Author Archives: sjr

06.17.16
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Are We An Us? Download The Guide And Join The Conversation!

“City asks for citizen input and then doesn’t do anything with it.”

“Vision, don’t forget VISION!!!”

“We don’t know our neighbors.”

“What would it be like if we could come together as one WHOLE community?”

Our past forums have made it clear that the citizens of Columbia are concerned about where we are going as a community. Our new community dialogue guide, titled Are We An Us?, shares the thoughts, ideas, and actions that have been captured to date.  You can download the guide and join the conversation.  Join in on this blog, on our next forum, or in your own backyard!  Our Neighbor2Neighbor guide walks you through the process of hosting your own conversation with friends and neighbors and reporting back in.

Our next forum is an on-line chat forum, hosted by Columbia Daily Tribune managing editor Jim Robertson, Tuesday July 21 from 5 to 6 pm. To join, go to http://columbiatribune.com/ on Tuesday and follow the link.

We look forward to hearing from you.

06.14.16
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Our Town – Join Us Online June 21 at 5 pm

Did you know that between 2010 and 2015, Columbia grew twice as fast as Springfield and three times as fast as Kansas City? That more than 50 languages are spoken in our public schools? That we have students from more than 77 different countries? Find out more about how growth brings both diversity and prosperity and much more in the Columbia Daily Tribune’s 2016 Our Town guide. Print copies were included in the Sunday paper June 12 and can be purchased at the Tribune’s offices.

Join us online for a Trib Talks forum June 21 at 5 pm to talk about Our Town and its future.

06.07.16
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Are We An Us? Part 2

For the last month we have been meeting with our community partners, finalizing our dialogue guide, and returning to the Kettering Foundation to discuss our learning exchange.  Later this month we will launch our guide, titled “Are We An Us? A Guide for Dialogue About Community” along with a schedule of activities. Look for that on this blog!  You are welcome to download the guide and host your own discussion with your friends, family, neighborhood association, service organization or other group.

Also last month Columbia was named the 4th largest city in Missouri, passing Independence.  This reflects rapid growth over the past decade, and that growth continues.  Columbia passed the 100,000 mark in 2008 and is projected to exceed 200,000 by 2030.  As our forum participants observed, that growth has stressed our community in many ways.

How do we create or maintain a sense of community as we grow? Talking with each other across lines of race, place, and income is one way to do that. We hope to foster that conversation here and in other forums. Join in the conversation and watch for the guide!

04.30.16
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Community Forum On Equity and Race

A number of organizations and community groups are hosting a forum on race and equity issues across the city, with a particular focus on education and poverty.  You are invited!  The forum will be held at Hickman High School, in the gymnasium, Tuesday May 3, 5:30 to 7 pm.  Hosts include Heart of Missouri United Way, the Columbia Public Schools, University of Missouri and the City of Columbia.

04.29.16
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Interested in Development? Town Hall Tomorrow!

Yesterday the City sent out a press release announcing there would be a town hall meeting on “the development code update project” tomorrow, Saturday morning, April 30 from 8 am to noon, at City Hall, 701 East Broadway, Conference rooms 1A-C.

Topics will include:

  • Proposed new parking requirements,
  • Development, redevelopment and sufficiency of services and
  • Form-based controls downtown.

The announced purpose for this event is to “assist interested persons with understanding the draft development code in preparation for the public hearing process which begins in May”.  While we commend the City for hosting this event we would also like your thoughts on how the process for informing and inviting the public on these key issues might be improved.

 

 

03.30.16
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Opportunities For Building Bridges

Two local organizations are inviting your participation in events that are designed to bring members of the community together and help one another.

The Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture will host its Empty Bowls 2016 on Sunday April 10; this is a community meal in support of growing healthy food and hunger relief.  You have two choices of meals, lunch form Noon to 2 pm or Dinner from 5 to 7 pm.  Both will be served at Missouri United Methodist.  Admission is free although donations are invited and encouraged!

More than 30 churches in Columbia will come together for a day of serving the community on April 23, from 8:30 am to 1:00 pm. You can sign up here.  You can find Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube pages for this event by simply entering “For Columbia 2016” in your browser.

We invite you to share other opportunities to make Columbia a stronger, more supportive community on this blog!

 

03.26.16
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More Divides

In addition to healing divisions reflecting age, class and race,  participants in our February forum further identified a need to build bridges of communication and collaboration between City and County governments, City government and citizens, and  citizens and City staff.  The Battle students raised the question of how to strengthen connections between schools and community. Several people observed that without proactive dialogue between citizens, planners, and elected leaders, Columbia runs the risk of developing a geographic divide between North and South Columbia, like the geographic divides that exist in the St. Louis area.    Holding regular community dialogues within school buildings could begin to address some of these issues.

Other communities, including  Carbondale IL, have used sustained community dialogue to help solve difficult issues.  Columbia headed in that direction with the Imagine Columbia’s Future visioning process, although that dialogue was not sustained following that process in the ways envisioned by the public.  What could a “community commons” for dialogue look like in Columbia?  What might we accomplish by working together?

03.23.16
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Building Bridges – Healing Divides

Participants in our February 11 forum identified many ways in which Columbia is divided. These included divides between neighbors and neighborhoods that reflect differences in race, age, income, and political affiliation. These divides need more than a bridge to bring people together – underlying distrust, fear and anger need to be addressed as well.

An articulate and thoughtful group of students from Battle High School attended the forum.  These students have been working hard at creating programs to help students work through the community divisions that are reflected within their school.  We have invited them to tell us more on this blog, both through the comment section and in future posts.

There are other groups working in the community to build bridges or heal divides.  These include Race Matters, Friends and Diversity Awareness Partnership.  If you are involved in an effort to bring diverse groups together in dialogue let us know in the comment section below.

 

02.20.16
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Dialogue Builds Bridges

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“Groups of people getting together and talking is never a waste of time!  That is the only way to build communities.”

“Need more open democratic system for discussion.”

“People can’t seem to disagree without it getting personal.”

These were all comments made by citizens who attended the recent Trib Talks forum “Are We An Us?”

It was an energizing exchange that resulted in much productive dialogue and several ideas for action. We will be posting more of the comments and ideas shared on the three themes – Building Bridges, Citizen-Centered Planning, and Addressing Inequities – over the next few weeks.   In the meantime, view more pictures and resources in this summary from reporter Alicia Stice.

Keep the conversation going and join us!

02.12.16
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“Loving All Our Neighbors”

Mid-Missouri Fellowship of Reconciliation, Mid-Missouri Peaceworks and the Islamic Center of Central Missouri have announced they will be holding a community conversation on inclusion, titled “Loving All Our Neighbors”, on Tuesday Feb. 16 at Rock Bridge Christian Church, 301 W. Green Meadows Rd., Columbia. This free gathering will include an optional potluck dinner at 6 p.m. and a panel discussion and community conversation starting at 7 p.m.

Come and discuss a range of related topics –inclusion, the embrace of diversity, addressing racism, Islamophobia, and the plight of refugees and undocumented people.

The panel of speakers for this event includes:

  • Rasha Abousalem, Director of Humanitarian Operations with Global First Responders, who led a mission last month to Calais, France camp where thousands of war refugees are temporarily living;
  • Alejo Gonzalez, MU English/Psychology student who works with at-risk youth;
  • Marquise Griffin, MU graduate student in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis program with an emphasis on Higher Education; and
  • Faisan Syad, Executive Director of Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) St. Louis.