Inspiring a better Springfield through Theater

Rumors of a New Day, playing on September 13, 2010

Social change requires passion, creativity and dedication. It should then be no surprise that the arts often play a pivotal role in transforming neighborhoods or whole cities around. For example, Cleveland has recently invested in its Gordon Square Arts District as a path to economic development. Richard Florida, Director of the Martin Prosperity Institute and Professor at the University of Toronto has even highlighted artists as part of the “creative class” of people who are essential to the future economy.

But ticket sales are not the sole source of the art’s impact on cities, it’s also its ability to provoke the emotion, inspiration, intuition and vision that can transform whole communities.  In the words of Hashima Moja, Musical Director of Teatro V!da:

[art has the] ability to open up the hearts and souls of people and allow us to look inside ourselves and feel, so that we can create a truly rounded and whole society full of emotional intelligence and not just intellect and power.

In that context, Teatro V!da will be presenting “Rumors of a New Day”, a play that invites the audience to believe in themselves and leave their own “bubble”. The show promises to be a joyous celebration of Springfield and the Arts, don’t miss it!

To purchase tickets, contact the City Stage box office.

Governor Patrick on market forces, community-building, and voter participation [video]

“The market looks the other way when it comes to neighborhoods like this too often.”

Governor Patrick was in the North End last week, and he made it clear that the deep disparities exemplified by the North End are unacceptable. And at the same time, he spoke about transcending neighborhood boundaries, and his campaign’s commitment to engaging infrequent voters in minority communities (contrary to conventional campaign strategy). Video below. We invite any candidate to offer their perspectives on civic engagement and the issues that have been identified by our stakeholders as priorities (see left).

Communities Press City Council on Biomass Incinerator

On Wednesday, August 11, 2010, community groups from Springfield, Massachusetts came together to ask the City Council to revoke the siting permit for Palmer Renewable Energy, which would use demolition waste streams as an energy source. As previously showcased by The Springfield Institute, neighborhoods in the City have two primary concerns about using this technology:

1. That the incineration process will decrease, increase harmful particulate matter, reduce air quality and lead to adverse health effects for the community like asthma and other problems.
2. That demolition waste is not a clean, renewable energy source which State and Local governments should be promoting.

For more information about community organizing around this issue, visit Springfield Incinerator.info.

The actual proposals for new charter schools in Springfield/Holyoke

Eight new charter schools have been proposed for Western Mass: six for Springfield, one for Holyoke (Paulo Freire), and one that apparently has not decided between the two cities (Excellence). The proposals themselves are public information, but they’re not available on the DOE web site. That’s why we’re posting them here (PDFs):

Cheryl Coakley-Rivera, left, and Barbara Rivera, right. Source: The Republican, 1995.

Barbara Rivera Regional Community Action Charter School (prospectus). Affiliated with New North Citizens Council, Barbara Rivera background from Masslive. “Two of the most demoralizing effects of poverty are the absence of the ability to self-advocate or determine and the likelihood of encompassing generations in a vicious cycle.”

Harvest Academy of Learning (prospectus). Emphasis on service learning, no emphasis on food or agriculture.

Unique School & Academy (prospectus). Emphasis on academics, athletics, and vocational skills. Affilitaed: State Rep. Ben Swan, MCDI executive director, Boys and Girls Club executive director, former Boston Celtic.

Springfield Prepatory Charter School (prospectus). Emphasis on college preparation, affiliation with Springfield Technical Community College, plans to contract with SABIS to operate school.

Collegiate Charter School (prospectus). Emphasis on college preparation, leadership, and citizenship. Affiliation with American International College. Board includes Northampton superintendent, retired Holyoke superintendent, Springfield Urban League president

Veritas Prepatory Charter School (prospectus). Emphasis on high expectations for all students. “Supporters” include: The Davis Foundation, The Springfield Republican, The Springfield YMCA, The Springfield Urban League. “Paycheck token economy system” will be used to “reward and grow student behaviors that we want to see.”

Paulo Freire Social Justice Charter School (prospectus). Proposed director is the founder and director of the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts charter school. “Paulo Freire will have programs throughout the school year, an extended day, virtuallearning programs, adult literacy classes, a summer academy and community building activities. The school will model social justice values and norms, and will build a collective awareness to foster equality and respect for all individuals.” See video below.

Excellence Charter School (prospectus). Special emphasis on math, computers, and Tae Kwon Do (logo, right).

Could social innovation come in a black box?: Challenges for pubic and private funders

When a good proposal is rejected, do you ever wonder if merit had anything to do with it? According to Saturday’s NY Times, many of the winning proposals submitted to the $50 million Social Innovation Fund (not to be confused with the $650 million Investing in Innovation fund we covered on 8/6) received low scores from the 48 independent reviewers. There were also conflicts of interest.

I have a personal interest in this issue. A couple weeks ago I completed my work as the chair of a review committee for a US Dept. of Health and Human Services grant worth about $1 million. We signed this and other forms related to conflict of interest and confidentiality. The oversight was good, we really stuck to the objective criteria from the RFP, and we had to defend our scores with specific examples. Now I’m eager to see how funding decisions match up with our evaluations….

Lest you think the problem is contained to Washington, let me share an experience with a private foundation in this area. An hour after submitting a proposal, we received this email:

“Thank you for submitting a Grant Application on the World Wide Website of [funder name omitted]. A thorough review of the application was made, and we regret to inform you that the application was rejected….”

Incredulous, I responded asking if this was a mistake. The funder’s response:

“There is no mistake.

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T.”

El Sol Latino – August 2010: Assessing Latino Influence

Cover of El Sol Latino for August 2010

This month’s issue of El Sol Latino highlights the outcome of the Hispanic Family Festival (Festival de la Familia Hispana) celebrated last month in Holyoke. And although the images evidence the good times had, the paper’s editorial offers a biting critique of the tepid reception that Latino cultural events typically receive in the City by non-Latino’s. As an illustrative example, the editorial compares the Irish Day Parade with the Hispanic Family Festival:

There are […] important characteristics that seem to define the Irish parade […] (one of them being) the “Latinization” that the Irish parade has experienced over the last  years. As the parade moves from the K-Mart Plaza to the downtown, the number of Latino spectators increases, wanting to partake of the celebration.

In contrast, the reaction of the non-Latino community of the area towards Latino celebrations is quite different. The participation of a significant part of non-Latinos in the Hispanic Family Festival and its activities is a “shy” one. The business sector does not provide an economic support that can be considered significant, enthusiastic or consistent, even though they benefi t from the growing buying power of the Latino population.

Natalia Muñoz from La Prensa of Western Massachusetts

Taking a broader view of cultural parades, community blogger Natalia Muñoz adds a spanish-written op-ed piece titled “Enough of Parades that End in Nothing”, where she challenges the Latino community to use its cultural activities as a proactive forum for political organizing:

The Puerto Rican parade that was celebrated in Holyoke in July was more illustrative of what we aren’t instead of what we are. Yes, we are boricuas, and with pride. But we are not a political force, and that is why our culture is dwindling amongst flags and empanadas.

[…]

Puerto Rican parades should include a keynote speaker that infuses, inspires and organizes the boricua community. They should include kiosks with voter registration forms, information about political candidates and the issues that are at stake at the ballot. There should be kiosks with information about community organizations, not to see what they have to offer us, but what we can do to help the organizations, like serving as a volunteer at the library, at schools or the program that helps people with diabetes.

[…]

We are much more than what they think. We are artists, chefs, mechanics, teachers, entrepreneurs, students, a whole gamut of different people. They will never know that until we go out, not to celebrate, but to vote. Not even we know that yet.

In that spirit of political organization, page 6 describes the upcoming Latino Public Policy Conference on September 17th in Worcester, sponsored by the Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy. Titled “Securing the Dream: Power, Progress and Prosperity”, the conference will feature the results of the Institute’s year-long listening tour through Latino communities in Massachusetts, including Springfield, Holyoke, Worcester, Southbridge, Lawrence, Boston and Dartmouth.

Rounding out the the articles assessing Latino influence, the latest edition of El Sol Latino includes a piece about a national poll of young Latino voters. As Jorge Mursuli, President of Democracia USA states, “This study offers incredible insight into the worlds that young Hispanics straddle as they grow up and develop a cultural, political and social identity in this country”.

You can see the complete results of the poll and all other articles from August’s El Sol Latino by going to the paper’s website here, or by downloading the PDF version here.

Wednesday Ride #5 Postponed

The Springfield Institute is resting its bikes this week

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the fifth installment of our “Wednesday Rides” will be postponed until next week on August 25th. Therefore, we will not be meeting in front of the YMCA tomorrow as usual.

Stay tuned details of the next Wednesday Ride coming soon. Meanwhile, you can see videos from our previous rides here:

Ride 1: Springfield’s Bike Path

Ride 2: North End neighborhoods and Gerena School.

Ride 3: Mason Square & McKnight neighborhoods

We’re not alone: News from across the Rust Belt

Aproximate area of US "Rust Belt" cities in orange

As reviewed in an article from few weeks ago, our communities in Springfield and Holyoke can take advantage of regional and national resources intended to serve post-industrial cities across the United States. One such useful resource is Rustwire.com, which describes itself as:

a site intended to consolidate thoughtful, constructive stories about post-industrial cities across the Rust Belt. It was developed by two former newspaper reporters with ties to five Rust Belt cities, and it is maintained with help from half a dozen others from across the region

Similar to the springfield institute, they provide multi-author, multi-media rich perspectives on the struggles and successes that will transform our cities moving forward. We salute the entrepreneurship of the site’s contributors and recommend it to our readers.