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 8th
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 2nd 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!
No comments:
Post a Comment