Partner of The Harwood Institute featured in Time Magazine -- and she responds here

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

(The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation)Daniella Levine, a partner of The Harwood Institute and a Public Innovators Lab alumnus is featured in the latest issue of Time Magazine in the article "There's Trouble -- Lots Of It -- in Paradise". Daniella responds to the Time Magazine article and about her work at Imagine Miami.

Imagine Miami (IM) was born out of awareness that Miami is at a crossroads: losing our existing middle class, not creating sufficient opportunities to grow a strong middle class (lifting residents out of poverty), and witnessing a growing income divide that alienates people from each other and undermines the overall economic and civic strength of our community. These trends are at the root of the TIME Magazine story of November 20. Yet, as is so typical of media coverage, the story focuses on the challenges and leaves out a sense of opportunity, or hope, for a better future.

IM conducted two years of research on community attitudes, aspirations and trends which included surveys, focus groups, a literature review, and scenario planning. We learned the following from that work:

residents are united in their understanding of the major challenges facing the community – such as housing affordability, healthcare access, low income and educational achievement levels, traffic congestion and environmental risks, and a lack of community cohesion and vision;

residents identified common strengths as well, such as diversity, culture, weather, location, recreation, and adaptability;

residents also share ideas about priority changes they would like including access to basic housing and healthcare, and leadership that works together to solve problems;

yet people share a lack of confidence that current leadership can make the necessary changes to meet the challenges.

What must Imagine Miami do to address the strengths and the challenges? We must address two priorities, or goals, which are two sides of the same coin: grow civic spirit (increase engagement in civic life and sense of attachment to place); and enhance quality of leadership (in all sectors: government, business, academia, community).

These strategies are grounded in our belief that real hope will be tapped and that Miamians will develop a renewed connection to the place and to each other. But we will proceed cautiously to avoid any creation of "false hope," something that has plagued prior civic change efforts in our community. Participation in the Harwood Innovators Lab helped us to focus our efforts on what was within reach and could create momentum for real change.

How will Imagine Miami do it? KNOW the good which means identifying what is working to accomplish those priorities through research locally, nationally and internationally; SHOW the good through illuminating to create a sense of connectivity, hope, and opportunity through multimedia forms of communication; GROW the good through investing in what is working to change the fabric of our society to address the underlying challenges and promote the strengths.

How will we know we have made an impact? We will seek to increase residents' knowledge of place, attachment to place, participation in place, and happiness/satisfaction with place.

Daniella Levine

Executive Director

Human Services Coalition of Dade County

Co-founder, Imagine Miami

www.imaginemiami.org

305-576-5001 ext 19

daniellal@hscdade.org



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	Partner of The Harwood Institute featured in Time Magazine -- and she responds here Tuesday, November 28, 2006 (The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation)Daniella Levine, a partner of The Harwood Institute and a Public Innovators Lab alumnus is featured in the latest issue of Time Magazine in the article "There's Trouble -- Lots Of It -- in Paradise". Daniella responds to the Time Magazine article and about her work at Imagine Miami. Imagine Miami (IM) was born out of awareness that Miami is at a crossroads: losing our existing middle class, not creating sufficient opportunities to grow a strong middle class (lifting residents out of poverty), and witnessing a growing income divide that alienates people from each other and undermines the overall economic and civic strength of our community. These trends are at the root of the TIME Magazine story of November 20. Yet, as is so typical of media coverage, the story focuses on the challenges and leaves out a sense of opportunity, or hope, for a better future. IM conducted two years of research on community attitudes, aspirations and trends which included surveys, focus groups, a literature review, and scenario planning. We learned the following from that work: residents are united in their understanding of the major challenges facing the community – such as housing affordability, healthcare access, low income and educational achievement levels, traffic congestion and environmental risks, and a lack of community cohesion and vision; residents identified common strengths as well, such as diversity, culture, weather, location, recreation, and adaptability; residents also share ideas about priority changes they would like including access to basic housing and healthcare, and leadership that works together to solve problems; yet people share a lack of confidence that current leadership can make the necessary changes to meet the challenges. What must Imagine Miami do to address the strengths and the challenges? We must address two priorities, or goals, which are two sides of the same coin: grow civic spirit (increase engagement in civic life and sense of attachment to place); and enhance quality of leadership (in all sectors: government, business, academia, community). These strategies are grounded in our belief that real hope will be tapped and that Miamians will develop a renewed connection to the place and to each other. But we will proceed cautiously to avoid any creation of "false hope," something that has plagued prior civic change efforts in our community. Participation in the Harwood Innovators Lab helped us to focus our efforts on what was within reach and could create momentum for real change. How will Imagine Miami do it? KNOW the good which means identifying what is working to accomplish those priorities through research locally, nationally and internationally; SHOW the good through illuminating to create a sense of connectivity, hope, and opportunity through multimedia forms of communication; GROW the good through investing in what is working to change the fabric of our society to address the underlying challenges and promote the strengths. How will we know we have made an impact? We will seek to increase residents' knowledge of place, attachment to place, participation in place, and happiness/satisfaction with place. Daniella Levine Executive Director Human Services Coalition of Dade County Co-founder, Imagine Miami www.imaginemiami.org 305-576-5001 ext 19 daniellal@hscdade.org
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