agapes 90-day agreement to rent the sanctuary began June 3, after gaining the Protestant congregations approval. St. John holds a Sunday service, so there is no conflict with Agapes Mass.

We hope that it works out and we can extend the agreement, Foxgrover said.

Piccolino also spent 17 years at Holy Family, before leaving her position as assistant director of worship as a show of support for Collette. She said Agape has an active email list of about 275 people and has attracted worshippers who used to attend the Inverness church, which was divided after Collettes dismissal.

We had so many friends that left Holy Family because of the situation (with Collette) and they kept coming to us saying, We have nowhere to go. We know we dont want to go back there,' Piccolino told the Daily Herald.

Anecdotal evidence suggests Catholic communities similar to Agape have been growing across the country, said Richard Gaillardetz, chair of Boston Colleges theology department. However, he added, the number of participants are small relative to the larger Catholic population and not representative of a significant movement.

I am generally sympathetic with the concerns that have led to the creation of such communities, particularly in Catholic dioceses where a lack of authentic church leadership has created a situation where they feel it is impossible for them to have their spiritual needs met or where a spirit of judgmentalism and exclusivism has held sway, said Gaillardetz, a professor of Catholic systematic theology.

Professor Daniel Maguire of Marquette Universitys theology department said Agape reflects the Catholic churchs early days in not needing a priest for Mass.

There is nothing second-rate about it, said Maguire. However, he added, hes found that such communities typically do not last.

Collette said it never was a secret at Holy Family that hes gay. He sought reinstatement to his position, back pay and money damages in the suit he filed in U.S. District Court in March 2016. He claimed he was illegally fired after announcing his engagement to Nifong on Facebook in 2014.

But Collette said he wont pursue an appeal or other legal avenues regarding a decision against his case in April by U.S. District Judge Charles P. Kocoras. The judge cited the right of religious organizations to control internal affairs in siding with the archdiocese and Holy Family.

Piccolino said Collettes firing led to the launching of Agape as a small group gathering in her basement for a Mass two years ago. Agape then rented space at Hoffman Estates Park Districts Willow Recreation Center before holding a Christmas Eve Mass at St. John last year. That led to a joint service on March 19 and the June rental agreement.

Gaillardetz said a celebration of the sacraments by any validly ordained Catholic priest would be valid, but illicit, in the parlance of Catholic sacramental theology at Agape or other Eucharistic communities created without formal permission of the local bishop.

Any priest who would celebrate the sacraments in such a community would almost certainly run afoul of church authorities and would probably face some kind of ecclesiastical discipline, he said. Chicago archdiocese spokeswoman Anne Maselli declined to address Collettes unsuccessful lawsuit or Agape. Holy Familys pastor, the Rev. Terry Keehan, deferred to the archdiocese for comment. ___ Source: (Arlington Heights) Daily Herald, http://bit.ly/2sREdkO ___ Information from: Daily Herald, http://www.dailyherald.com

Continue reading here:

Fired after announcing engagement, he helps launch new faith venture - Chicago Sun-Times

Caste

The Delhi High Court ruled that offensive statements on social media likeFacebook, whether private or public, that intend to humiliate someone belonging to the scheduled caste or scheduled tribe communities would be a punishable offence. Credit: PTI

Offensive statements on social media likeFacebook, whether private or public, that intend to humiliate someone belonging to the scheduled caste or scheduled tribe communities would be a punishable offence, the Delhi high court has said. However, generalised statements against all and sundry and not against a specific individuals from the SC/ST communities would not be considered an offence under section 3(1)(x) of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, Justice Vipin Sanghi said.

To my mind, it would make no difference whether the privacy settings [on social media accounts] are set by the author of the offending post to private or public. Pertinently, Section 3(1)(x) of the Act does not require that the intentional insult or intimidation with an intention to humiliate a member of SC/ST should take place in the presence of the said member.

Even if the victim is not present, and behind his/her back, the offending insult or intimidation with intention to humiliate him/her, who is a member of SC/ST takes place, the same would be culpable if it takes place within public view, the court said.

Under Section 3(1)(x) of the SC/ST Act, it is an offence if someone makes statements which intentionally insult or intimidate with the intent of humiliating a member of such communities in any place within public view.

The court said in the case of social media platforms, public view would include any independent or impartial witness who has seen an offensive statement. It, however, said that generalised statements against all and sundry, and not against specific individuals belonging to SC/ST, would not make out an offence under section 3(1)(x) of the Act.

The observations came as the court quashed an FIR lodged by a woman against her sister-in-law for allegedly making offensive statements on Facebook against the dhobi community. The complainant had accused her sister-in-law of making the statements to humiliate her as she belonged to the dhobi community.

The sister-in-law refuted the allegations and sought dismissalof the FIR, saying the statements about dhobis were made on her Facebook wall and the complainant had been blocked from viewing it. The police, on the other hand, opposed the dismissalof the FIR, saying the privacy status of the posts were changed by the accused from private to public to enable everyone to read it.

Regarding the petitioners argument that her posts were private, the court said that even if posts by a Facebook member are private, making offensive statements thatfallfoul of section 3(1)(x) of the Act may still be punishable if if any of the authors Facebook friends are independent and impartial persons and not interested in any of the parties.

The court, however, said that in the instant case, a perusal of the posts by the petitioner on her wall do not show that they were directed against any individual member of any scheduled caste or scheduled tribe. For all the reasons, the FIR as well as the proceedings qua the petitioner under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, are hereby quashed, the court said.

Excerpt from:

Derogatory Posts Against SC/ST on Social Media an Offence, Says Delhi High Court - The Wire

What does it take to define the undergraduate experience as successful?

Academics, of course, are a key component. But classroom learning is just one important piece of a much larger puzzle. For most students to do well in their coursework and stay the course until graduation, their life outside the classroom and the ways they become engaged in the life of their college or university matters more than we might think.

According to the National Survey of Student Engagement, students who are engaged meaning they feel a sense of belonging and identification with their school are less likely to drop out.

In fact, research indicates that highly engaged students earn higher grades, perform better on tests, set and meet personal goals, persist on tasks, expect success and value educational outcomes.

At Pfeiffer University, we take this seriously.

In addition to providing academic support that encourages frequent interaction between students and their professors and advisors, and dozens of clubs and organizations for students to get involved with proven factors in positive student engagement we offer intentional and creative programming that integrates learning and living, thereby increasing the likelihood of engagement in campus life.

One way we do this is through Living-Learning Communities (LLC), which offer students with similar goals and interests the opportunity to live and study together in designated areas of residence halls.

LLCs at Pfeiffer for Criminal Justice majors and Honors Program participants are teaching lessons similar to other LLCs across the country. Peer-to-peer support (which for the most part develops organically) for studying and social purposes and increased attention from faculty members who create relevant programming, organize off-campus outings and invite guest speakers to campus have contributed to positive outcomes in a relatively short period.

The criminal justice group is posting a higher cumulative grade point average while those in the Honors Residential College have demonstrated significantly increased persistence with the Honors Program. This success has prompted the addition this fall of a new Living-Learning Community for Nursing majors.

For commuter students, whose engagement is as important as that of their residential counterparts, we work hard due to the fact that they live elsewhere and often hold jobs to bond them to campus life. Semi-monthly Commuter Lunches hosted by the Office of Student Development provide opportunities for participants to get to know one another, ask questions and engage with Pfeiffer.

These lunches will continue along with other programs designed to connect commuter students more firmly with the curricular and co-curricular opportunities available to them.

These and other engagement-boosting activities promote servant-leadership through service, campus ministry, residence life and athletics and encourage experiential and off-campus learning through internships or study abroad.

Together they help shape a sense of community that begins while students are enrolled and, ideally, continues after graduation. Ultimately, Pfeiffers engaged students become engaged citizens, employees and alumni who know how to make an impact on their families, communities and alma mater.

Colleen PerryKeith is president of Pfeiffer University. She writes a monthly column about the university and its impact on the community.

B. J. Drye is editor of The Stanly News & Press. Contact him at (704) 982-2121 ext. 25, bj@stanlnewspress.com or PO Box 488, Albemarle, NC 28002.

The rest is here:

COLLEEN PERRY KEITH COLUMN: Engaging students in campus life for success today and tomorrow - Stanly News & Press

kpfa 94.1fm

Getting Along on Purpose: Berkeley CoHousing Neighbors Share their Wisdom kpfa 94.1fm Betsy and Lloyd share tips and skills gained from years of living in and studying intentional communities, to help you imagine how to get along on purpose with others who value the safety and richness that comes from healthy relationship with the ...

Read more:

Getting Along on Purpose: Berkeley CoHousing Neighbors Share their Wisdom - kpfa 94.1fm

A July celebration of African American art and culture in Kalamazoo's LaCrone Park is part of an ongoing mission to expose West Michigan residents to a culture rich in diversity.

The 31st annual Kalamazoo Black Arts Festival kicks off on July 13 and continues through July 16 at LaCrone Park in the citys Northside neighborhood. Yolonda Lavender, executive director of the Black Arts & Cultural Center, said the festival is the only one of its kind in West Michigan.

Theres no other Kalamazoo festival that reflects black arts and culture and the African American experience, Lavender said. We have a responsibility to make sure that the citizens of Kalamazoo have this exposure.

The festivals opening day, Youth Day, will take place at Bible Baptist Church and feature food and activities from other cultures. Lavender said members of a youth committee each year decide on a theme and develop ways to highlight that theme. This year its Unity Through Culture, with events focusing on the African American and Hispanic communities.

Different cultures will be represented at different stations with activities like coloring or arts and crafts, Lavender said. This theme was intentionally chosen because of where we are as a nation. Theres so much division, especially in terms of race relations.

Sometimes people think that only black people are allowed to come and experience the festival. We want to expose this to diverse groups in the community. We want people to realize that no matter who they are, they can benefit from all cultures.

Opening day will be capped with a performance of the play In the Blood, featuring members of the BACCs Face Off Theatre Company. The play, a 2000 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, tells the story of Hester La Negrita she has five children, each from different and notably absent fathers. The family of six live in destitute poverty beneath a bridge, where Hester tries to learn how to read and goes hungry so that her children can eat.

Hester seizes the opportunity to receive help from her childrens fathers, with hopes that one may help them. The play moves to other characters stories, such as a doctor and her friend, who is involved with Hesters predicament.

Lavender said In the Blood will be staged at the Epic Theatre in downtown Kalamazoo and will have a second performance on July 14. Face Off formed as a vehicle for showcasing black actors and issues of importance to the African American community. Without it, Lavender said people would not have opportunities to be exposed to different types of theater.

Our theater company pushes the envelope with the productions they choose, she said. Every production is followed by a talk back.

However, these talk backs were going on well before the Face Off launch. In 1973, the BACC began theater showings designed to get the conversation started about issues of race and equality. One of the earliest showings dealt with the Watts riots.

We are intentional about the film viewing we choose and the opportunities to talk about it after, Lavender said. There arent too many other spaces where you can come and talk about stuff thats hard to talk about. At the BACC youre in a safe place no matter color you are or how you identify.

Its therapeutic for everybody. Theres no progress or upward movement if we dont talk.

The selection of LaCrone as the backdrop for the bulk of the festival was an intentional move on the part of festival organizers to bring the event geographically closer to the people served by the BACC. Up until 2014, the event had been held in Bronson Park, and Lavender said during the early 1990s it was the largest African American festival outside of Chicago.

Were right in a neighborhood where people can be on their lawns, walk or ride their bike. We can engage directly with the community, Lavender said.

More than 1,500 people are expected to attend the festival, which will feature dance and music performances, childrens activities, African American clothing and artwork for sale, and barbecue and soul food.

The goal for the BACC is to showcase black arts and culture, and the festival is the primary way for us to do that, Lavender said. If we were not to exist, there would be a tremendous void.

Black Arts Festival Kalamazoo July 13-16, free blackartskalamazoo.org, (269) 349-1035

Read this article:

Community Through Culture: The Black Arts Festival shares the African American experience with all - REVUE

GleanerNow (press release) (blog)

Miles City Hosts Amazing Facts Center of Evangelism GleanerNow (press release) (blog) Members from North Dakota, Idaho, eastern Montana and Billings, young and old, came away from the weekend committed to being more intentional about witnessing in their communities and becoming more involved in the mission of their local church.

Original post:

Miles City Hosts Amazing Facts Center of Evangelism - GleanerNow (press release) (blog)

Building a communitys inclusive innovation economy is hard work, but cities across the state can learn from Greensboros lead.

Nearly two years ago, a small team from Greensboro responded to a request from the Institute for Emerging Issues (IEI) at N.C. State University to participate in InnovateNC, a first-in-the-nation effort to spark innovation statewide.

If selected, they would join other cities from across the state in a cross-city learning collaborative from September 2015-June 2017.

The catch: They had to have at least some entrepreneurial and innovation assets already in place, and they had to be willing to form a diverse innovation council committed to the idea of inclusion. Inclusivity occurs when the local innovation economy actively recruits and engages what are traditionally under-connected individuals such as women and minorities in ways that build social capital across diverse networks.

Greensboro earned its place in the InnovateNC program, along with Asheville, Wilson, Pembroke, Wilmington and the Carolina Coast. These communities came together eight times over the two-year program for meetings and community-hosted site visits. They also advanced the work in their communities, meeting monthly as a council to drive data collection, strategic planning and policy efforts, and communicate the innovation stories of their communities.

An executive committee of public and private partners led the work locally. Mayor Nancy Vaughan was committed to the initiative from the outset, and Councilwoman Nancy Hoffmann actively participated on the councils executive committee. She joined Robin Coger, N.C. A&T; Cindy Thompson, Boundless Impact; Paul Jeffrey, Cone Health; Sudakar Puvvada, VF Corp.; and Lou Anne Flanders-Stec, Launch Greensboro. Deborah Hooper of the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce and Bryan Toney, formerly of UNC-Greensboro, provided critical leadership as council co-chairs.

Stephanie Walker and Ditra Miller were brought on to facilitate the work of the council. A complete list of council members is available at innovategso.org.

Greensboro has focused its efforts on purposefully engaging under-connected populations to unleash design innovation for economic growth. Under-connected populations college students, people of color, immigrants, millennials, encorepreneurs (boomers looking for a next gig), retirees, scientists, artists, academic professionals and international visa holders lacking those key relationships and connectivity to the people, information and resources necessary to successfully launch and sustain new businesses Greensboro aims to change that. The vision is to create a design destination that attracts, develops and retains diverse creative talent and enterprises.

While the work has not been easy, it has been rewarding.

InnovateGSO has enabled honest, thoughtful, and intentional conversations about the connection between Greensboros economic aspirations and our communitys inclusive innovation capacity, said Robin Coger, dean of the College of Engineering at N..C A&T. This would not have occurred without the engagement of the diverse group of people (and perspectives) of our projects Innovation Council. It is a wonderful time to be a part of Greensboro.

Ten public-private partners committed in-kind tools, services and support to help build capacity within these communities. The partnership included the RTP Foundation, Forward Impact, the N.C. Department of Commerces Board of Science, Technology & Innovation, RTI International, UNC-TV, CED, the UNC system and programs at N.C. State University, UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University.

One key tool communities used was the InnovateNC Community Innovation Asset Map, a first of-its-kind, turnkey tool for communities of all sizes who wish to assess the quality and inclusiveness of their innovation ecosystems. The Asset Map proved to be the communitys critical first step in helping them to develop a concrete road map to growing their innovation economies in a meaningful way. As such, the Asset Map was refined for a broader audience and made available to all communities across the state on June 8. Communities are encouraged to take advantage of these unique resources by visiting InnovateNC.org to learn more about the initiative, download the Asset Map, and begin putting this tool to work in their innovation economies.

On behalf of the statewide partners, Id like to share that its been a pleasure working with such a motivated and forward-thinking Greensboro team. While InnovateNC is coming to a planned end, the work in Greensboro is only just beginning.

We are confident in their success and believe their efforts will become an inspirational case study and model for other communities across the nation seeking to fuel their economic engines by building inclusive innovation.

Sarah Langer Hall is a policy manager at Institute for Emerging Issues at N.C. State University, and leads the InnovateNC initiative.

Go here to read the rest:

Sarah Langer Hall: Innovate GSO is only beginning - Greensboro News & Record