OS in education

[Michael Herman]

birgitt, so glad you asked this question...here's one story i've pulled
from what i've collected in my experiment with website construction.
also, we've got a meeting of school, police, social service, and other
agencies slated for mid-november, about 80 folks expected to address
gang activity. an existing coalition that needs to recharge.  wouldn't
go for including the kids, though that may be possible in the next
go-round. anyway, here's the one that's already history...

---

Youth Action in Open Space
Sustainable Racine Project
Racine, Wisconsin
It was late October and too cold to be out without coats, but there we
were, pacing in the dark of a parking lot. My good friend and colleague,
Brian Reilly (Program Officer, The Johnson Foundation) was fuming about
being accidentally locked out of his new house. Personally, I was glad
to have the time to talk, so I kept pulling his energy back to his work
and what he wanted to do with his role in Sustainable Racine, a
whole-community redevelopment project in Racine, Wisconsin. Eventually,
we got around to his passion for youth leadership.

As it turns out, Brian had been talking to a number of young people in
the community. He really wanted to get them together and get them more
involved in the work of Sustainable Racine. We went round and round in
the parking lot...intentions, resources, history, opportunities,
intentions, invitations, history, intentions, opportunities...and
finally to a plan.

Four weeks later we met again, for the first youth conference, and first
Open Space meeting, ever hosted by the Johnson Foundation at their Frank
Lloyd Wright-designed Wingspread Conference Center. Thirty-five youth,
ages 12-22, came to participate in the four-hour meeting. In true Open
Space style, they self-organized and self-managed an agenda of 14 of
their most important issues. They captured hand-written proceedings and
typed a contact list so that they could keep in touch beyond the
meeting.

Though their interests and proposed activities were later clustered into
six major areas for future work, the dialogue in the closing circle
focused on an immediate opportunity for action and recognition. A
23-site, all-Racine meeting was already scheduled for a Saturday, about
six weeks later. With that in mind, the group decided to table their
main interests and put all their efforts into getting as many of their
peers out to represent the youth perspective at the all-community
meetings day. Everyone pledged to contact at least three friends.

An estimated 1,000 people showed up to participate the multi-site
dialogues, about 100 of those were youth. Another 3,000 people watched
on TV. Afterward, 12 out of 100 people selected for the 'visioning
committee' were under 25 years old.
This felt like the first success for the youth group, even as they
continued to debate whether they were a 'process' or an 'organization.'
By choosing to call themselves 'Youth Action,' they made sure that the
debate didn't slow their activity. Another direct result of the first
meeting was the emergence of a 'youth art' newsletter.

Going back to that first meeting, one of the major issues for the group
was skate boarding. So when the development of a new skateboard park hit
the newspapers, some members of the group worked to inject their
interests into the discussions of donors, developers, planners and
architects. In the end, the youth involvement made the front pages of
the local papers and the park location has been moved from its proposed
industrial park site, to a more desirable downtown park location.

In May, the group gathered for their second large-group session in Open
Space and returned to work on their six main issues: art, internet
access, the construction of a youth center, skate boarding sites,
sexually transmitted diseases, and environmental issues. They also added
an important seventh issue: growing their circle(s).

This second meeting was scheduled from 5:37p to 8:04p, in an effort to
remind parental chauffeurs that "whenever it starts is the right time"
and "when it's over it's over, and when it's not, it's not." (The first
meeting had run over by about 20 minutes, for which a number of folks
apparently took some heat.) At this meeting, the group grew to more than
60 members who recommitted themselves to looking into similar projects
in other cities and to finding adults and other resources within the
Racine area.

When they reconvened in July, still in Open Space, they brought the
fruits of their research and resourcing efforts and the group expanded
to 75, including some new adult supporters. This meeting was also
significant in that two girls in the group did the honors of opening the
space. (Brian had facilitated the second open space meeting.)

These girls' leadership efforts and open space facilitation work with
the group also earned them an invitation to attend a national conference
sponsored by the YMCA Earth Service Corps (a cutting-edge youth led,
adult supported, environmental- and service-learning program). There,
they knock the socks off of an impressive gathering of youth leaders and
adult supporters. Folks were so interested in their stories and
successes with Open Space, that a block of time was cleared in the
conference schedule so that the girls could demonstrate Open Space
Technology. They opened a small space there for the 100+
participants...a little too small a space, actually, for one breakout
group that focused on 'race relations,' which could have gone on much
longer than the scheduled time available.

Currently, it seems that this group is becoming an important cluster of
activity within the overall Sustainable Racine effort. They expect to
keep meeting formally, in Open Space, every two months or so, with lots
of informal, supporting conversations in between. A special meeting with
an architect for their proposed youth center is also in the works, with
the support of the Sustainable Racine project office. Finally, efforts
also are being made to establish a Racine Chapter of the YMCA Earth
Service Corps.

This story's come a long way from that cold parking lot and Brian's
three-paragraph invitation, last November. And it may be just beginning.
If this is something you'd like to see happen in your community, email
Michael Herman, who can connect you with Brian and the youth leaders in
Racine. You might also be interested in visiting the YMCA Earth Service
Corps website or emailing YESC Training Director Charlie Murphy, who
just happened to be in Racine for the that first meeting in Open Space.

to Open Space Resources Page

UPDATE: August, 1998...this just in from Brian, via email...
Good news--open space as taught to Earth Service Corps people by Dana
and Becky replicates itself. I heard from a woman today who has used it
several times in Minneapolis! Funny. As in funny-cool, not funny-ha
ha...