#gdlmi

The last class… How do you blog for the last class?

The session started in a predictable way. We were there to learn about the Cultural Capital. A key marker of a thriving region is a thriving arts scene. I made it through most of the afternoon thinking I would give a short summary of the presenters, and try to tie together the arts as a culmination of our 9-month journey through the Capital Crossroads plans and our Leadership Challenge Curriculum. I was happily taking notes, realizing how little I understand about BRAVO!. I was planning to highlight Juneteenth Iowa, African Festival, and the Latino Heritage Festival and talk about how each invited our involvement, encouraged us to stretch our comfort zones, and inspired us to get involved in something new. I was going to share about the mission and accomplishments of Pyramid Theater and the impact they are having on the theater community today and their plans for the future… That was some of what I was planning to write about.

Then Run DSM came along and completely threw off my plan…

 We were exposed to a powerful display of young people sharing freely their spoken word poetry with a group of strangers and the content moved many of us to tears. And then the artists challenged us to create our own… I was intimidated.

What happened next was incredible. These artists were able to take our group of 50 potential leaders of Des Moines, create a safe space for us to be vulnerable, step us through a creative process, and in the end many of our classmates performed what they had written – and it was AWESOME!

This was the perfect ending to our nine month journey. In one session we had Run DSM Model the Way, Encourage our Heart, Encourage a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, and Enable Others to Act. These artists modeled leadership and then our class responded by sharing art. Our class is indeed the Most Excellent Class Ever.

By Katherine Saunders

 “We need to get comfortable getting uncomfortable”

The CLP class of 2019 (#bestclassever) recently spent the afternoon at the Evelyn K Davis Center – just North of I-235 in the Cheatom Park Neighborhood. I previously have been to the Center to present to PREP and Dress for Success classes – helping unemployed or underemployed individuals learn basic job search skills. The Center is always bustling with activity carrying out its mission in three key areas: financial service and wealth building; income and work supports; and education and employment. The center has had a remarkable economic impact of over $56 million from the direct wages credited to helping people enter the workplace.

Our topic, Capital Core – Neighborhoods had the purpose of highlighting potential gaps in opportunity, access, and security in different parts of the city. Des Moines has received many accolades and national recognition as a thriving, model city for many demographics. A strong and growing region needs a healthy central city to thrive. This class highlighted various neighborhoods and work by the city, non-profits, neighborhood associations, and private investment – what is working as well as some opportunities to improve. We participated in a poverty simulation and a panel discussion.

“We need to get comfortable getting uncomfortable”

This was a message reiterated throughout the day. Our poverty simulation challenged the class to create what we thought would be a livable, basic budget. This activity highlighted the reality that a living wage is VERY different from minimum wage. We then were given a profile of a single woman with two young children making $11.50/hr and had to make choices throughout the month on what to pay and what not to pay. Imagine having to choose if you could afford to send a child on a school field trip? Should you make a car payment or risk the car, which is your transportation to work, being repossessed? How do you help your child get comfortable with free lunch at school and a label that might come with that – but it means they can have a hot meal? Or do you pay for lunch ($3/day) and skip doing laundry for another month?

Our panelists spent time sharing their perspectives on various issues facing the Urban Core in Des Moines. Each perspective that was shared also included invitations to learn more and find ways to take action in a way that makes sense for each of us. So much information was shared both ahead of class and during that rather than recap the details I would highlight where you can go to learn more. The more you read, the more you come to realize that there are meaningful ways we can all choose to get involved and create action around all issues.

www.opportunityDSM.org

http://www.dmgov.org/government/CityCouncil/Resolutions/20180625/czbllc%20report.pdf

 Issue: Since 2000 there has been significant job growth in the suburbs around Des Moines, however, those same communities have not balanced job growth with a focus on affordable housing or ensuring public transportation so workers can get to these new job locations.

Opportunity: Join the Housing or Transportation workgroups

Issue: Des Moines has been recognized on many regional lists as a great place to live; Downtown Des Moines is highlighted for investment occurring in downtown. The panel highlighted the need for public and private investment in more pockets of Des Moines. Neighborhoods need to be stabilized and moved towards thriving.

Opportunity: Choose to become involved with the Neighborhood Revitalization Planning Program Review. Be aware that the accolades for our region may not reflect all demographics equally; be aware and think through perspectives other than your own to see if there are barriers to populations in benefiting from those regional accolades?

As it relates to investing in neighborhoods, the city has evolved from evaluating activities to measuring outcomes. We heard details of the recently approved $4.6 million neighborhood revitalization pilot program and the efforts to do it differently moving forward.  

As I reflect on this class, I realize it is easy to become overwhelmed by intersecting and complex issues. Poverty, access to jobs, self-sufficiency are impacted by community planning, efforts to revitalize neighborhoods, and the need for coordinated efforts between public, private, non-profit groups, and neighborhood organizations.

by Guillermo Bailey

Culture Club - Time (Clock Of The Heart) 

*click the link above to experience a time warp back to the 80′s

This Boy George and Culture Club song premise sounds soooo familiar. Time is precious, time is a gift, so don’t waste time. Now that we have that established let’s get back to my reality (not yours because I know you would never waste time <winking emoji>). 

To save you the reader some time, this blog will take you on average 3 minutes to complete not counting the video. There, now feel free to revel in your newly found minutes, muh ha ha ha ha! In fact, imagine if every piece of information came with this disclaimer, would it change how you went about our day? That small addictive phone game with vexed birds and sickly swine will only take up 30 minutes of your time every time you play it. That brand new Netflix series you “need to binge” will only take 13 hours. That new harmonica course you always wanted to take and master will only take 1 hour per day, for the rest of my life. OK the last one is a bit of an exaggeration but I think you get where I’m headed. Time can get away from us fast. 

I’ve been taking a budgeting course and one of the things we talk about with money seems to apply to time too. If you don’t budget money and make it work for you then you’ll wonder where it’s gone. It is so easy to spend a couple of dollars here and there on frivolous things and then look at a balance sheet at the end of the year and think “where did all the money go”? Well time is no different my friend, and it’s actually even worse. I can make up for a budget shortfall through more earnings, more efficient operation, or even borrowing it from someone with lots more money than me. Let’s try that with time.

First you can’t earn more time because time is finite, there is no way to earn more time. Secondly you can’t borrow time from someone else. Your time is yours and yours alone. Once a second, a minute, an hour has passed there is no going back. It is spent FOREVER unless you are one of those super smart people who have unlocked the secrets of the universe. I’m looking squarely at you both Neil deGrasse Tyson and Bill Nye. I always feel like you two know more than you are letting on. So barring any leaps in quantum physics we are solidly stuck in our current time continuum. 

Some of us however are masters of time manipulation and efficiency. Ask the average Olympic athlete in a timed event how important time is and they will tell you it matters quite a bit. To be even more specific we can ask Cha Min-kyu of South Korea how important time is considering he lost a gold medal to  Håvard Holmefjord Lorentzen of Norway by 0.01 seconds. These two athletes made the most of their experience in fractions of the time most of us have available every day. Now I’m not saying that we have to live in fear of the clock, but maximizing our time is in our own best interest. 

This all leads to the questions of how do we use our time best? What is your way to make time your slave not the other way around? What are you doing with your time that makes you, your community, or Central Iowa better?

Tell me your thoughts; I’m interested and listening because “the time is precious I know”.