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VisionWorks' Breakthrough Solutions
Harnessing the Forces of Change
A Road Trip
to San Antonio - March 2006
On February 13-16, it was my privilege to
participate in the National Association of Community Development
Extension Professionals Annual Conference in San Antonio. It was a
wonderful conference, and I have some great stories to share with
you about how communities, businesses, organizations, and regions
are learning to succeed in the global, knowledge-based economy.
Many are real breakthroughs, and a few are outrageous. We will
learn that people and resources flow to areas where people’s needs
are met, where knowledge and technology are put to work, and where
opportunities abound. Furthermore, this movement of people and
activity creates wealth for individuals, businesses, and communities
who have learned how to take advantage of it.
Look for the Driving Forces
Real-life examples are terrific because we see
something happen that is real. But when you go back home and tell a
story about a successful community, a common response might be:
"That might work in Texas, but it wouldn’t work in Arkansas." They
may be right. The key is to discover the driving forces - the
underlying principles that are true across many situations.
For example, the conference was held in San
Antonio, not Lubbock, TX or Winnemucca, NV. Why San Antonio?
Primarily because it is a cool place that has built on its unique
assets to create an extraordinary experience for visitors. Walking
along the River Walk is a magical experience - you are 3 feet away
from the river, in a beautiful setting, and there is a surprise
around every bend in the river. Not only does this extraordinary
experience attract visitors, it attracts knowledge workers who can
live anywhere in the world.
The driving force behind the popularity of San
Antonio as a tourist destination is that people will travel
hundreds or thousands of miles to have unique experiences that are
intriguing, stimulating, and exciting. San Antonio has created
a high "quality of place" that goes beyond typical quality-of-life
amenities and attracts 10 million visitors every year - more than
any other city in Texas. Like other communities with a high quality
of place, you feel different when you are there. It reminds me of a
very tall shot glass in the hotel gift store with the caption - "Drink this Texas-size double and you will feel like you are
single."
By the way, the River Walk didn’t just happen.
In the 1990s, a San Antonio architect named Robert Hugman developed
a vision of sidewalks, restaurants, and beautiful places along the
San Antonio River, then shepherded the vision to reality, garnering
political support and financial investment to make it happen. The
community invested in its future, and that investment has paid off -
big time. By the way, the San Antonio River is only 30-40 feet
across in most places - you don’t even have to have a big river!
Strategic Questions:
- Do you have natural resources, cultural,
or historic assets you can build on?
- Does your community have a shared vision
of what it can become, with commitment from key leaders in the
public, private, and non-profit sectors to make it happen?
- How do visitors feel when they come to
your community - excited, intrigued, and alive, or bored,
frustrated, and deadened?
Remember - you don’t have to do this all of the
time - festivals and community celebrations are a step in the right
direction.
Tap the Power of Clusters
The conference organizers created a setting
where people who do similar work come and share what they are doing,
with a few outside speakers to provoke us to think outside the box.
The result was people who learned from each other, developed
positive relationships, and discovered new ways to work together.
Rick Maurer, President of NACDEP, stated: "If you can’t work with
groups - elected officials, organizations, and citizens, you won’t
be as effective. And that’s community development.
Silos form quickly, and our challenge is to work across silos in our
organizations and communities."
Strategic Question:
- Do you have groups of people in your
community or region that could benefit from this kind of
activity? They may be quilters, organic farmers, or
metal-working companies.
This is not rocket science - getting people
together to share their experiences in formal and informal settings,
bringing in outside folks to provoke and inform their thinking. But
it can move a group to the next level, not only in their knowledge
and abilities, but through new arrangements for collaboration, for
purchasing inputs together, for creating new marketing venues, or
supporting research to address their most pressing issues. This is
the essence of clusters: groups of individuals/companies that
produce something, their suppliers, customers, professional support
people, and agencies and institutions that support them. Creating
opportunities for businesses in clusters to interact with each other
and learn what is going on in the world can make a real difference,
and it can equip them to compete more effectively in the global
economy.
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Harnessing the Forces of Change
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