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.