Irv - Sounds like fun. There is in fact some experience in the area and I am sure others will chime in. And for (more or less) local experience you might contact Kai Degner the Mayor of Harrisonburg who has been doing a series of Community Forums all in Open Space. If you Google him you will find some great clips, and you can contact him at kai.deg...@gmail.com Tell him I said Hi.
Harrison Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Dr. Potomac, MD 20854 USA Phone 301-365-2093 www.openspaceworld.com www.ho-image.com (Personal Website) To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of <mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu> osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: <http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html> http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html From: OSLIST [mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu] On Behalf Of Irv Sheffey Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 2010 12:06 AM To: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Subject: A question of size ;-) I'm working with a local community group to organize a one day forum on creating local sustainable neighborhoods, here in the District of Columbia. We want the forum to be inclusive of a wide range of perspectives from environmental NGOs, local government, civic leaders and most important, folks from the community at large, namely the "grassroots". The theme is "Getting from here to there, creating sustainable east of the river communities." We are targeting people who reside in a part of DC that is geographically separated from the other, two-thirds of the District, by the Anacostia River. This part of DC is the home of over 140,000 people, many who have been historically neglected socially and politically. We envision the forum to be a place where their voices can be heard This brings me to my question and I hope someone out in the network has some suggestions. How do we open space such that we get a good representation of people from these neighborhoods, without overwhelming ourselves? Whereas it's relatively easy to work in a context of a given organization, i.e., a company, a school, a profession, since affinity is defined and numbers limited but what do you do when you're seeking a broad cross section of the public? We have a modest budget and a venue that could accommodate upwards of 200 people. How can you be "open" while reasonable as to how many people can be logistically accommodated? The forum is scheduled for late October and we will begin outreach efforts over the summer. I hope that this doesn't sound like a "duh" question for you more experience facilitators. I could truly use your insights. I've taken the liberty of copying my co-organizers of this event. It would be great if you can hit "reply to all" in responding, so that they can be directly informed. Thank you, Irv _________________________________ Irv Sheffey Associate Field Organizer - Washington DC Environmental Justice & Community Partnerships Program Sierra Club 3101 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE No. 314 Washington, DC 20020 tel: 202-575-1469 cell: 202-299-6503 e-mail: irv.shef...@sierraclub.org * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
