On March 25, 2008- the Top 20 Teams remaining in the Case Foundation’s Make It Your Own (MIYO) Awards will contend for a shot at the Final Four. By chance or by design, this is coinciding with the NCAA Basketball Tournament. March Madness has begun. Sixty-five college basketball teams are vying for a shot at the final four. Twenty citizen-centered service projects are vying for one of the Final Four positions. However, the MIYO Final Four is not a about the game of basketball. It is about the game of LIFE! It’s about people helping people to live life more abundantly. It’s about including people in making decisions that affect their lives. It’s about preparing people for leadership. It’s about creating opportunities for all people to sit down at the table as equals in dialogue toward creating ideas and solutions for a healthy community. But it’s more than talk. It’s also about action- getting up from the table and executing those ideas. This is my PROJECT DIARY about one such program, the United Neighbors Common Council- a program of talk and action, dialogue and doing- and our ride to the Final Four. GET ON THE BUS! Take a ride through MY PROJECT DIARY and learn about the community, people, organizations, and motivation behind the UNCommon Council initiative.

You may be asking, “What is the UNCommon Council?” The Council is an ongoing space for the community to connect, dialogue, & work together to create lasting solutions for the common good. It is a place to be heard & serves as a launching pad for ongoing citizen-led capacity building & problem solving using a citizen-centered approach to civic engagement. By citizen-centered, we mean YOUR “meaningful participation”: participation “of the people, by the people, & for the people.” The Council is “of the people”- it is inclusive & accessible to all. It encourages & facilitates broad community engagement around common issues. It is driven from the community up, not top down, & not by outsiders. Citizens decide, plan, & prioritize. The Council invites business, non-profits & government to the engagement table. As such, it supplements and does not supplant the democratic processes. The Council is “by the people”: the people, YOU, make decisions and affect outcomes. They “talk-the-talk” in that they dialogue and decided on the issues, but they also “walk-the-walk” in that they act on what they decide. The Council reaches out to the community; unites neighbors-the people, for ACTION to affect long-term change. Lastly, the Council is “for the people” in that it provides opportunities for building relationships through face-to-face contact, for connecting through programs, and for people with different motivations to come out and serve. It’s all about YOU!

I decided to arrange my PROJECT DIARY around the FINAL FOUR theme given that we are right dab in the middle of March Madness and the NCAA Tournament. I’m glad that YOU decided to travel with me on my personal road to the MIYO FINAL FOUR! And as we journey on this road, I hope you will decide to vote for the UNCommon Council project. In NCAA basketball lingo, it’s called the BIG DANCE! (Smile) Your vote just might be the one vote that will take us all the way to the MIYO Final Four. For example, in the recent Democratic primary held in Syracuse, Obama and Clinton tied- both received 6,001 votes. One vote would have determined the winner. Your vote counts.

Oh, and by the way- Please view the pictures and images in the PHOTO section. They say, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Make sure to check them out. They help to tell my story. Everyone has a story, and each story is different. It’s our desire for a better future that is the same. Given this, we should be able to travel this road together. With that said, let’s hit the road. Destination: The “MIYO FINAL FOUR” by way of Memory Lane.

My journey to the Final Four began well before the Case Foundation MIYO awards program. The tradition of community service has existed in my family as far back as I can remember. Get on the bus! And journey with me as I reflect so that you may come to know the passion behind the project. I want you to feel confident that you are making the right choice when you cast your vote for the UNCommon Council project. If at any point you feel confident about voting. Get off the bus; visit: www.casefoundation.org/myvote; cast your vote for the UNCommon Council and- remember to confirm it by email. Get Back on the bus and we’ll continue on the road. Our first stop “Down Memory Lane" is Hopps Memorial C.M.E. Church in Syracuse, New York. The year is 1960.

Hopps Memorial C.M.E. Church

It’s a Sunday morning- the summer of 1960. Take a look through the stained-glass church window. You’ll see my grandmother, great aunt and uncle, mother, aunts and of course yours truly. My family has been a part of the church since 1945. My great uncle, Uncle Donnie, and great aunt, Aunt Jenny, served in the church for years. My great aunt and grandmother were Eastern Stars and my great uncle was a Mason and an Elk. Uncle Donnie was a deacon and Aunt Jenny cooked and served dinners in the church. My mother and Aunt Ludie still are members of the church and my mother still volunteers in the kitchen.

Satellite Club

Let’s ride over to the Satellite Club- the year 1966 on a typical Saturday morning. You say, “The Club?” Yes, the Club. Don’t act surprised. People still party in the Club on Saturday night and praise in the Pew on Sunday morning. People did it then and they’re doing it now. The old adage holds true, “The names and the faces have changed, but the game is still the same.” Again, we are talking about the game of life. We must pick up people where they are in life and journey together to a new and better place. That’s what the Uncommon Council is all about: inviting people from “all walks of life” to the table to “talk and walk” to a better place in life.

My “volunteered” career began in the Satellite Club. No, I said it right, “volunteered” career. Saturday mornings my father would drive me and my brothers and sisters to the club and “volunteer us” to clean and prepare it for Saturday night. We didn’t get paid, but we were allowed to keep all the loose change that we found and believe me we found plenty that the patrons dropped the night before. My brothers and sisters- all eight of us at that time- had a blast cleaning the club and listening to the music on the Jukebox. We literally and figuratively learned “to whistle while we worked.” We learned how to have fun while we worked, the importance of teamwork, and the satisfaction gained from a job well done. As I said, we weren’t paid, but the funny thing is that I would pay to relive those days. I’m devoting my time, my talent and my resources to develop a vehicle- the UNCommon Council- that will create these same quality of life improving experiences for my son and the children in my community. It’s time for a pit stop; let’s take a rest. Don’t forget to vote while we’re at the rest stop (smile)

Neighborhood Clean up Campaign

It’s the summer of 1970. Hub’s Liquor Store is the first stop of many stops along the route of the neighborhood clean up campaign created by my father. My father has convinced several local businesses to donate plastic bags, rakes, shovels, gloves and food items. His friends, Mr. O. C. Miller and Mr. Isaiah Stevens, who both work for the Syracuse Department of Public Works, have commandeered a city garbage truck. They also have “volunteered’ their children for this summer clean up campaign. We receive hotdogs, soda, chips and plenty hand claps from bystanders for our efforts. We really prefer “helping hands” to “clapping hands”. We make this known to our father when the people refuse to help. Our complaints don’t stop the clean up campaign. Our father is determined to teach us responsibility for our neighborhood. My father believes in taking ownership of the problem, in other words, “Making It Your Own.” When we complain about the lack of help my father says, “Someone has to do it, it might as well be you and I.” I’ve learned that the key to getting a “helping-hand” is to find people with like-minds. This is what the UNCommon Council is about, namely connecting like-minds in an ever increasing circle to collectively clean up the problems in our community.

Old Syracusans Picnic

Let’s take the expressway to August 6, 1988 to the “Old Syracusans’ Picnic” being held on the grounds of Southwest Community Center. The SWCC and the Syracuse Crusader, one of two community newspapers published by my father, sponsor the picnic. In the January 1989 issue of the paper (volume 2, number 1) my father writes, “But while the “Old Syracusans’ Picnic” is designed to pay homage to “old Syracusans” – those who have resided in the City of Syracuse and Onondaga County for a period of 40 or more years – it seeks also to bring together residents, as well as their descendants and friends, who lived in the old predominantly Black and Jewish area called the 15th Ward, prior to Urban Renewal in the late 50s and 60s.” He continues, “The affair is opened to the public, and everyone, the young as well as the old, is invited to attend.” This is what the UNCommon Council project is all about, namely bringing together residents, family and friends into a circle of “dialogue and doing” that creates opportunities for “everyone, the young as well as the old” to life more abundantly. This is the spirit that drives me and has carried me on this road to the final four. Catch the spirit. Visit www.casefoundation.org/myvote and vote for the UNCommon Council. This completes our trip down memory lane, but the rich tradition of services continues with F.O.R.C.E., Inc.- the organization behind the UNCommon Council.

In 1996, I helped found Focusing Our Resources for Community Enlightenment (F.O.R.C.E.)- an organization dedicated to improving the quality of life in the City of Syracuse. It emerged from a series of “kitchen table” and “street corner” discussions among friends and neighbors. Margaret Mead, world-renowned anthropologist, said, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." We created some number of program and held many successful community events over the years including the “Community Cash” Carnival, “An Evening with Family and Friends,” the PEACE project, the S.T.A.R.S. program, the “A Chance to Be Seen” Variety Show, and our newest initiative- the United Neighbors Common Council. We also sponsored local bus trips to participate in the Million Family March and the Millions More Movement.

After several years of success, we felt a need for a more comprehensive, collaborative and coordinated effort. This led to the idea of the United Neighbors Common Council (UNCommon Council) - a group of citizens that decides what is needed, creates actions and then dedicates or locates resources to its fulfillment. The plan is to develop the Council so that it broadens FORCE’s initial scope and approach to empower people and connect small pieces into a greater vision. The Council is the evolution of the initial idea and builds on the excitement, accomplishments, dedication and energy of F.O.R.C.E. In short, FORCE is the impetus for the Council. We are moving from FORCE, the small group, to a broader forum (the Council) that connects, touches, and empowers more people. Our plan is that the Council will eventually spin off as an independent entity with a life of its own.

The leadership team F.O.R.C.E., Inc. with support from Syracuse University and the Gifford Foundation will initiate the process and then fold into a “Circle of 24 Elders” which will spearhead the community engagement process. The Circle of 24 will recruit 10 additional citizens, each with interest, knowledge or experience in one of the 10 issue-areas to serve as selected committee-heads (Selected Councilors) in the Southside area. The new leadership team will sponsor a “Showcasing Event.” The “Circle of 24” in conjunction with the “Additional Ten” will attend the “Showcasing Event” to learn community engagement practices, the method of “Lawful Dialogue,” and develop the function of the Council. This body, now numbering 34, will apply the recruitment strategy to engage the public in the process. The council will develop several products and activities as tools for engagement and relationship building: Project Website, Newsletter, Contact Networks (Personal and Project), Public Meetings, Advisory Committees, and Collaborative Task Forces. The community will elect new leaders (Community Elected Councilors) to repeat the process and expand to become the official UnCommon Council- a boundless and self-determined entity governed by YOU, the people.