Cases? - Community Economic Development

[Chris Corrigan]

Jay:

I recently conducted an Open Space aroound improving the lives of Aboriginal
people in the city of Vancouver.  The event was geared at a very poor community
and tackled issues such as homelessnes, HIV/AIDS, sexula exploitation of
children and youth, women's issues, addictions, education, cultural protection
and many other topics.

The OS went very well and has spawned a great deal of work in the communty.  The
big lesson I learned is that opening up an event like this to the community
creates action in the community which the organizers have no control over, and
which they may not even be aware of.  THis is slightly different from OS in an
organizational setting, where most of the tangible outcomes will be apparent in
varying degrees.  In our case, I've been hearing about stuff that's going on for
the past few weeks that I KNOW the sponsors aren't aware of.

This presents a communication challenge for the sponsor as they try to get a
handle on all the activity out there, and position themselves to be a part of it
without interfering.

Phone me or email for more information.  I'd be happy to talk to you.

Chris

JayWV at aol.com wrote:

> Hello list!
> A colleague and I are helping a Chamber of Commerce in Colorado enter Open
> Space for a community economic summit with about 250 folks over a day and a
> half this summer.
>
> Their recent query to us:
> "Do either of you have any examples of successful applications of Open Space
> Technology to community settings?  Community wide issues with an economic
> development or growth component would be most helpful."
>
> I've scoured my e-files from the list and found surprisingly little on this
> specific subject.  Any body have a case/contact that we could pass along?
>
> Thanks!   Jay Vogt
>
> Jay W. Vogt
> Peoplesworth
> 166 Hubbard Street
> Concord, MA 01742-2448 USA
> (978) 371-3134 - Voice
> (978) 287-5431 - Fax
> jaywv at aol.com - Email

--
CHRIS CORRIGAN
108-1035 Pacific Street
Vancouver BC
V6E 4G7

Phone: 604.683.3080
Fax: 604.683-3036