A 15 Step Outline for a Community Visioning Initiative

In the past, the details of this 15 step outline were only included as a part of larger documents (the “1000Communities2” document, and “The IPCR Workshop Primer”). The IPCR document “A 15 Step Outline for a Community Visioning Initiative” was created to feature the details of the 15 Steps in a shorter document (28 pages). Appendices were added to provide a “big picture” context, to illustrate how this 15 Step process would support The IPCR Initiative “constellation of initiatives” approach peacebuilding and community revitalization, and to provide some very detailed ideas for what people can do at the grassroots/local community level. (The “15 Step” document is accessible at http://www.ipcri.net/A_15_Step_Outline_for_a_Community_Visioning_Initia.pdf and a pdf file of the document is attached to this post.)

One especially important reason for featuring the details of the 15 Step Outline in a document is that there is an urgent need for problem solving on a scale most of us have never known before (see “IPCR Critical Challenges Assessment 2011-2012” at http://www.ipcri.net/Critical-Challenges-Assessment.html ), and thus a need for an exponential increase in citizen participation. The challenges of our times are not going to be resolved by the “experts”, while the rest of us are doing something else. All of us have important responsibilities associated with resolving a significant number of very serious challenges in the months and years ahead. But what does maximizing citizen participation in solution-oriented activity actually look like? (Could this question be useful as an essay contest question?)

Another especially important reason is that there has been a high profile focus in the media on people “mobilizing in the streets” and mobilizing by “occupying various public spaces” as a way of calling attention to the need for significant social, economic, and cultural reform. This 15 Step Outline is an example of collaborative problem solving at the local community level—and an example of the kind of problem solving which requires that each of us (not just those in power) “actualize in our own lives” practices and processes which turn polarizing circumstances into collaborative efforts (which make best use of the knowledge and skills each one of us has). There are difficult challenges ahead. We will need the best efforts we can make at working together to overcome such challenges.

The Table of Contents for “A 15 Step Outline for a Community Visioning Initiative” is included below.

Table of Contents

I. The 15 Step Outline (a brief description of each step)
(includes active bookmarks to corresponding sections for more details)
II. The 15 Step Outline (with details)

Appendices
(use active bookmarks to go directly to each Appendix)

Appendix A—Draft “Table of Contents” for “IPCR Critical Challenges Assessment 2011-2012
Appendix B—Excerpt from section “A Summary of Key Points” in “The IPCR Initiative: Creating a Multiplier Effect of a Positive Nature
Appendix C—“The ‘1000Communities2’ Proposal: Creating a Multiplier Effect of a Positive Nature
Appendix D— A List of 17 Propositions and Premises which are at the Foundation of The IPCR Initiative
Appendix E—Suggestions for Making Best Use of the CVI Process
Appendix F— The IPCR Initiative “Constellation of Initiatives” Approach to Accelerating Solution-
Oriented Activity—4 Descriptions

Also included in this post is a brief commentary on Community Visioning Initiatives: “The Potential of Community Visioning Initiatives (in 305 words)” (by this writer)(next 6 paragraphs)

“An essential question is how to address the uncertainty which is causing much hesitation at a time many may regard as one of the most critical crossroads in history.

“Community Visioning Initiatives can be described as a series of community meetings designed to facilitate the process of brainstorming ideas, organizing the ideas into goals, prioritizing the goals, and identifying doable steps. One of the main goals of Community Visioning Initiatives is to maximize citizen participation in identifying challenges, and in solution-oriented activity.

“The job fairs which come at the end of the Community Visioning Initiative process provide opportunities for all key stakeholders in the community (businesses, organizations, institutions, government, etc) to demonstrate their upgraded awareness—and their interest in the welfare of the community—by offering and facilitating new employment opportunities.

“One possible addition to this kind of citizen participation approach can be that people (especially unemployed people) who deliberately direct their investments of time, energy, and money towards assisting the Community Visioning process—and supporting and sustaining the solutions identified by the Community Visioning Initiative—could receive, as encouragement, local currency. Such local currency can, in its turn, be spent in ways which are particularly helpful to building stable and sustainable local economies.

“This approach emphasizes “asking for ideas”, giving people an opportunity to become actively involved in a solution-charged environment, and providing a means for unemployed people to earn a living—and is especially appropriate to the goals of creating large numbers of solution-oriented and sustainable jobs, reducing future-oriented uncertainty, minimizing the risk of “transformation unemployment”, and reducing the likelihood of future debt crises.

“1000 time-intensive Community Visioning Initiatives, in communities around the world, would create an exponential increase in solution-oriented investment, an exponential increase in solution-oriented employment, and an exponential increase in our collective capacity to overcome the challenges of our times.”

I hope this post is helpful to readers. There can be much very useful public discussion on how to create effective local Community Visioning Initiatives, of the kind which can succeed in turning polarizing circumstances into collaborative efforts (which make best use of the knowledge and skills each one of us has). I hope that I can participate in one of these Community Visioning Initiatives someday. If many other people also hope for that very same thing, such visioning initiatives can become a common experience… a common cultural tradition… which can link many diverse communities of people together, in a fellowship of people working towards the greater good of the whole.

For a Peaceful and Sustainable Future,

Stefan Pasti, Founder and Outreach Coordinator
The Interfaith Peacebuilding and Community Revitalization (IPCR) Initiative