Seeing the Solutions to Society’s Biggest Challenges
Some reflections after the Aspen Ideas Festival
On the heels of attending the Aspen Ideas Festival, I sat down with my friend Faauuga (over a very satisfying plate of Chicken Katsu prepared by the chefs at Huli Huli on 3rd Street in the Bavyiew/Hunters Point neighborhood in Southeast San Francisco) to talk about solving big problems.
Faauuga is an example of a cadre of young civic entrepreneurs and innovators born and raised in Bayview-Hunters Point (BVHP). These leaders are focusing on catalyzing change in the lives of children and youth to reach their potential and enhance the quality of life for BVHP residents.
Life in the Bayview and Hunters Point neighborhoods can be difficult and challenging at times. There is a higher crime rate and economic opportunities are very sparse. A 2005 report by the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Community Development revealed that 36.6% of adults in the Bayview/Hunters Point neighborhood do not have a high school diploma, an alarming contrast to the citywide adult non-high school diploma rate of 18.8%.
My conversation with Faauuga turned to the topic of how to broaden the base of opportunities for the common good of all children and youth in BVHP.
This broadening of the base starts with being active and engaged in civic life. And while that connection to civic life is elusive for many in the Bayview, leaders like Faauuga are seeking to change that. One approach is through what I consider the Tri-Sector Athlete Mindset (TSAM) — recently, I’ve seen the importance of broadening the base firsthand as I apply the TSAM to my own work and how I think about communities like Bayview.
The Tri-Sector Athlete Mindset (TSAM) essentially means engaging a four-part framework, rooted in a strong sense of mission, to consider civic issues: The four parts are people first, practice, partnership and performance.
People First
I shared with Faauuga that during one session at Aspen Ideas Festival, Robert Putnam, distinguished political scientist and author of Our Kids: The American Dream In Crisis, commented, “the poor are isolated institutions.” This is not to say that the poor don’t have access to other institutions — religious, gov’t involvement, arts, culture, recreation organizations abound — but that the most powerful ties that bind the people together are the relationships and social networks that they form to survive.
Therefore, the “People First” approach means striving to integrate as broad an array of individuals into the community’s civic life as possible. Civically- engaged people don’t produce mere sound and fury, but valuable and actionable information. Engaged community members express cogent preferences and needs, thereby improving a city’s capacity to be responsive, not merely reactive.
The perspectives of people in these communities must be the foundation for those of us who are unfamiliar with coming from the “struggle” or as Faauuga puts it:
A lot of people think that Ghetto Culture is about drugs and welfare. But it’s really about a way of life, a way of being, and the way people are living. Dreaming is a part of this. You are automatically a dreamer, in terms of wanting to be something more than your situation. Wanting to be someone that you can’t see outside of the immediate world. You are not sure exactly how you are gonna go get it, it’s just grit, you strive for it, and you understand it if you come from the struggle.
Faauuga’s response speaks to the importance of practice — spending the time it takes to train, test, try and repeat again — that stems from and speaks to the authentic understanding of the people in these communities
Practice
At AIF, Ta-Nehisi Coates, a senior editor at the Atlantic who was born and raised in Baltimore, articulated his daily rituals of getting ready for middle-school. This included groups of friends to walk with, routes to take to school and routes home. Coates said these rituals were “totally committed to the mission of keeping violence from raining down to my body” and he estimated that “a third of my brain was dedicated to negotiating violence.”
There’s an example of how kids in BVHP are negotiating violence through sports programs run by Celestino “Tino” Ellington at the YMCA. Tino was born and raised in BVHP, played collegiate sports, and now brings his passion for youth and sports together. His programs are reflective of a growth process that includes practice and supports local kids by channeling their energy into positive, team-oriented activities and off the street and away from violence.
In a neighborhood plagued by marginalization and economic disadvantages, the YMCA is a central, safe zone for Bayview and Hunters Point community members. In fact, the sports programs are solidly respected and Tino’s also introduced “practice” off the court and into the classroom with mentoring and tutoring programs. This is also something that was designed in a cross-sector partnership with students from the University of San Francisco’s Master of Public Affairs program, and local designers and architects to make improvements to the physical space itself.
Partnership
At the Aspen Ideas Festival, Harvard University’s Bruce Western shared that more than 6.9 million Americans are under some type of correctional supervision and that 24 percent of black children will have fathers in prison before they’re 14. As shared on Western’s panel in Aspen, programs like the YMCA Community Wellness Workshop embrace the notion that we should prepare our children and youth for opportunities and pathways to careers and that’s something the public and private sector can do together.
The issues are real, and cannot be solved by one organization alone. Efforts such as the YMCA Community Wellness Workshop Faauuga has organized serve a vital and empowering role. He embraced partnerships in innovative ways, involving cross-sector leaders in workshops. The power in having cross-sector leaders discussing issues they aren’t traditionally involved in, such as sexual assault prevention, is that it not only says this is a problem we all must address, it starts the ball rolling on what that engagement across sectors looks like. The same goes for the other topics covered in the Wellness Workshop — suicide prevention and the school to prison pipeline.
Performance
As we know, Aspen Ideas Festival is a place that goes beyond the theory and dives deep into action. Anne Mosle, executive director of Aspen’s Ascend program, shared that they enjoy a unique perspective examining the issues at multiple levels, bringing a kind of air-and-ground-game approach. What have they learned?
Start Early with Healing Programs: A program focused and centered around healing and community support — for example, at Aspen Ideas Festival Bob Roth shared the program called “Quiet Time” which trains students to mediate for 15 minutes twice a day. This program is a part of San Francisco Unified School District and endorsed by District Superintendent, Richard Caranza.
Provide More Safe Spaces: In 6th grade, a friend who rode the bus to school because his parents did not have a car, witnessed a fight on the bus during which a kid pulled out a gun. Where can or will a child turn if all he or she knows is violence? What happens when a child enters the classroom with this trauma? Investing in safe spaces for recreational activities and emotional support is important. Colorado’s Director of HHS Reggie Bicha shared at Aspen, “There’s no greater investment and there’s no greater legacy that can come out of investing in your kids because if we do that and we get it right, it will have an impact on the economy, on housing, on education, on entrepreneurship… the list goes on and on for generations to come.”
Increase Access and Roadmaps: Programs like the Jeremiah Program (also mentioned at an Aspen panel on education) are doing some great work on helping parents to navigate schools and career paths. Why is this important? It has been described to me by friends in BVHP that parents are often just “walking the plank” through their children’s early schooling. But elementary school is a critical time, and parents have to be active participants in the educational development of their child. But it’s tough when they don’t have the skills and ability to teach and share with their kids because they themselves don’t have a strong educational foundation.
Promote Motivational and Inspirational Leadership Talks and Exposure: Programs where young people are able to engage, learn, share, and discuss are vital. This is where mentoring and community involvement is most critical in bridging the gap between what these young people don’t know, the experience of their educational development, and the possibilities that lie before them. Kids have to be told and reminded that there are more possibilities out there for them than what they see every day.
Even though it wasn’t stated, the Tri-Sector Athlete Mindset (TSAM) was present at Aspen Ideas Festival. This is just a brief snapshot of the work that’s taking place nationally, and in Bayview Hunters Point, but civic innovators can learn much from understanding these examples. When cross-sector leaders embrace a similar and guiding framework, the progress made on these intractable issues is all the more holistic, effective, scalable and replicable
