Better for Us: Recap, What Now and Other

To review what I have shared this month--

• I described my 40+ years of experience, education and training in community development.
• I expressed the "why" I believe it's important to build better for us communities who value and enhance 
•  happiness
•  health and well-being
•  and creative capital for all members.

Now, I am presenting a challenge in answer to the rhetorical question, "what now?"

Anita Fonte at UA Tucson Village Farm, harvesting season 2015

Is the community that you, the reader lives in ready and willing to not only measure Gross Domestic Product (GDP), but also Gross Happiness Product (GHP)?  Is the community you live in ready and willing to promote happiness, health and well-being for all its members?  Is the community you live in ready and willing to focus on generating incentives for creative people to work in your community?  And are you willing to do what you can to "make it so"? 

Every small step helps--just thinking about what I have shared in this short, and incomplete, selection of photos and words may be the tipping point for positive change in your life and community.  Let's try to work together to make our communities better for us.

I will continue to work on my ebook and plan to offer it for free early next year. Also, in March and April, 2016, there will be opportunities for community members to learn about several of the tools mentioned in my blog as well as other resources that can help build communities better for us.

And, before I sign off for now, here's a short list (as Austin Kleon demonstrates  in Show Your Work!) of the books and resources that helped make this blog-to-book.

Richard Florida.  The Rise of the Creative Class (2002)

Richard Harwood.  Make Hope Real (2007)

Gallup-Healthways. Well-Being Index www.well-beingindex.com

Austin Kleon.  Show Your Work! (2014)

OECD.  How's Life? 2015 (2014) www.oecd.org

State of the States www.gallup.com/poll/125066/state-states

The Well-being Project Summary Findings (2015)  http://wellbeing.smgov.net/projectresources

Jean Twenge.  "Young People are Happier than they Used to Be..." The Atlantic Health (2015) www.thatlantic.com/author/jean-twenge

Better for Us: Return to Focus on What Matters and Why

I asked a couple of my younger colleagues who also do professional community work, asking them:  "Why do you do this work?"  Here are their responses which mirror the reasons why a Better for Us Community is important:

"Working to ensure that people are treated with fairness and compassion has always been at the core of my being.  In addition, I have lived a fulfilling life full of opportunities, and I believe that everyone should be able to have that experience."--J.Y., Executive Director of a multi-state nonprofit organization.

"Tucson, just like any city, will grow and change.  I work to make sure it grows and changes in a way that is constructive and improves as many citizens' lives as possible.  I want Tucson's growth to be managed by those who have an interested in equality, culture, and sustainability."--C.F., Community Outreach Coordinator for a collaborative nonprofit organization.

Community Renaissance's Do Happy Today Collaboration at Pima County Public Library www.dohappytoday.com

ETC. Recap, What Now and Other -- in the next post!

 

Better for Us: The Creative Class Post 4

This is the last post focusing on key elements that, I believe, make a community that is Better for Us.  With some adaptations, luck and discipline, I will wrap up this blog launch by 11/30--as promised.  In 2016, I will (probably) expand the text a bit for the ebook which I plan to give away as a "gift" on the www.dohappytoday.com website. 

My next post, wrapping up the Better for Us theme, will return to "focus on what matters" and provide a short list of resources used in this blog-to-book.

So...here we go for a look at a few examples of The Creative Class: Designers in Tucson.

San Xavier Del Bac Mission (1787), Façade Element www.sanxaviermission.org

Two photos of 4th Avenue Street Art, second photo by Downtown Tucson Partnership www.downtowntucson.org

Tucson Arts Brigade mural on 4th Avenue www.michaelschwartz.com
 

Luis G. Guitterez Bridge (sundial) designed by Structural Grace Inc. www.structuralgrace.com

 

Better for Us Reflection

It's Thanksgiving Eve day and my butter is warming up to room temperature before I start baking pumpkin cupcakes---a new recipe.  This morning, with the clouds muting the light, we decided to visit the FoodinRoot Farmers' Market at the UA Mall and take a mile and a half walk around the main campus to Park Ave. and loop back to Campbell. 

Along the way, I took a couple of photos of autumn color in the trees and a photo of the market, on the grass bordered by colorful flower beds.  And, as I think back on this morning--and look forward to Thanksgiving--I am grateful for the abundance of entrepreneurs who are the foundation of our local economy and the hard work they put into their businesses.  Whether they grow the food, make the food, organize events to sell the food, weave tapestries, paint collages and notecards, create apps for smart phones, make and sell fair trade products--all these elements (and more) are the threads of Tucson.  They bind us together, making our community better for us.

So before I post my final posts in the next few days for this November blog-to-book, I give thanks for my community and all who are part of it.

Better for Us: The Creative Class post 3



Food and Food Makers & Vendors:

Cakes for Causes www.cakesforcauses.org

Food in Root Farmers' Market (some of the staff) www.foodinroot.com

FoodinRoot photos by Michael Moriarty www.michaelmoriartyphotography.com



Café 54 samples and slice of Tucson Birthday Cake www.cafe54.org


Hacienda Del Sol Guest Ranch Resort Chefs and creations www.haciendadelsol.com

 

 

 

 

 

Better for Us: The Creative Class continues

Collection 2: Visual and Musical Artists

Continuing from last week's post on the entrepreneurs in Tucson's technology community, here is a cluster of photos of just a few visual and musical artists in The Old Pueblo.

Ivan Mendez, ivanm1@email.arizona.edu

Crane Day, www.craneday.com

Tracy Foltz www.Etsy.com/shop/ZinniaSkyStudio

Dancing in the Streets, www.ditsaz.org

K. Loren Dawn, kloren@oceanplum.com


 

www.napskippers.com

 

 

Better for Us: The Creative Class

“Human creativity is the ultimate economic resource….These are the scientists, engineers, artists, musicians, designers and knowledge-based professionals, whom I collectively call the ‘Creative Class.’”  Richard Florida, The Rise of the Creative Class.

Note: the photos in this album post are by anita c. fonte unless stock photos or otherwise noted

 

Librarian Sprinkling Happiness, Pima County Public Library, Downtown Tucson, International Day of Happiness: Tucson and Beyond, 3/20/15

 

Austin Kleon's Show Your Work!

 

In the spirit of advice from Austin Kleon, this series of posts is similar to a tag board depicting selected elements of Tucson's Creative Class.  Feel Free to comment on this post and share your own Creative Class information and/or photos which I may include in the BetterforUs ebook.

 

Idea+Space at the Pima County Public Library, Tucson www.library.pima.gov/author/ideaspace   

Collection 1: Startup Partners and Events



Startup Tucson & Thryve www.startuptucson www.10West.co

Photo by Courtney Fey at CoLab with Startup Tucson

 





 






 



 

 

 

 

Better for Us Flash Post: Shared Info From Canadian Index for Well-being

On the Santa Monica Well-being Project Facebook page, the link to the Canadian Index for Well-being was available.  So I clicked on it and scrolled down to find this image which I think is pretty interesting.

In between posts again: Richard Florida Video #2

I have put in 4 hours for the next blog-to-book post, but I am not ready to post it yet.  So, here's another short (1.5 mins) video of Richard Florida (2012)--reminding us what makes us unique as a species is our creativity and that inclusivity is key to a happy, healthy and creative community. 

In light of the last week of global events, I think we all need to push the edges of our respective boxes, push the edge of our boxes past fear and what we know (or think to be true) and discover and/or do/make something positive and new! (example: me...learning how to a) load a video and b) do it from vimeo--hope I actually did it).

 

In between posts: a Video of Richard Florida and the Creative Class

Trying to see if I can share this video on my blog!  --Hey, it looks as if I did, which is a new/big step for me.

Better for Us: Well-being Science and Community Change

 

Better for Us:  Well-Being Science and Community Change

 

                                             Photo anita c. fonte, Tucson LocalFirstAz

My business, Community Renaissance, has been a member of LocalFirstAz for the past three years. Why?  Because for every $100 spent at a locally owned business, $73 remains in the local economy and $27 leaves. Compare that impact with the other choice:  for every $100 spent on a non-locally owned business, $43 remains in the local economy and $57 leaves. (from www.localfirstaz.com/learn).

In the most recent Gallup-Healthways Well-being Index (2014), Arizona ranked 35 out of the 50 states for overall financial well-being, with indicators that include money spent on food and healthcare http://www.well-beingindex.com .  Financial well-being, also referred to as economic opportunity, is only one of the six measurement dimensions in the Santa Monica California Well-being project http://wellbeing.smgov.net/projectresources .   

Awarded 1 million dollars by the Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Mayors Challenge, the City of Santa Monica brought in the Rand Corporation, the U.K-based research institute New Economics Foundation (nef) and additional 18 experts from other research groups and universities to: 

·       develop tools to measure their city’s well-being, and

·       produce a transferability guide for other cities, such as Tucson, to use.   

The other five areas measured in the Santa Monica data were: community, place, learning, health and outlook, i.e. how individuals feel about their lives and day-to-day emotions.  

The overall purpose of the Santa Monica Project and other resources that are emerging as part of the field of Well-being Science is to provide cities (regions, states and countries) “with targeted information to act on the causes and conditions which improve quality of life.” Source: Summary Findings from the Local Wellbeing Index, April 2015, The Wellbeing Project. 

One interesting finding from the Santa Monica Project is displayed in this image: 

                                      

 

In Tucson, the University of Arizona’s MAP Dashboard found that over 1 in 3 share this concern http://mapazdashboard.arizona.edu . 

Related to this finding: The HUD designated Southwest Fair Housing Council--one of the partners with Community Renaissance’s program, The Partnership for Equity and Civic Engagement (PECE) and Do Happy Today--is conducting its first phase of an Opportunity Map with assistance from University of Arizona students in Geography.  This first phase connects affordability and employment to segregated housing patterns in Pima County http://www.swfhc.com .  

Other university faculty at the University of Arizona, Brian Meyer, and, Scott Cloutier, at Arizona State University are studying community resiliency (Meyer) and Sustainable Neighborhoods for Happiness (Cloutier).  Also, local efforts such as Healthy Pima and Tucson Mayor Rothschild’s Commission on Poverty (2014) and Commission on Food Security, Heritage and Economy (2015) are part of the Well-being Science research leaning our region forward to positive community change http://healthypima.org http://www.mayorrothschild.com/initiatives . 

                                                                              


                

                             
           

“Wellbeing science is valuable for three reasons.  First, it helps us focus on the things that make the most difference in people’s lives….  Second, it helps us manage the trade-offs between different objectives….  And third, wellbeing science can help in identifying positive feedback loops and the interventions that encourage them…. http://wellbeing.smgov.net/projectresources

Better for Us: Focus on Happiness Post 1

Better for Us:  Focus on Happiness

 

 

As author of the 2013 book Talk UP^ Tucson: An Exploration of Community Happiness and Prosperity,  my background research discovered the fifty year arc of policy development and research in Gross National Happiness.  Here are few highlights:

·       The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is established in 1961 with the mission to “promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.”  http://www.oecd.org

·       The Country of Bhutan established the 4 Pillars of Gross National Happiness in 1972 http://www.gnhusa.org/what-is-gnh

·       2000, psychologist Martin Seligman established the academic discipline of positive psychology.  Authentic Happiness….  New York: Free Press. 2002.

·       2009, Gallup conducts the first annual global poll on happiness, defined as subjective well-being.  http://www.gallup.com/opinion/gallup

·       2011, the United National General Assembly “invites member states to pursue the elaboration of additional measures that better capture the importance of the pursuit of happiness and well-being….” http://www.un.org/en/events/happiness

·       2012, the United National General Assembly declares March 20, 2013 as the first International Day of Happiness.

·       2014, Community Renaissance and the Pima County Public Library established the Facebook Group, Tucson Happiness Network, with almost three hundred current members.

·       2015, Community Renaissance, Do Happy Today and Community Partners established

 

 where over two hundred Tucsonans from diverse backgrounds and ages participated in a community-sponsored lunch, music and dance and workshops at the downtown Tucson Pima County Public Library.  http://www.dohappytoday.com  

·       2015, Action for Happiness’ successful international crowdfunding campaign launches its 8 week course, endorsed by the Dalai Lama. http://www.actionforhappiness.org  

As this summary demonstrates, the global happiness and well-being movement is growing. 

Our next post will feature the community-based applied research of Santa Monica, California’s Community Well-being Project and the impact implications this 1 Million dollar Bloomberg Foundation funded effort could have in Southern Arizona and other parts of the United States. 

Future posts will include research in Arizona and Pima County on happiness and well-being as well as continue to share information on global happiness and well-being research and stories.  

Focused Fact: 

 

 

From the Atlantic magazine Health online post 11.5.15, “Young People are Happier than they used to be, but mature adults aren’t faring as well.”  Prof. Jean M. Twenge, San Diego State University, recently published findings in Social Psychological and Personality Science journal, of comparative research on a sample of 1.3 million Americans from 1972-2014, ages 13-96.   

Conclusion: As cultural values change (in higher expectations, more individualism and a rise in income inequality), the happiest stage of life seems to change along with them.

Better for Us--Why is This Important?

Better for Us:  Why is this important?—Because it takes a village to make one

  
Years ago, I met Richard Harwood of the Harwood Institute.  Richard is a nationally recognized expert on the what is going on in the hearts of Americans.  In one of his books, Hope Unraveled (and cited in his 2007 book, Make Hope Real), he cites four reasons for the divisions we have in our nation, states, communities, and neighborhoods.  Richard calls them “broken covenants”:

·       Lost Faith in the American Dream

·       Free-for-all on basic values

·       Materialism and consumerism run amuck

·       Breakdown in community  www.theharwoodinstitute.org/sharehope

These broken covenants are tearing at the fabric of our public lives. As a result, many of us don’t even know our neighbors, have a very thin safety net of people we can rely on, and are isolated behind our electronic devices and security-locked doors. 

In my own neighborhood in central Tucson 30% of the residents are rentals and I almost daily see moving vans move on the street.  At a recent annual meeting of a nearby neighborhood, the only neighbors attending were the association officers, minus one.  Another neighborhood leader in Tucson admitted to me that “the only thing that gets people to our meetings is a crisis and it has to be a pretty scary one at that.”  So focusing on crime, speeding, zoning, and potholes are the topics of the day at local cafés, generating toxic attitudes that spill into public meetings.

Not too long ago I was hired to moderate a contentious gathering of engineers, consultants, neighborhoods and elected officials.  The first words spoken by a public member was an obscenity—and young children were present.  This escalated into shouting and arm waving members approaching the “front of the room” (mostly men) cowering against the wall.  Fortunately, the location was at a university building where a security officer took me aside telling me that he detected liquor and the lingering odor of marijuana.  So I called for city police backup, wrote up public conversation ground rules (which I had requested to be posted but weren’t), and offered the belligerent members a separate conversation room where I would be moderating.  The offenders left, the police stayed, and the conversation took place.

But I cried about this experience for three days and wouldn’t talk with the other team members for a week.  They had let me down and even I didn’t feel safe in a public space.  Fortunately, my career with another professional team continued for a few years.  But that experience was a turning point in the direction of my work.

Recognizing that what Richard Harwood said about broken covenants was true, but trying, as he has in his work, to find a better way, I discovered hope:  there was a global movement improving happiness and well-being of  nations, states and communities.  www.actionforhappiness.org

My next post will tell you more about this better for us direction—toward hope, happiness and well-being.

 

Focused Fact:

 

 

 

In a New York Times Editorial 11/5/15, the author states that the national voter turnout of 36.3 % was the lowest in seventy-two  years.  The key factors were voter apathy, anger and frustration at mainly negative campaigns. 

Conclusion: negativity is bad for democracy.

 

 

Better for Us B2B Introduction:  Why trust me?—because it’s my lifelong passion.

 

Photo by anita c. fonte, Tucson Meet Yourself

My passion for community began with childhood messages from my Midwestern farming grandparents who repeated sayings such as “if you can’t be great, be good” and “treat the poor as you would your best friend.”  They also were readers of Emerson, Thoreau and Frost and attended Farmers’ meetings where everyone shared knowledge about crops, cows, and cooking. 

Added to that background, I acquired graduate and post graduate degrees in Adult Education, Education and Rhetoric.  My pivotal work experience centers on my move from Illinois to Tucson and the 1970s Model Cities Program, and, a decade later, training and consulting with The Kettering Foundation.  I’ve applied my growing knowledge to field work in adult basic education, community programming for older adults, and issue framing and deliberative dialogue with young adults and community residents in several states. 

I started and managed a nonprofit organization, The Maverick Institute, served as a Community Builder for the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development.  In 2003, I started my business, Community Renaissance, working for the Arizona Community Foundation, University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, City of Tucson and the engineering firm, Kimley-Horn and Associates.

For the past seven years, Community Renaissance has offered pro bono community development through its program The Partnership for Equity and Civic Engagement (PECE), (PECE).  Since 2013 we have been focused on applied research in the area of community happiness and well-being through the collaborative program Do Happy Today.  http://www.communityrenaissance.webstarts.com http://www.dohappytoday.com

My personal happiness includes volunteer reading with young children and supporting our locally grown businesses and entrepreneurs.  Even when my professional work has generated income, I often turned away from it when I didn’t believe the work was authentic, transparent and/or didn’t reflect my personal values.  

I have been doing community development and education work for over forty years at national, state and local levels, have donated many hours to the work I believe in, and stepped away from work I don’t.  I walk my talk and I talk my walk—so trust me.  And read the next post about why this work is better for us.