Project Summary

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Seizing the opportunity of a vacant school building, community group identifies ways to meet area needs, promote sustainability, and forge regional alliances. Utilizing the physical building is the easy part; ongoing community building is the important part.

About me

My father moved back to his hometown when I was eight, so I became a 4th generation Milanite. I came to awareness during the world food crisis of the 1970s and have devoted substantial energy to peace and justice issues since then. After my Peace Corps time in Micronesia, I returned to Stanford University for an MA in Food Research and an MBA with a certificate in Public Management, after which, according to dad, I was "running around the world doing good." During this period I won an international essay contest judged by 2 peace and 7 economics Nobel laureates. I returned to Milan in 1992 after my father's unexpected death to run the family business. A few years ago a number of us were feeling particularly powerless to change the bad things happening in the world, so we formed the MOVERS to act locally where we could overcome that sense of powerlessness. To our surprise, after a couple years of working together, we realized that a unifying characteristic of our group was that most of us had left Milan and then come back; the others were first-generation Milanites. So, we have successfully brought these peple (ourselves) together, but we are still looking for ways to engage the long-term residents. I created a personal foundation with a small endowment and am interested in how other foundations operate. I am intrigued and excited about the individual focus of this award, and I would like to help you realize your vision as we progress on ours.