Comments within... On Wed, Oct 31, 2012 at 11:56 AM, Alex Hillman <[email protected] > wrote:
> I'd talk to the crew at Gangplank - they have one of the most "intimate" > relationships with their government that I know of. > > We've taken more of a "Kennedy approach" by focusing not on what the gov't > can do for us, but what we can do for the government. It's been pretty > incredible to be able to forge personal relationships with leaders in city > hall before asking them for things because they're USED to being asked for > things. > > I can whole-heartedly second this. Our best relationships have come when we have built and proven community before approaching a municipality/agency. I think the key is to always come with solutions and support. We are currently exploring moving cities employees into our spaces in existing cities and talking to a few cities about actually putting Gangplank's inside their city halls. Where half of the collaborators will be city staff. We have found that innovation really comes out of getting staff interacting with the community on a daily basis. We are actively working on a grant with the Knight Foundation and a few major universities to provide data to the engagement models we have been playing with along with results. More to come as it unfolds. Never much have posted in the past as I felt people were not interested in our model because it strays pretty far from most people's concept of coworking. If people have an interest in this sort of work I will gladly try to share more on the work we are doing here on the list. -- Derek Neighbors http://derekneighbors.com Mobile: 480-335-9746 Skype: derek0108 Co-Founder of Gangplank : http://gangplankhq.com Partner at Integrum Technologies : http://integrumtech.com President of Downtown Chandler Community Partnership : http://downtownchandler.org Connect With Me Linked In : http://linkedin.com/in/dneighbors Twitter : http://twitter.com/dneighbors -- Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com
