Putting Baltimore Back Together Again

BELIEVE? – One Baltimore? – Don’t Let This be a Warmed-over Version!!! – Part IV

 Matthews W. Wright, M.ED

 

This week, the Mayor announced a campaign she's calling "One Baltimore" to tackle persistent city ills. She stated, "This is an opportunity for us to focus more intensely on systemic problems that have faced our city for decades, if not generations".  Further, she said, the city wants to partner with philanthropic organizations, neighborhood groups and church leaders in the effort.

At the news conference, it was also stated by Mayor Rawlings-Blake that the "One Baltimore" campaign has no concrete plans yet.  I can only say at this point if the mayor is truly considering systemic change to issues that have plagued Baltimore for many, many, many decades then all of the cards on and under the table must be in play!!!  Please do not let this be a replayed warmed-over version of the “Believe” campaign of Mayor O’Malley!!!  Since Mayor Schmoke’s administration to the present day we currently have a combination of 47,000 vacant houses and lots in Baltimore!!! In other words, the efforts needed to remedy the lack of deliberate and strategic investment in many communities requires a minimum 20-year plan of totally re-arranged thinking from the business and non-profit sectors. Additionally, all levels of government will need to revise their policies and legislative enactment involving capital planning, development and investment to embrace and actualize the executed New Vision of Urbanism in the City of Baltimore.  To truly do this all of us will need to think Honestly, Bold and BIG!!!  It’s always done in Caton, Federal Hill, Bolton Hill, Locust Point and Roland Park!!!  Why not Sharp Leadenhall (oh sure, I’m aware of Caves Valley Partners intent), Park Heights, Sandtown-Winchester, Harlem Park, Oliver, Pigtown and Old Town?  This work requires unambiguous transparency, detail and collaboration similar to what is now being considered once again on the Lexington Market’s 36 million dollar facelift.  Not like what was done previously by the city’s lack of intent, details, collaborations and resources on the 4 million dollar bust of the Lafayette Market re-opening!!! 

While waiting for my 1^st cup of morning coffee at one vendor’s stall in the Lafayette Market, I still hear the police officer yelling at 8:30 a.m., and shaking high in the air his plastic handcuffs,  “Ok, who’s ready to get locked up this morning?”  That greeting doesn’t bode well at the start of a day anywhere!  Everything in Baltimore other than the communities previously mentioned, and others get detailed city/private sector collaboration including community sustainability and real anchor planning assistance, public safety and transportation enhancements along with infrastructure improvements!!!  When will master plans in these communities be seriously reviewed and executed with intent and good will? When will Bond Issues be tied to development in these areas?  With these and other systemic corrections to current issues as stated by Michael Cryor, the appointed head of One Baltimore suggested, "In the long term, we believe truly changing the trajectory of a community will require a comprehensive plan with multiple but complementary priorities”. 

Now, I don’t propose to be a mind reader, but let me promote what I think his statement should mean regarding the execution of “One Baltimore”. In order to “change the trajectory of a community”, there needs to be a contract or Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) established where all involved parties and cluster participants generally state their intentions, responsibilities and commitments by signing the MOA.  This MOA must also include the contracted and real financial investment amounts of all participants in the project.  The MOA needs to contain the phases required to cover the 20-year plan with essential sections for all stakeholders to include their specific intentions, responsibilities and commitments to the plan.  Reflected in each stakeholder’s section should be specific goals, strategies, activities, milestones, outcomes, evaluation assessments and on-going report monitoring aligned with the major points reflected in the MOA. Based on needs and results, financial infusion points should line up with milestones as part of their commitment to financially support the plan.  Finally, to maintain overall project transparency and alignment, an inclusion of Logic and Theory of Change models encapsulating the necessary broad strokes of the project plan (inputs, activities, & outcomes) expected to be accomplished and the important details of change are required noting all that is needed to achieve the desired result(s). The Theory of Change should align with inputs, activities and outcomes.  Good logic models and a clearly expressed theory of change contribute to good evaluation design, the last phase.  Let’s see what resources, stakeholder commitments and details will come out of One Baltimore.  Anything resembling a warmed-over Believe campaign is doomed prior to its start!!!  Remember, to avert the warmed-over version, all cards, with Honesty, Bold and BIG RESULTS!!!

Putting Baltimore Back Together Prt. III - Wanted Transformational Leadership

Putting Baltimore City Back Together Again

Wanted: Transformational Leaders – Part III

Matthews W. Wright, M. Ed.

First, I know that a good deal of time has been spent lately by many observing public safety, political, religious, legal and visual media leadership and one simple thing we need to understand is that there are attributes which endow the qualities of leadership.  They are naturally inherent and within all of us! Of course there are leadership variances and theoretical perspectives allowing for a broad array of methods including Visionary Leadership, Leaders vs. Managers, Non Leadership, Contingency Model Leadership, Situational Leadership and many others. The leadership theory I am most interested in promoting to “Put Baltimore Back Together” is Transformational Leadership.  The reasons are modest because this manner of leadership is described not as a set of specific behaviors but rather a process by which "leaders and followers raise one another to higher levels of morality and motivation". Other researchers have described Transformational Leadership as going beyond individual needs, focusing on a common purpose, addressing intrinsic rewards and higher psychological needs such as self-actualization, and developing commitment with and in the followers.

Now, it is very important to understand that Transformational Leadership requires a basic awareness of intuitive skills. Intuition is not rare it is common to each of us.  We simply need to recognize its existence and use it to chart our journey in mastering our will.  Our current materialistic addictions have dulled our senses similar to our ability to taste when we have eaten poorly for years and no longer have full access to our sense of taste to have the discerning ability to know truly what is good taste.  Conditioning is necessary to once again reap the benefits of our intuitive nature.  Intuition is key to gaining the required knowledge needed to assume our portion of leadership. When you think of intuition first know that it charges nothing for its use; it is always there ready, willing and able to provide insight, options and previous knowledge. Our ancestors called it “Mother Wit”, common knowledge or sense.  Every situation doesn’t require a college degree to figure it out!  There are five key points to consider that will assist the leader in striking a balance with the use of instinctive knowledge.  Know that:

1. Everything begins and ends with you.
2. You can do badly by yourself; you do not need outside help.
3. You don’t look to others for answers when you haven’t first questioned yourself.
4. If you didn’t learn the lesson the first time, don’t worry – you will see it again.
5. As bad as things may presently look, lack of action on your part will make them worse.

Transformational Leadership requires a “Call to Duty” with an enlightened sense of intuition. The process may simply begin when a “light bulb” moment occurs allowing us to recognize the value of an observation, the need for consistency, and the desire for a collaborative existence.  This transformation takes place in people and institutions.

Your skills-set may seem complete to you at this point.  However, the commitment and desire for true transformation goes beyond isolated incidences and flashes of light and brilliance.  A transformed person is permanently impacted by the experience of the event and is forever guided by the knowledge and the power conferred by forces beyond this earthly sphere.

Once you have consciously acknowledged your Call to Duty, it will be your responsibility to offer your – “Best Performance of Duty”!  So what is duty and how do we recognize that which is ours?  Each of us has the capacity to recognize the absence of moral underpinnings, callous attitudes and indifferent treatment expressed in the actions of misdirected human beings and their basic inability to act humane.

The transformed and empowered person now senses the need for and the involvement of their Will and Determination to complete the process. Will must be applied to intuition to act on the various issues that present themselves.  It is the inner fortitude that must well up within us to perform tasks.  It is an energy that is generated through our ability and intent to commit to an assignment to its completion. Transformation is completed through the determination of the person not allowing their emotions, biases and “isms” to run rampant and uncontrolled like unsupervised children. The transformed person will not stoop to acts or enticements that single them out from the group but will take the higher ground that sustains the energy of the group to successfully complete the designated campaign.

Today we are in dire need of transformed people.  Families, communities, societies, institutions and corporations all require transformed leadership.  Yes, there is a good amount of work to do, but there never is more work than available people to do it.  We simply just need to transform and in doing so provide the necessary resources and personal support to assist the needed change to take place.  Are you prepared to answer and properly execute the call?

Putting Baltimore City Back Together Again

The Vision to Lead – Part II

Matthews W. Wright, M. Ed.

Earlier, we’ve reviewed the symptoms and culprit conditions that when unchecked for a period of time, feaster and erupt causing government, media, agencies, communities and individuals to display dysfunctional and irregular behavior. In comparison, it was also noted that in previous generations, under more stringent conditions we were able to discipline and assemble the community.  Neighbors collaborated to improve services, strengthen political unity and formulated cohesive plans for the protection and nurturing of children and elders.  The neighborhood was organized and contained all of the services needed to conduct your life and cultivate the strengths of the entire community.

Today, in some Baltimore neighborhoods those same variables remain in play. They have stood the tests of time and remain strong, vibrant and remarkably stable.  How is it that over time, some communities have decayed and fallen into impoverished conditions? Just those who live in the neighborhoods or those that own the property cannot be singled out for cause. Community leaders, clergy and government should not be held fully liable for the state of affairs either.  The reality is that each of us must be held accountable for the appalling condition of neighborhoods in the City of Baltimore.  If we drew a circle around the inner harbor including the neighborhood footprints, twelve blocks beyond that area in all directions would reveal undeniable abandonment and neglect!

Many theories can and have been be offered which I won’t belabor. We need to discover how to move from “victim to victor”!  To get there vision is required. My definition of vision is the uncommon ability to physically see, mentally understand, and spiritually trust those images, thoughts and forces that assist us through this stage of life.  The air needs to be totally cleared of preconceived notions, petty concerns and biases of all sorts to confront the real culprits that have caused this and other urban regions not to live up to their fullest potential.  How is it that we have perceived two or three separate Baltimore’s?  The city is less than 47 miles away from the Nation’s Capital, one of the largest regions on the east coast yet it seems as if the two were thousand of miles apart!  The myopic vision of our city needs to be corrected.  A means is needed to creatively join forces to truly, yes TRULY COLLABORATE and accelerate social impact. The creation of a 20-year breakout plan re-arranging thinking, capital planning, development and investment along with legislative enactment will execute and embrace a New Vision of Urbanism in the City of Baltimore!!!

To a great extent, this is similar to the template Atlanta leadership used more than 40 years ago in collaboration with Mayor Maynard Jackson to re-develop and design modern Atlanta, GA to become the model city of the formerly segregated south.  They used all of the criteria listed above and created a collaborative approach to develop Atlanta with the inclusion of its minority population!  Legislators, union leaders, the progressive private sector stakeholders and financial institutions collaborated to make it an “alpha” or “World City” ranked 8^th in the nation.  They coined themselves as “to busy to hate” aligning itself to become the city of the world’s busiest airport.

Charlotte, NC, another model, is one of the fastest growing city’s in the United States and the largest in the state of North Carolina.  It is the 2^nd largest city in the Southeast with a growing population of 792,862 diverse citizens.  The city has become a major financial center as the second largest banking center in the U.S. after New York.  Between 1970 and 2010 Charlotte increased its population base by 35.2%.  The composite breakdown of the diversity of residents is African Americans 35%, Non-Hispanic White 45.1%, Hispanic/Latino American 13.1%, Asian American 5%, Native American 0.5% and 2.7% other races.

Surely, the limited example of these two southern and formerly heavily segregated cities offer a hint to how change can enhance social impact and outcomes.  Another part of the solution to bring about change is a shift to correct the overall vision.  The following chart reflects the needed behavioral and attitudinal shift.

                                    REAL                                                                    VS                                                    Ideal

                                    Business                                                                                                                                Individuals

                                    Government                                                                                                                          Communities

                                    Institutions                                                                                                                            Society

                                    Society                                                                                                                                   Institutions

                                    Communities                                                                                                                        Government

                                    Individuals                                                                                                                            Business

The system approach entrenched in the American process of growth has primarily recognized the corporate business as the lead in capitalism.  While at the same time, this approach fails to fully recognize human capital as primary or significantly important in the general makeup and well being of the system. In the last 50 years and most recently, corporate growth has gone unabated and given legislative license to exacerbate the economy, infrastructure, health, homes and the lives of all Americans.  This economic approach must be reversed.  Corporate citizenship must recognize, embrace and promote attributes that strengthen all individuals, communities, society and institutions.  Our local, regional and national government have to apply reasonable restraints and protective legislation that balances and critically assesses the outcome for all factions.  These checks and balances will assist the alignment and train the public with a new development of skills in finance, human resource management, health services, data, information or cyber security in our now new technological world. Persons that may not have achieved a GED or post high school education would now be in a position to develop skills needed for full time employment and garner income and credentials to sustain themselves, their families and functional communities.

In a way, the required work for change is like a performance or life itself.  Some has to be done behind the scene out of the spotlights.  The greater work is usually done there where the team is strengthened and space is provided not only to gain a better perspective of things, but also to provide the room leaders require while performing their work.

The vision to lead requires the same and is similar to conducting the work of a theatrical play. The work requires financial backers willing to take the risks involved to conduct an award winning performance, legislative people establishing productive, instructive and inclusive law, out front at the microphone people updating the progress, behind the scenes setting appointments people responsible for results and timing, data mining people providing the updates of information, people honestly checking the people in the process of performing functions and people determined and willing to move through the process to transform themselves.  The end result of properly executed work is the fruition of that vision!