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A Fountain of Evolutionary Insights for Mayors

August 25, 2009 by marilynhamilton

I feel like I am standing in the centre of an Integral City Square with a Fountain of Integral Insights spraying life-giving rainbows that can refresh a mayor’s way of thinking in these hot fires of summer.

Not surprisingly, this fountain I see, has four quadrants — all issuing flows of emerging wisdom that seem to be tapping a deep well of evolutionary knowledge.

As I walk around this fountain of knowledge, the first quadrant that inspires me is the Leadership Cascade. I recognized it in action in July at the Royal Roads University School of Leadership where the learners I was coaching were seriously engaged in expanding their capacity to apply the tools of leaders that Gerzon (2006) describes as those of the Mediator – Integral Vision, Systems Thinking, Presence, Inquiry, Conscious Conversation, Dialogue, Bridging and Innovation.  These qualities transcend but include the qualities of leaders who are managers and even demagogues — because the situations where those qualities are needed still exist. Building on these qualities, Erin Stewart (2009) (whose RRU Master’s thesis I have just approved), examines similar leadership practices in relation to a community capacity building approach within a health care alliance.

The second quadrant,  I encounter, surged forth as a community of practise process, from last week’s design charette with the Ginger Praxis team. There we mapped out the trajectory of a five day program for leaders who could be in any sector, but who had a change challenge, that demanded new ways of relating to people in the city. The Foundations of Innovation and Transformation, (to be offered at RRU in January 2010) revealed the power of the U process (developed by the Presence (2004) authors, team and institute ) to reveal the stages of development that unfold the Me into the many Me’s, the WE and the ME/WE in the system. We designed a process of initiation, sensing, presencing, co-creating and co-evolving that requires change leaders to engage the increasing contribution and complexity of the collective system.

The third quadrant comes like a water jet — but it was really an email from Jamin Stortz (2009), who shared with me her just completed thesis on the evolution of Public Administration, through the eras of the pre-modern, modern and post-modern into the integral. With clear and firm framing she proposes we must initiate the era of Integral Public Administration to guide the capacities of our great bureaucracies into practises that transcend and include the systematic, strategic and social values that have framed public administration until recently. She describes the qualities of this new integral public administration that can flex and flow with the chaos and complexity of our current times.

The fourth quadrant I admire is the geyser that could be called Planning Theory. In an article crafted by Dr. Gert de Roo (2008), Professor of Spatial Planning, at University of Groningen, NL, he maps out the evolution of planning theory through three systems that can be situated along the spectrum of steady-state technical rationality, oscillating network systems  and unpredictable communicative rationality. Professor de Roo explores the need for yet a fourth system for planning theory to emerge — that of the non-linear, evolutionary system that transcends and includes the first three systems but introduces the elements of time and co-evolution. With the embrace of conscious communications, this sounds awfully like an integral planning theory, doesn’t it?

Leadership, Community Process, Public Administration, Planning Theory — when all these domains converge with new theory and practise, the fountain of what can contribute to a Mayor’s effectiveness really starts to run over. Knowledge of each of these domains is necessary for a Mayor to become an effective integrator. A Mayor needs  expert practitioners and managers and elected officials in each of these domains, who can represent the span of views and situations that arise in the city. But the Mayor then needs to bridge all the separate domains and integrate all the capacities within them so they work together in a value adding, evolutionary way.

With the insights from the Integral Fountain, that I see emerging, the tools, people, capacities and processes seem to be available to mesh the four quadrants of the fountain in a way that makes the waters really dance to a new height!!  What a beautiful and refreshing vision that encourages and refreshes us in Integral City hall square, before we step into the days of the challenging season ahead of us.

References

DeRoo, G. (2008). The Question is Being or Becoming! Confronting Complexity with Contemporary Planning Theory.

Gerzon, M. (2006). Leading Through Conflict: How Successful Leaders Transform Differences Into Opportunities. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Senge, P., Scharmer, C. O., Jaworski, J., & Flowers, B. S. (2004). Presence: Exploring Profound Change in People, Organizations and Society. New York: Currency Doubleday.

Stewart, E. (2009). The Art of Centralized Coordination: A Study of a Provincially Coordinated Strategy in a Health Care Organization Royal Roads University, Victoria.

Stortz, J. (2009). Can Integral Theory Develop Public Administration for Twenty-First Century Challenges? , National University, San Diego.

Posted in A. Contexting Intelligences, C. Collective Intelligences, G. Levels: Developmental/Evolutionary, Level 7 Yellow, Level 8 Turquoise, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a Comment »

A Convergence of Capabilities

August 6, 2009 by marilynhamilton

As we travel our journeys of purpose, on purpose, with purpose, it is so comforting to know that others are doing the same. It releases the burden (and hubris) of thinking that you have to do it all. Today I am thinking of four events going on in the world simultaneously in four different cities and three different continents:

In Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Jim Garrison and Peter Merry and team are working with the city and country to catalyze their energy around initiatives for climate change. This kicks off the State of the World Forum Climate Change ten year initiative.

In Toronto, Canada Dr. Don Beck is presenting to the American Psychological Association his views of a new psychology — Large Scale Psychology.  This helps explain human behaviour in large agglomerations like cities, cultures and communities. Our intensely local, trans-local, and  global interactions demand new frameworks to understand how life conditions are triggering our actions and shaping our adaptive responses to change.

On Whidbey Island, WA, USA, the Integral Education Conference is convening for the third year to explore how best to teach humans of all ages to live, work, play in the integral paradigm.

In Tuscany, Italy, Andrew Cohen and his EnlightenNext team are in the midst of a 20 day Discovery Cycle retreat where participants are discovering the depths of practise to Be and Become, so that they can activate their roles as Evolutionaries — active contributors who embody the evolutionary impulse.

The study of Climate Change, Human Behaviour, Capacity to Learn/Teach, our Spiritual Evolution – all give me great hope for the species. The Integral Worldview is opening up new ways for us to survive, connect with our environment and reproduce our memes (as well as our genes) — in other words to LIVE at a new order of being/becoming, that embraces sustainable, intelligent whole systems thinking.

Interestingly the venues for these events are a combination of alive cities and resilient eco-regions – reminding us of the co-creative emergence of our human hives in the context of their re-source-ful environments. I can see many ways that Integral Cities will benefit from each of these undertakings.  I am deeply grateful to Don Beck, the Integral Education Conference Convenors (the Martineau team et al), Andrew Cohen and EnlightenNext, and Jim Garrison, Peter Merry and team, for being inspirations as we travel along the Via Integral — each encouraging and inspiring the others.

Posted in Global/Worldcentric | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off

The Change the World Needs Now!!

July 6, 2009 by marilynhamilton

I just returned from two weeks in Europe, designing the Renaissance2 Great Shift Conference in Perpignan France for October 22-26; and workshopping Integral City in the Netherlands with Centre for Human Emergence NL, EnlightenNext NL, The Hub, the Integral Institute for Sustainability and Danslab.

Europe is in a much more positive frame of mind than North America right now!! What a relief. I spent two weeks with people whose direction of consciousness is aimed at very high purpose. They are not just talking about Enlightened Enterprise — they are doing it using technologies like Spiral Dynamics integral. They are not just talking about Renewable Energy — they are already using it in the form of solar voltaic and wind turbines. They are not just talking about Resilient Environments — they are applying it through Meshworking and Cradle-to-Cradle.

I see the Europeans (particularly the Dutch) leading the world in the technologies, intelligences and practices that Gaia needs now to address climate change, alternative energies and financial impasses. My European contacts, colleagues and co-conspirators are designing new currencies, new economies, new business models, new neighbourhoods, new governance systems with clients, governments and stakeholders of all kinds. They have stepped out beyond the development of individual consciousness and are reaching for a collective intelligence that is shifting them into active co-creators of a culture that transcends and includes a complex world of values, ethnicities, races, beliefs, expectations and intentions. Europeans see the glass as half full and are acting as if they intend to top it up and revitalize themselves with the whole drink.

North Americans (including Canadians) however are seeing the glass as half empty right now and are struggling to prevent it from draining further. This inspires me to remind Canada, that in 2001 I had the same dream of a Great Calling for our country.

On the history changing day of September 11, 2001, I vowed to bring Spiral Dynamics integral to Canada to change our sense of who we are and what our role is in the world. I wanted to wake Canada up to its natural contribution to the world — to see itself as a catalyser, leader and supporter of new paradigms for global change. In a country, blessed by all the natural resources the world needs most — from water, to oil, to food, to people, are Canadians sleep walking through a time when we should be wide awake, creating new capacities, like our EU cousins??

Canada has the city with the most diversity in the world – Toronto. But do we have the governance systems needed to live with such a concentration of cultural differences? BC is about to host the 2010 Olympics — but are we ready to ski over and around the world class economic bumps that have jumped onto our path? Vancouver is the city most often named the most livable city in the world, but have we the commitment and capacity to make it resilient in the face of rising sea levels?

I have never over-promised what Spiral Dynamics integral can contribute to the change the world needs now. But after working with SDi for 10 years, I can vouch for the fact that it can open your eyes to the developmental, evolutionary nature of these times. It can help you understand the natural bio-psycho-cultural-social ways that people change, and how to support their purpose, principles, profits, priorities and planet in that change. It can show you a trajectory of possibilities for designing meshworks, partnerships, collaborations, teams, organizations, communities and governance systems. The Spiral Dynamics integral Community of Practise introduces you to ideas, technologies and people who can integrate what you are doing now with a larger purpose, deeper consciousness and peer support for you to make the momentous leap that will shift your world into a new Renaissance.

Since September 11, 2002 we have offered Spiral Dynamics integral Foundations and Advanced training, based on the research of Clare Graves and Dr. Don Beck (and licensed by Spiral Dynamics Group) in nine Canadian locations. I personally invite you to join us for the 25th training on August 13-15, 2009, of Spiral Dynamics integral Foundations  in Vancouver BC. It is time you added your gifts and talents to the Spiral Dynamics integral Communities of Practise and its Centres for Human Emergence, that can do the change the world needs done now.
 
You can find full details and online registration at http://www.integralcity.com/DiscoveryZone/Training/SDiL1%20generic.html . Please feel free to contact me about donation, scholarship and instalment options and share this invitation with your networks — especially with those you know who are ready and just waiting for the right time — the right time is now!!. (We have extended the Early Bird rates till July 13 to make this easy.)
 
With passion and optimism that we can all take the momentous leap of human emergence!!

Posted in Classroom course, F. Training, G. Levels: Developmental/Evolutionary | Tagged , , | Comments Off

Are Forbes 10 Best Places the Most Eco-Sustainable?

May 21, 2009 by marilynhamilton

Forbes has just published an interesting list of the 10 Best Places to Live. Below is how they describe their criteria and selection process.  It is interesting to contemplate whether “Best Places” can measure up to “most sustainable places”.  It strikes me that these are beautiful and inspiring places, and I wonder if they are economically self-sustainable and what their relationship with their eco-region is? (ie. how much of their livability are they importing beyond their eco-region footprint? and how much of their unsustainability they are exporting to their own and/or other eco regions; eg. solid waste, air pollution?).  How will they fare under the pressures of climate change, peak oil (and the current financial crisis)? I wonder what the criteria for the 10 Most Sustainable Cities would be and how many of these cities would make that list. In short I don’t think you can assess the “Best” of any city without using an Integral Vital Signs Monitor — that would measure the bio/psycho/cultural/structural capacities of triple bottom line – People, Profit, Planet.

Forbes Report

“European cities dominate Mercer’s list, which rates 420 global cities on the basis of the political and social environment (including stability, crime and law enforcement); the strength of the economy; restrictions, such as censorship and limitations on personal freedom; the quality of health care as well as exposure to infectious diseases; and school quality. In addition, it looked at recreation, theaters, sports activities, access to grocery markets, the availability and cost of housing, as well as the climate and susceptibility to natural disasters.

It’s a mouthful of criteria, to be sure. Cities were ranked on an index where New York City was 100. Vienna, for example, scored a 108.6, Zürich, Switzerland, came in second at 108, Geneva was next at 107.9 and Vancouver notched a win for North America by finishing fourth at 107.4. At the bottom, by contrast, were Baghdad, at 14.4; Bangui, the politically corrupt capital of the Central African Republic at 29.3, and N’Djamena, Chad, notable for it’s difficult pronunciation and constant rebel attacks, at 31.3.

For the first time, Mercer also evaluated cities on the basis of their infrastructure, including electricity supply, water availability, telephone and mail services, public transportation, traffic congestion and the range of international flights from local airports.”

Posted in A. Contexting Intelligences, Ecosphere, climate | Tagged , , | Comments Off

10 Summer Learning Opportunities

May 20, 2009 by marilynhamilton

May Greetings, Integral City-zens and Friends of Integral City     Today’s Integral City Sparkie for the City Mind:
A city which can merely feed, clothe and shelter its citizens lacks the intelligence to sustain itself, because the intelligence for sustainability comes from a commitment to learning about self, others and our shared life conditions.  Hamilton, M., 2008, Integral City: Evolutionary Intelligences for the Human Hive, p.175  

The summer of the New Renaissance is upon us. We offer you a sumptuous festival of 9 capacity building opportunities to entice, inspire, mesh and lead you into expanded Integral City capacities of all kinds.  Even as the world contracts, this summer is exactly the right time to reflect, realign, renew and reach outward. Also check out our FALL Preview of the World Forum below. Learning locations range from Teleconference to France, Washington DC to Vancouver, Dallas to Whidbey Island and points in between.  

 Listen to an interview on Integral City & The Agenda for Changing the World in the next 10 years, with Jim Garrison Co-Founder of The World Forum: Integral Life http://integrallife.com/node/43328 (also available at Integral Naked http://in.integralinstitute.org/).   Mark these events on your Agenda (join me at all the ones marked *, where Integral City will be presenting or attending)   *1.   Spiral Dynamics integral Confab May 28-May 31, 2008 join Dr. Don Beck  Spiral  Dynamics integral Level Two  ”Cultural Dynamics and Nation-Building and SDi Train-the-Trainer Training”.  Details are available here   http://www.sdiregister.com/SDi-Level2-Confab.php   Dr. Beck will be joined by Elza Maalouf LLD,  Dr. Marilyn Hamilton, Dr. Bruce Gibb and the their team of colleagues from Canada plus livewire sessions. You will learn how Dr. Beck is using large-scale psychology to build nations and how to present the Spiral Dynamics body of knowledge in a user-friendly and sophisticated manner. May 25-27, 2009, Dallas, Texas  Join Dr. Don Beck for SDi Level One. Details are available here http://www.sdiregister.com/   

*2. How Communities Learn to Thrive in Challenging Times

Moving from Concern to Action: Communicating for Change

Date: June 11, 2009 Time: 9:00 am – 4:30 pm (registration opens at 8:45 am)

Location: Surrey Museum, 17710-56A Avenue Surrey BC

Details & Registration: http://www.bchealthycommunities.ca/Content/Our%20Vision/Learning%20Events.asp

This workshop will support you to develop your knowledge, skills, and abilities to effectively influence change through your communications with diverse audiences. Using the framework of Spiral Dynamics integral it helps you understand how you can translate your message/communication so that people can hear it and align your message so that people can act to support it.
This workshop helps to uncover a common, unifying, and integrating approach that can guide us in times of turbulence and promote physical, intellectual, moral, spiritual, and social values and community capacity building that considers the whole person in the whole community.

 

*3. New Tools for New Times – Spiral Dynamics integral Introduction

June 17, 2009, Canadian Memorial United Church, 1825 West 16th, nr Burrard, Vancouver BC

Donations at the door

Limited Seating: pre-register sdi@integralcity.com

Why do people make such different decisions, given the same information and opportunities?  How do values develop and spread among people?  How can we bring our diverse ways of thinking to create a community that feels good to all of us? 

Spiral Dynamics integral is a model for people who think about complex systems – like neighbourhoods, communities, and organizations.  It is a way of understanding the different values or “world views” that people use to make their decisions.  Using Spiral Dynamics integral, leaders can reduce the tensions in those differences, and create positive change in social and business systems.  

The Spiral Dynamics integral model helps us understand our next steps towards creating a constructive community atmosphere in a changing situation―wherever we are in our work at this moment. It shows us what’s working, what’s blocking progress, and how we can dream for our future.

Learn how communities, associations and professionals from Halifax, First Nations, Winnipeg, Abbotsford, Creative City, New Westminster, the Netherlands, UK and South Africa have used Spiral Dynamics integral for practical solutions.

Presenter: Michael Keller MT, MA, Introduced by Marilyn Hamilton PhD CGA

*4. Renaissance2 Great Shift Partner Gathering

June 22-23, 2009,

Integral City, Master Class, June 24, 2009

Le Chateau Apollinaire, Perpignan, France

Details & Registration: http://www.renaissance2.eu/home/index.html

 

Join leaders who have had deep experience in creating the next wave of social, business and technological innovation. We invite you to become a part of this exclusive group of social innovators to share your insights and celebrate each other’s success. Between being inspired by the keynote speaker panels, you’ll gain even more taking part in one or more of the working groups centred around four innovation crucibles vital to our future. Your contributions will help catalyze their success and develop your own practical insights and valuable connections.

 

We now have all the tools and technologies we need to co-catalyze a new Renaissance. At this event we use them to take the next step in accelerating open source innovation

between business people, social entrepreneurs, innovators, cultural and spiritual

leaders, civil society and governments, to address the most challenging issues facing

human civilization today. Work together with the partner organizations and leading

members of Renaissance2, a not-for profit foundation whose mission is to catalyze socially innovative world-centric businesses, on the four innovation crucibles we need to make this dream a reality:

 

* Renewable Energy         *Resilient Environments

* Enlightened Enterprise  *Integral Governance

http://www.summerleadershipinstitute.com/invitation

 

5. Summer Leadership Institute

 

Sunday, July 5 3:00 p.m until Friday, July 10 2:00 p.m., 2009
Shawnigan Lake is an hour’s drive from Victoria, BC

 

Details and Registration: http://www.summerleadershipinstitute.com/invitation

 

Week- long leadership inquiry that will provide:

  • Increased resilience and capacity to move into the future
  • A sense of purpose in the chaos
  • Insight that triggers initiative and action
  • Practical strategies for leading in your life
  • An ongoing community of practice
  • Access to resources and leading edge approaches
  • Learning about yourself, others and leading

Faculty: Diana Smith, Michael Keller, Mary Martin, Sandy MacIver

*6. The Map, The Mesh and the Human Hive: 3 Module Telecourse

Location: Telephone Bridge Line to be Advised After Registration

Time:   Noon to 12 noon to 2pm Pacific Daylight Time (GMT+8) for all dates

July 8, 2009   The Map (Integral Capacity)

Aug. 5, 2009   The Mesh (Complex Relationships)

Aug.26, 2009    The Human Hive (Resilient Adaptiveness)

 

Each session is recorded and three chapters of the Talking Book Integral City: Evolutionary Intelligences for the Human Hive will be downloadable and included in the fee.

 

Each session includes: Introductions, a Mini-lecture from me, Facilitated Discussion, Q&A, Summary.

 

Register for the course by emailing marilyn@integralcity.com with Telecourse in the subject line.

 

 

7. Integral Education Seminar FROM CRADLE TO KOSMOS

Whidbey Island August 2-7, 2009. Get the details at www.i-edu.org .

 

 

*8. SPIRAL DYNAMICS integral CERTIFICATION SEMINAR :

 

 

Spiral Dynamics integral Level 1 Certification Training

Vancouver, BC, August 14-16, 2009 

Details & Registration: http://www.integralcity.com/reg-forms/Current%20Trainings/current%20trainings.html#sdi trainings

 

*9. The 16 Ways Level One: Energy Fundamentals

With Dylan Newcomb, August 12-13, 2009 Vancouver, BC

Participants qualify for Student Registration Spiral Dynamics integral, Level 1, Vancouver, BC, August 14-16, 2009

Details & Registration: http://www.dylannewcomb.com/Dylan_Newcomb/16_Ways-Level_1.html

 

By engaging our whole self – on the levels of body, mind, emotions, and breath –  and moving them from one dynamic into it’s opposite, back and forth,  the natural abundance of energy contained within each polarity opens up and becomes much more available to us.  We start to naturally respond with more ease and joy to the constant changes in our life. The 16 Ways offers a simple and powerful way to access a greater range of experience and expression.

 

In this two-day level one training, you will:

 

Learn to access the fundamental energies of The 16 Ways in your body, mind, and emotions

 

gain an intuitive, practical understanding of your own subtle energy patterns and learn how to work with them

 

complete the ‘16 Ways Polarity Questionnaire’ which tracks your daily feelings and behaviors and traces them to energies of the The 16 Ways.

 

practice using the polarities of The 16 Ways to explore and enhance relationship

 

 

 

 

 

*10. FALL PREVIEW

2009 STATE OF THE WORLD FORUM: Mobilizing to Save Civilization – A Ten Year Plan to Address Climate Change
November 12-14, 2009 in Washington D.C.

Registration and Details: http://www.worldforum.org/2009conference-overview.htm

 

This Forum will bring attention to the critical issue of climate change and to catalyze a ten year plan to green our economies that the State of the World Forum is convening a three day conference November 12-14, 2009 in Washington D.C. The 2009 Forum will launch a ten year campaign that will meet in a different world city each year.
Our intention is to catalyze a demand for new standards of moral leadership. Our goal is to empower people everywhere, personally and collectively, to create greener and more resilient lifestyles and communities.  In order to realize this plan we are bringing international thought leaders, specialists and activists together to begin work on what a ten year plan to green our economies would actually look like, even as we appeal to our governments to take immediate and decisive action.
We are in a time of enormous transition, when the present is crumbling right from under our feet, but the future is not quite clear enough for us to grasp. What is needed is imagination and a sense of possibility to bridge the gap between present and future.

The State of the World Forum is committed to working with partners worldwide to catalyzing the imagination needed and the collaboration required to both envision and implement the world we must fashion as humanity moves beyond the War on Terror into the next phase of human development. Joining together to make this commitment can generate a veritable renaissance of international solidarity and good will.

Please join us in this global initiative to change the course of history.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in Classroom course, Dialogue, F. Training, Telecourse | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment »

The Master Rule as Three Faces of God

May 14, 2009 by marilynhamilton

Listening to Ken Wilber and Andrew Cohen on their webcasted dialogue last week prompted ponderings on the three faces of God in the city.

The Third Face of God — represented as the face of the third person — the God we see in the other as we walk the streets of the city. This is the same God we see in the artifacts that have become the built city itself.

The Second Face of God — represented as the face of the second person — the thou/We God whom we serve as we live, work, re-create together. This is the same God with whom we relate in our families, clans (ethnic and corporate). But it is also the God to whom we bow the knee (Andrew’s expression) as being greater than our individual egoic selves. A God who is greater than we can be as an individual.

The First Face of God — represented as the face of the first person — the I /me /mine God whom we see in the mirror, experience every minute. The awesome face of God embodied in our selves.

It was especially interesting to hear the dialogue acknowledge how well we know the third and first faces of God. But us modern and post-modern citizens balk at embracing the second face of God, because of the fear of releasing our self-control to a greater expression of Good/God.

But in considering the three faces of God, I was brought back to the Master Rule  I propose for the Integral City( in my book). I was struck by a blinding flash of the obvious!! The Master Rule embraces the three faces of God.

Look after yourself (first face of God)

Look after each other (second face of God)

Look after this place (third face of God)

So the struggle to “bend the knee” to the second face of God is the struggle to look after each other. As the City’s challenging life conditions multiply, it strikes me that our efforts to look after each other must complexify in order for us to look after both ourselves and this place. Ultimately this is a basic survival rule for our species. It shows up in our bio-psycho-cultural-social realities — and it is a basic spiritual precept.

It turns out the Master Rule for the Integral City is a Spiritual Rule.

Posted in Master Intelligence, Spiritual intelligence | Tagged , | 1 Comment »

Investing in Kids – Another School – New Orleans

May 9, 2009 by marilynhamilton

Thanks to Amy Hartman and Don Beck for passing along a very clear message from a New Orleans Catholic School who has a whole system meshwork for educating kids.

Check it out here at Principal Moran’s of Archbisop Rummel HighSchool.

The fervour of the Principal’s message affirms the values of healthy Blue, while designing the school’s structures and culture from Yellow. He also talks about the Master Intelligence of how life conditions are created to : Take care of Self; Take care of Each Other; Take Care of This Place.

This is the kind of intelligence which enables an Integral City

Posted in Inner, Level 4 Blue, Level 7 Yellow, Master Intelligence, Storytelling - Cultures | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off

Investing in Kids

May 8, 2009 by marilynhamilton

I just finished a final edit on the last Imagine Abbotsford Dialogue — to be reported in The Abbotsford News May 14, 2009.

This dialogue was on the Health and Community of Abbotsford. One Policy Maker from the Fraser Valley Health Authority remarked that the community gains greater health benefits by investing in kids than in any other demographic of the community. The payback is enormous — for every dollar invested in kids, the community saves four dollars in the future. That is an huge return on investment.

Where do the dollars invested in childhood development largely get spent? In the education system (not the health care system) — but the paybacks are in the whole community system.

David Brooks talks about the Harlem Miracle today, outlining the story of Geoffrey Canada in Harlem and his Promise Academy in the Harlem Children’s Zone. The results of Canada’s school performance have so impressed researchers using rigorous evaluation templates, that they have changed their minds about the intractability of Harlem’s school and social problems.

Brooks points out the fierce standards that Canada demands of his students and his teachers. And he makes no bones about the value of teaching his students middle class values that include mutual respect, impulse control, self-discipline and hard work. His black students have closed the black-white performance gap that exists in most of the other New York schools — proving that the gap is not impervious to change.

The comments following Brooks article reveal that Promise Academy admits students by lottery (not selection) so they are accepting all comers. Further, the charter school provides support for the kids before and after school AND addresses the competencies of their parents, by offering them parenting classes.

Sounds like two streams of research — one in healthcare and one in education — are proving that one of the most intelligent investments city’s can make is in their children. Not surprising!! The bees figures that out millions of generations ago.

btw, seems like Promise Academy has created a very integral solution that integrates structural, cultural, intentional and behavioral aspects to create life conditions for educating kids. Don Beck points out that it is an elegant meshwork approach!!

Posted in Inner, Lifecycle, Storytelling - Cultures | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments »

Stand By Me = Musical Meshworking?

May 6, 2009 by marilynhamilton

I just followed a link to a beautiful musical creation. This is a very purple song to the core — or maybe this way, produced by a mobile recording studio that spanned the globe — maybe it’s Turquoise???

The producer has recorded very talented buskers and a host of back-up musicians from around the world, meshing their sounds together – aligning the voices, intruments, hearts, minds, souls. Check out Stand by Me – and tell me if you don’t think this is an elegant example of musical meshworking??

In his own way, this producer is demonstrating the Master Intelligence – take care of yourself, take care of each other, take care of this place.

Posted in C. Collective Intelligences, Level 2 Purple, Level 8 Turquoise, Master Intelligence, Meshworking, Storytelling - Cultures | Tagged , | 1 Comment »

Integral Bio-Security Resources for Swine, Avian Flu

May 3, 2009 by marilynhamilton

I’ve been watching with considerable interest the unfolding of the Swine Flu episode from Mexico to the rest of the world. It has reminded me of the Avian Flu incident that we lived through here in Abbotsford in 2004.

As a result of that experience I created three resources for addressing zoonotic diseases, like avian flu, swine flu (or a variety of others from ebola to mad cow disease.)

Here are the resources:

1. A Strategy for Mayors to address bio-security issues that appear in their city.

2. An article on Risk Management for Bio-Security called “The Dinosaur, The House of Cards and the Runaway Train” – originally presented at the World Planners Congress in 2006.

3. A Case Study on Bio-Security for teaching the leadership issues needed to effectively address bio-security risks in cities.

Please feel free to contact me about comments or questions on these resources.

Posted in Classroom course, Ego, Ethno, Global/Worldcentric, Inquiry, Level 7 Yellow | Tagged , , , | Comments Off

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