About HLP

Syllabus


MAKING CHANGE IN COMMUNITIES:
The Work of Leadership

Public Policy 196S.39
Spring 2004

Mondays 5:30-7:50 pm
150 Terry Sanford Institute

Tema Okun
Office and Home: 490-4448
e-mail: temaokun@earthlink.net

Julie Thomasson Mooney
Office and Home: 489-5650
e-mail: juliemooney@nc.rr.com

Office Hours: By appointment. Please feel free to contact us at any time either at home or the office to set up phone or in person appointments. We will also generally be in
Room 148 an hour before class, from 4:30 p.m. -5:30 p.m.

To understand your country, you must love it. To love it, you must, in a
sense, accept it. To accept it as it is, however, is to betray it. To
accept your country without betraying it, you must love it for that in it
which shows what it might become. America -- this monument to the genius of
ordinary men and women, this place where hope becomes capacity, this long,
halting turn of the no into the yes, needs citizens that love it enough to
reimagine and remake it.
Cornel West


I. Course Description

The process of community change involves efforts to fundamentally shift power, resources, and opportunity for people. It requires local leadership to create this change. This course will draw on the lessons learned by the course instructors and many leaders throughout the region about how to lead citizen-driven efforts to increase economic and civic equity. We will examine several models of change, including community organizing, community development, collaboration, advocacy, education, electoral, top-down, and others, and we will examine the intersection of these strategies.

While we will explore lots of models and cases about how other people have created change, we also intend for students in this class to learn some of the skills and tools required for leading change efforts yourselves. We will build in opportunities for your own reflection about how you see yourself as a leader in your community, now and in the future.

The course will be structured around the following learning objectives:

  • to understand the need for an analysis of the economic, political, and social context in a community when considering approaches to change;
  • to develop an understanding of the nature and meaning of leadership in the context of community change -- what it is, what it requires;
  • to understand a range of approaches to leading change at a community level and on the part of community leaders;
  • to develop the analytic ability to frame a leadership response to community challenges;
    to understand oneself in the context of community leadership roles (e.g., current expectations and hopes for the future, personal strengths and weaknesses) and determine short and long-term learning goals;
  • to learn how to do qualitative research using interviews with community members/leaders (to supplement traditional research); and
  • to learn more about the collaborative process of working in teams.


II. Approach and Requirements

The course is built around a variety of learning experiences, and we hope and expect that learnings for students will be drawn from the following sources:

  • readings and discussions with faculty and classmates;
  • guest presenters who will tell their own stories of change efforts;
  • the ideas and insights of each other, as you work in teams on a group project;
  • the wisdom and experiences of people in communities you choose to study; and
  • your own reflection about yourself -- your understanding of yourself as someone who cares about moving change in communities and your hopes for how you want to develop over time.

There are a number of requirements that we believe are necessary for a rich learning experience. To that end, we expect, and grades will be based on the following:

1. Participation (25%): Full attendance and thoughtful and informed discussion within the class is crucial. While acknowledging the different levels of ease each student will have in regards to talking in class, we will be looking for active involvement in class discussion, as evidenced by the raising of thoughtful questions to presenters and each other, reflection on assigned readings, careful listening, a willingness to challenge one’s own assumptions, and the sharing of ideas and insights.

2. Group project and final presentation (35%). Each student will work with a team to design a leadership response to a pressing community education or economic development challenge. Topics will be proposed, but a group of students might select its own, after consultation with us. On April 14 conclusions will be presented to a panel of Institute faculty and invited guests expert in community leadership. This percentage of the grade will include the team project work plans, the presentation itself, and the project paper.

3. Periodic reflection papers (40%). A number of short papers will be required over the course of the class. Papers will be graded based on level of effort, attention to grammar and editing, organization of thought, quality of analysis (ability to support your arguments), and ability to draw, when appropriate, from readings and class discussions.

4. About the readings: Most of the required readings will be either on reserve or available on-line through the reserve system at Perkins Library. Some will be distributed in class. Additional readings will be recommended that are specifically related to major project topics.

5. Flexibility: Some of these topics and readings may change to reflect the experiences and needs of the class as a whole. While the topics described in the syllabus will remain unchanged, some of the class content and/or reading assignments may change depending on how to interests and focus of the class evolves. We will make sure that any change in readings and assignments are decided and given in a timely fashion.

III. The Course Schedule

What follows is an overview of key themes, readings, and major deadlines. Readings are likely to change some as the course unfolds and as we respond to your interests as well as new discoveries on our part.

Note that assignments for a particular class are described under that class heading. In other words, the reading and due on January 12 are described under the description of the January 12 class.

Class 1 - January 7: Overview of the Course, Discussion of Expectations

Discussion Topics:

  • Introduction of faculty, experience and organizational affiliations.
  • Student introductions.
  • Overview of course: goals, approach, assignments.
  • Assumptions and biases about change.
  • Overview of major approaches to mobilizing people for change in communities.

Class 2 - January 12: Understanding Community and the Context for Change – Case Study of School Merger in Durham, NC

Discussion Topics:

  • Presentation and discussion with guests: Bill Bell, Mayor of Durham, former Chair of County Commission and Curt Eshelman, local physician and leader in merger of Durham County/City schools.
  • An overview of Durham’s culture, economy, political climate, and racial dynamics and why they matter in the work of leadership.
  • How to analyze issues of power and influence in a community.
  • “Force-field analysis” – how to take stock of the historic, economic, social, political, cultural “forces” that influence a community issue.
  • Top down and collaborative strategies for change.
  • Norms for a learning community.

Required Readings for January 12:
· Robert A. Chaskin, Defining Neighborhoods: http://www.planning.org/casey/pdf/chaskin.pdf
· John McKnight and John Kretzman, Mapping Community Capacity: http://www.northwestern.edu/ipr/publications/papers/mcc.pdf
· Frank Hyman, “In Durham Elections, Endorsements Matter,” The Independent Weekly, October 9, 2002.
· Merger Issues Task Force, Facing the Future of Our Schools, selected pages. (Handout)
· Adam Seessel, “Merger Man,” The Independent Weekly, March 6, 2001, pp. 8-9.

Suggested readings for early part of semester:
· Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, Poverty Increases and Median Income Declines, Press Release, September 2003. http://www.cbpp.org/9-26-03pov.htm
· The Education Trust, Ticket to Nowhere: The Gap Between Leaving School and Entering College and High-Performance Jobs, Fall 1999. http://www2.edtrust.org/NR/rdonlyres/1196FBF0-FB01-4B75-B363-B1D525869F29/0/k16_fall99.pdf
· MDC, Inc., The State of the South 1998. http://www.mdcinc.org/pdfs/S_of_s.pdf
· Sorien K. Schmidt and Elizabeth K. Jordan, NC Justice and Community Development Center, Working Hard is Still Not Enough, May 2003. http://www.ncjustice.org/publications.htm#reports (you will have to click on the name of the report to access it).

Writing assignment due.

Class 3 - January 26: Overview of Community Change Strategies

Discussion Topics:

  • Strengths and weaknesses of different strategies for influencing community change (e.g., collaboration, community organizing, advocacy, electoral, top-down, education).
  • Leadership challenges and issues related to change strategies.
  • How to analyze issues of power and influence in a community.
  • “Force-field analysis” – how to take stock of the historic, economic, social, political, cultural “forces” that influence a community issue.

Required Readings for January 26:

· Bruce Adams and John Parr, Boundary Crossers: Case Studies of How Ten of America’s Metropolitan Regions Work. Chattanooga – The Sustainable City.
www.academy.umd.edu/Publications/Boundary/CaseStudies/bcschattanooga.htm
· Robert Coles, The Call of Service, NY: Houghton-Mifflin, 1993, pp. 31-67. Douglas Henton, John Melville, Kimberly Walesh, Grassroots Leaders for a New Economy, Jossey-Bass, Inc., 1997, pp. 33-60.
· Mary Beth Rogers, Cold Anger: A Story of Faith and Power Politics, pp. 106-126.
· James A. Thurber and Candice J. Nelson, Campaigns and Elections American Style, Westview Press, Inc. Ch. 11, pp. 138-151.
· Bill Barrow, Battling the Odds, Southern Exposure Magazine, Summer 2003, pp. 65-66.

Optional Readings:
· Robert Putnam, The Prosperous Community: Social Capital and Public Life, The American Prospect Online. http://www.prospect.org/print/V4/13/putnam-r.html

Worksheet assignment due.

Class 4 - February 2: The Work of Leadership in the Context of Community Change

Discussion Topics:

  • Defining leadership as values based, adaptive work.
  • Examining approaches to leading with and without authority.
  • Understanding the leadership challenge in community change.
  • The need for attention to change at several levels -- personal, interpersonal, organizational, community, systemic.
  • Discussion of the importance of values (rooted in one’s culture and history) and vision in providing the impetus for change.
  • Exploration of personal life experiences and values.
  • Introduction of major project assignment.

Required Readings for February 3:
· Parker Palmer, Leading from Within: Reflections on Spirituality and Leadership. http://www.teacherformation.org/html/rr/leading.cfm?dsp_mode=print
· Ronald A. Heifetz, “Leadership Without Easy Answers,” MA: Harvard University Press, 1994, pp. 13-27.
· Muriel Tillinghast, “Freedom is a Constant Struggle,” Forward Motion, Summer 1994, pp. 4-9.
· Larraine R. Matusak, Finding Your Voice, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1997, pp. 3-23 and 33-45.
· Peter Block, From Leadership to Citizenship, in Insights on Leadership: Service, Stewardship, Spirit, and Servant-Leadership, Ed. by Larry C. Spears, John Wiley & Sons, 1998.

Optional Readings:
· Parker Palmer, Divided No More. http://www.teacherformation.org/html/rr/index.cfm (look under Related Writings)

Class 5 - February 9: Case Study – The Development of Streets at Southpoint Mall

Discussion topics:

  • Electoral power and use of elected office.
  • Community organizing for disenfranchised groups.
  • Advocacy before elected officials.
  • Community development strategies.
  • Power analysis and force-field analysis.
  • Leadership challenges and issues related to change strategies.

Required Readings for February 10:
· The Development of the Streets at Southpoint Mall, a case study.
· Robert J. Chaskin, et. al., Building Community Capacity, Aldine De Gruyter, New York, 2001. Chapter 4, pp. 93-122.
· Neal Peirce and Carol F. Steinbach, Corrective Capitalism: The Rise of America’s Community Development Corporations, Ford Foundation, NY.
· Jim Schultz, The Democracy Owner’s Manual: A Practical Guide for Changing the World, Chapter 11, pp. 157-179.

Writing assignment due.

Class 6 - February 16: Race and Community Building

Discussion topics:

  • Race and racism as driving factors in community change.
  • Power analysis.
  • Racism, white privilege, internalized racist oppression, internalized white supremacy and their effects on change efforts.

Required Readings:
· Beverly Daniel Tatum, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? NY: Basic Books, 1997, pp. 3-90 and 93-166.
· Robert Jensen, White People Need to Acknowledge Benefits of Unearned Privilege, Baltimore Sun, 2001.

Optional Reading:
· Cynthia M. Duncan, Worlds Apart: Why Poverty Persists in Rural America, Yale University Press, Chapter 2 and pages 187-200.

Work plan assignment due.

Class 7 – February 23: Case Study -- Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Project

Discussion Topics:

  • The nature of long-standing community divisions and challenges.
  • Community healing as a change strategy.
  • Community-wide collaboration as a change strategy.
  • Education, community organizing and advocacy strategies for change.
  • Leadership challenges and issues related to change strategies.

Required Readings
· David Chrislip and Eric Larson, Collaborative Leadership: How Citizens and Civic Leaders Can Make a Difference, Chapters 2-7.
· The Truth and Community Reconciliation Project website: http://www.gtcrp.org – read “Nov 3, 1979,” “Profiles,” “Media Library – all files,” “About the Project,” “Mandate and Selection Process,” and anything else of interest.
· Keith O. Lawrence, Race and Community Building, 2000. Selected pages.
· Margaret J. Wheatley, Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope for the Future, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2002. Selected pages.

Class 8 – March 1: In-Class Simulation

Discussion Topics:

  • The application of range of change strategies.
  • Leadership challenges and issues related to change strategies.
  • The role of individual and group reflection.

Required Readings:
· John W. Gardner, Building Community, Independent Sector.
· Ronald A. Heifetz, “Leadership Without Easy Answers,” MA: Harvard University Press, 1994, pp. 101-149 and 183-232.
· Note: All prior reading for the class will be relevant to the simulation.

Required Readings for Team Process Writing Assignment:
· John R. Katzenbach, Douglas K. Smith, The Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High-Performance Organization, Harper Business, 1993. Chapter 6, pages 109-129.
· David Keirsey and Marylin Bates, Please Understand Me: Character and Temperament Types, Prometheus Nemesis Book Co., 1984.

Suggested Reading for Effective Team Work:
· Michael Doyle, David Straus, How to Make Meetings Work, Jove Books, 1982, pp. 19-54 and 88-147.

March 8: Spring Break

Class 9 - March 15: Case Study – Closing the Achievement Gap

Discussion Topics:

  • Case study of efforts to close the achievement gap in Durham.
  • The intersection of race and poverty.
  • Service, collaborative, top-down strategies for change.
  • A look at the congruence of various change strategies used to address the same issue.
  • Leadership challenges and issues related to change strategies.

Required Reading:
· Chapin Hall, Vital Voices: Building Constituencies for Public School Reform, Chapin Hall.
· MDC, Building Communities of Conscience and Conviction, 2001.
· John McKnight, Regenerating Community. http://www.cpn.org/topics/community/regenerating.html.
· Mary Beth Rogers, Cold Anger: A Story of Faith and Power Politics, Chapters 6-7.

Writing Assignment due.

Class 10 - March 22: Using Community Development Corporations to Create Community Change

Discussion Topics:

  • Case presentation by Metropolitan CDC, Washington, NC.
  • Approaches to change using the community development approach.
  • Surfacing leadership skills and qualities required in the work of community development.
  • The intersection of community development with electoral, service, and advocacy strategies.
  • Leadership challenges and issues related to change strategies.

Required Readings:
· Robert J. Chaskin, et.al., Building Community Capacity, Chapter 3 on Organizational Development, pp. 61-91.
· Consensus Organizing Institute, The Consensus Organizing Model, http://www.cpn.org/topics/community/consensus.html.
· MDC, Inc., An Assessment of the North Carolina Community Development Initiative, 2002.
· Ron Nored, Reweaving the Fabric: How Congregations and Communities Can Come Together to Build Their Neighborhoods, River City Publishing, 1999.
· Higher Ground: The Rebirth of Dudley Street (video, on reserve at Lilly Library).

Class 11 - March 31: Case Study – Addressing Brown Lung Disease in Textile Communities

Discussion Topics:

  • Case presentation on the work of the Carolina Brown Lung association and others.
  • Community organizing as a change strategy.
  • The intersection of organizing with service, education, and advocacy.
  • Leadership challenges and issues related to change strategies.

Required Readings:
· Mimi Conway, “Cotton Dust Kills and It’s Killing Me,” Southern Exposure Magazine, Volume VI, Number 2, 1978, pp. 29-39
· Jim Schultz, The Democracy Owner’s Manual: A Practical Guide for Changing the World, pp. 83-95 and 120-131.
· Charles Payne, I’ve Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing Tradition and the Mississippi Freedom Struggle, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995, pp. 236-264.
· Daniel Yankelovich, Coming to Public Judgment: Making Democracy Work in a Complex World, Syracuse University Press, 1991. Selected pages.

Project progress report due.

Class 12 – April 7: Case Study – Influencing Community Change from Positions of Authority in Danville, Virginia

Discussion Topics:

  • Case presentation on an economic development planning process in Danville, Virginia.
  • Top-down strategies for community change; leading with formal authority.
  • Leadership challenges and issues related to change strategies.

Required Reading
· Douglas Henton, John Melville, Kimberly Walesh, Grassroots Leaders for a New Economy, Jossey-Bass, Inc., 1997. pp. 80-111 and 149-180.
· MDC, Inc., Learning, Working, Winning: Brining the New Economy to the Dan River Region, 2000.
· Jan Schaffer and Edward Miller, Ed., With the People: A Toolbox for Getting Readers and Viewers Involved. www.pewcenter.org/doingcj/pubs/pubs_toolbox.html.
· Ezra Vogel, Comeback: Building the Resurgence of American Business, Simon and Schuster, 1985. pp. 240-262.

Class 13 - April 12: Reflection on Learning and Next Steps

Discussion Topics

  • q Project team meetings for reflection on learning from group process.
  • Reflection on learning from the class.
  • Personal reflection on each student’s anticipated path for leadership and areas for growth.

Class 14 - April 19: Presentations of Major Projects

Each project team will present its conclusions to a panel of Institute faculty and other invited guests who are expert in community change strategies. Presentations will be followed by a period of questions and answers, and students are encouraged to glean additional ideas from guests for inclusion into final papers. Class will be held in Rhodes Conference Room.

Note: This class may last an additional hour. Optional gathering following this class.

Written project reports will be turned in at the start of class April 19.

Exam Week: Writing Assignment - The final writing assignment is a reflection paper on learnings and insights gained from the class.


 


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