[Oe List ...] I Found Hope

Wed Oct 26 16:58:58 EDT 2011

Joan, your message is a "keeper" for me - both because of the way the event was organized and because of what you noticed about how it was put together.  

What was outstanding:  (1) The makeup of the VIP - the wide span of faith groups, PLUS additional community groups.  This latter is important because these days there are many deeply caring people who do not see themselves related to any religious institution, whatever their private spiritual beliefs or path might be. Yet they can be both skilled and passionate about creating the future and dealing with life-killing issues.  It's also important because it forces the issue-framing into "secular religious" language - or looking for universal (rather than sectarian) dynamics.   (2)  The preparation "house meetings" to get wide input and sort through (gestalt) to get the key issues which would then have wide consensus and contribute to attracting 220 people. (3) The admirable ground rules for the meeting itself, which were carefully thought through in advance by the planners to avoid common problems.  (4) The meeting opening, giving clarity on the agenda and the ground rules.  (5) The respectful but firm reminders of the ground rules when needed.  (6) The insistence on specific times for followup meetings with whichever person was elected mayor, which sets up accountability.  (7) Ending the meeting exactly on time.  People really appreciate respect for their time.

I note that each of these 7 outstanding points was carefully planned before the event.  It takes much more than getting a bunch of groups to agree to jointly "have a meeting" together - these good things do not happen automatically.  My guess is that the next community event planned by the VIP will also have an excellent turnout, because people will trust them to plan a significant event.

THANK YOU, Joan!  You reported to us with a facilitator's eye and ear!

Janice Ulangca

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: molly.shaw at comcast.net 
  To: Order Ecumenical Community 
  Sent: Tuesday, October 25, 2011 11:39 PM
  Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] I Found Hope

  Joan,
  It's great to hear about a real life occurrence of fair politics in the community - I am impressed!  I am going to share your story with my friends in our University District Ecumenical Parish.  Although we are not Interfaith, there is the desire to hold this kind of forum and it is great how well organized it was in Phoenix. 

  Thanks,
  Molly

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  From: "Joan" <jfknutson at aol.com>
  To: oe at wedgeblade.net
  Sent: Tuesday, October 25, 2011 8:23:31 PM
  Subject: [Oe List ...] I Found Hope

  I found hope in the most unexpected place last Sunday evening: a political meeting to meet the Mayoral candidates for the City of Phoenix mayor's position.  This meeting was sponsored by the Valley Interfaith Project (VIP), an community organizing group I don't know much about but my friend Edith Byers had told me how impressed she was with the meetings she had attended.  It is made up of Catholic and Protestant churches, synagogues and mosques along with some community groups.  I wanted to get some information on the candidates so I went, along with 220 other people.

  The first thing that happened was two leaders from VIP briefed the group on the agenda for the meeting.  These people are not paid staff but local people who trained by the VIP organization.  They made the purpose and the agenda very clear, as they had done previously with the two candidates.  This was not a meeting for them to campaign or to attack their opponents.  We were there to support the leadership and no booing or heckling would be tolerated.  The agenda had come from "house meetings" to talk through the issues affecting their lives as citizens of Phoenix.  These meetings with small groups are often held during church services or at a school meetings.  The three main issues that had emerged were jobs, housing foreclosures and neighborhood safety.  The candidates were briefed on these issues ahead of time.  Each issue was presented by a local citizen telling their story of how this issue affected them.  Each candidate was given so many minutes each to respond.  Several times the VIP leader stepped in to say to the candidate to please answer the question that had been asked, which really kept things on point.  At another point the VIP leader stepped into say there would be no campaigning and to please address the issue at hand.

  When this concluded, both candidates were asked if they were to be elected, would they work with VIP on these issues and would they attend two upcoming meetings and the dates of those meetings were given.  Of course both candidates said they would work with VIP but VIP then held their feet to the fire and extracted the promise to attend the two meetings on the dates given.  

  The printed agenda had the meeting beginning at 5:30, the meeting with the candidates at 6:00 and ending at 7:00.  As I turned to leave, I looked up at the clock and it was precisely 7:00 p.m.  As we left the meeting. everyone had been given a sign-up sheet to do different things for VIP and there were women of about my vintage who were pressing folks to turn in those forms to become involved.  Impressive!

  What excited me was to see the intentional process to deal with real issues, holding accountability with local people in charge demanding of our leadership to serve the people and all of this being done with love and respect.  Now there is something worth replicating!    Joan Knutson

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