Link Loving 09.12.12

• Would ‘Early Action’ deliver better and cheaper public services? That’s a yes. Will Horwitz.
• George Lakoff takes on Frank Luntz’s Occupy briefing.
• Occupy Wall Street: A generation of 20-somethings airs its grievances. Amanda Fairbanks.
• Longtime White House correspondent Helen Thomas reminisces about the ten presidents she covered – from Kennedy to Obama.
• Inviting the quiet gift – how have we ended up a fundraising culture like this? Dick Durning.
• What are the best tips Silicon Valley tycoons have been given? NESTA.
• Innovation starvation. Neal Stephenson.
• Want to learn good consensus decision making? This will help you.

The Kindness Boomerang

Cute little music video with a ‘pass it forward’ theme.

Campaign Case Study – City Of Sanctuary

This post is cross-posted from the Values and Frames website, where this was initially published. Thanks to Sarah and Amy for making it happen.

“Creating spaces of safety and a culture of welcome”

City of Sanctuary seeks to build a culture of hospitality for people seeking sanctuary in the UK. Over the last six years, they have created a network of towns and cities throughout the UK where asylum seekers and refugees can contribute and participate fully in the life of their communities. Have a look at this video to get a sense of what City of Sanctuary are all about:

I spoke to Sarah Eldridge, one of two part-time staff in Sheffield, about building community, changing attitudes and engaging values in her work.

What did City of Sanctuary set out to do differently?

Sheffield had a number of organisations providing services for asylum seekers and refugees – everything from volunteers who give up spare rooms to legal assistance. What City of Sanctuary wanted was to bring about a cultural change within the city – to appreciate the situations asylum seekers and refugees find themselves in, and to welcome them into active participation in community life.

The aim of City of Sanctuary is that those seeking sanctuary can easily build relationships with local people as neighbours, friends and colleagues. Through these relationships, local people come to understand the injustices refugees face, and become motivated to support and defend them.

How are the organisational values expressed in the way they work?

• Inclusion: Much like Transition Towns, the network grew out of one initial hub. Now that there are more than 20 towns and cities, a new national governance structure was needed. The new National Committee of seven people includes representatives from local government, human rights law and faith organisations – but most importantly two refugees.

• Empowerment: Resources created are shared on a public hub for any group to use. Logos, posters, checklists, and a handbook are all available. Although the logo is kept as a standard theme among different groups, local City of Sanctuary groups can choose their own colour combinations.

• Independence: Each town and city focuses on fulfilling a local need, rather than rolling out a uniform project. The accreditation process has also changed over time to represent the on-the-ground reality.

What has most surprised the team?

As well as becoming a valuable community for those seeking sanctuary, City of Sanctuary has also become a center of social contact for people who have lived in Sheffield for a longer time but who have felt socially isolated.

Local ‘conversation clubs’, events where everyone shares their traditional food (including Yorkshire puddings), have been central to building bridges amongst communities – especially once the music and dancing starts! Young families and elderly people have especially benefited.

They’ve also heard back from destitute asylum seekers who have been supported by partner organisation Assist that it makes an extra difference to know that the individuals coming to help them are doing so as a volunteer – because they want to, rather than because they’re being paid to do it.

What would they do differently if they were doing it again?

At the beginning, there was a real focus on scale – especially the number of organisations involved in each new City of Sanctuary. Now, the emphasis is on what signed-up organisations will actively do to create a welcoming city.

What does this mean for us as change-makers?

City of Sanctuary’s approach is rooted in community feeling – which we know is part of a constellation of values that underpin systemic expressions of concern about a wider range of social and environmental issues. By building stronger communities and enabling people to be kind to one another, City of Sanctuary is also encouraging values of equality, freedom and social justice.

Contact

Sarah Eldridge

http://www.cityofsanctuary.org/contact

A City of Sanctuary Social

An Honest Conversation: Stories From LGBTQ Latino Youth

Powerful stuff.

An Honest Conversation.

Link Loving 08.12.11

• What do you do when an entire system fails? David Allen Green.
• Newt Gingrich encounters a different kind of Tea Party. Laurie Penny.
• Turns out every model on H&M’s website is totally computer generated. Jenna Sauers.
• The state of India – an advocacy masterclass from Amartya Sen and Jean Dreze. Duncan Green.
• IMF Chief Economist Ken Rogofft: Is modern capitalism sustainable? Alex Evans.
• MIT’s new Director for their Center for Civic Media, Ethan Zuckerman, on digital activism.
• Mapping the French political blogosphere. Antonella Napolitano.
• The fanatics of the center. Paul Starr.

5 Things That Surprised Me About Powerful People

Over the past couple of days I’ve met some very senior people within the world of finance, government and business through the World Economic Forum ‘Global Shapers’ programme. I was struck that those with significant resources, access and power often have little idea of what to do – eurozone crisis, climate change, destructive economic systems all seem to be beyond their control. In fact,

• They don’t have the answers – there is a collective loss of confidence about how the world works. Very, very few have the courage to admit this lack of understanding + their own fear. Some very rare leaders are able to set goals (that override, or work within the growth framework) which steer their organisational ship in the right direction, with the hope that time+need will find solutions.

• Some are asking the right questions – most are not. Some are desperately ‘looking for new models’ and wanting ‘innovators to scale up’, without really knowing how or what they’re looking for. Others ask absurd questions like ‘but what is the Occupy movement FOR?’ and are defensive about any criticism directed at them.
  

• Social norms are often from the 1950’s – overwhelming gender imbalance and some very blokey culture, heterocentrism, tiny number of people of colour. No understanding of who-you-are-influences-how-you’re-heard. Often complete unwillingness to see this as a problem.

• Transformations are possible, but badly executed – encounters with reality, especially experiential ones, can radically shift attitudes and behaviour. Often though, after this experience, solutions are still taken from the old system – ‘set up a school in Africa’ etc.

• Little willingness to see systemic nature of problem – lots of de rigour systems language, but very few willing to use words like ‘capitalism’.

I realised that my own assumptions about the world still included the thought that these powerful people have a clear idea what they’re doing. Turns out, that ain’t so.

Chip And Bean By Nothing

This is beyond adorable. h/t Shilpa Shah.

Link Loving 07.12.11

• Wall Street is already occupied – from within. Jesse Eisinger.
• Why Iceland should be in the news – but isn’t. An amazing story. Deena Stryker.
• England riots: suspects mapped and poverty mapped. Simon Rogers.
• French government bans vegetarianism at school. Tara Garnett.
• BP accuses Halliburton over Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The Guardian.
• A just transition or just a transition? Hanna Thomas.
• Fancy hearing from your MP?
• ‘Occupy Our Homes’ protesters highlight foreclosures nationwide. Arthur Delaney.

The Power Of The Pentatonic Scale

Bobby McFerrin is a genius. Talking about expectation…

Link Loving 06.12.11

• How Republicans are being taught to talk about Occupy Wall Street – check out these soundbites you’ll be hearing. Chris Moody.
• Design your own success – long but wonderful talk . Sharon Ann Lee.
• A very grim way to spend three minutes – an interactive map of every road death in the UK.
• Britain’s failed experiment, repeated. New York Times.
• Carbon dioxide emissions increased last year by the largest amount in absolute terms since the Industrial Revolution. Justin Gillis.
• Lobbyists caught on camera. It’s not pretty. The Independent.
• Rape: a basic tool of militarism. Rebecca Johnson.
• Beware the dream politician. Emma Burnell.