MULBERRY RECREATION CENTER
Adults with developmental disabilities participate in the "You can do yoga" class at Mulberry Recreation Center. The class receives a grant from Community Sparkplugs.
Quick, think of three ideas for improving your community. They don't have to be big ideas that would take years to accomplish, just something attainable that can contribute immediately to our neighborhoods.
It is through these incremental contributions that positive change often occurs.
Author Peter Sims talks about this approach as "Little Bets." In his recent book by the same name, he writes "in this era of ever-accelerating change, being able to create, navigate amid uncertainty, and adapt using an experimental approach will increasingly be a vital advantage ... the way to begin is with little bets."
Applying this same approach in communities is critical to our future vitality. Rather than coming from the top down, some of the most creative ideas bubble from the ground up - and nurturing them requires empowering the citizenry as problem solvers. They need to believe that their ideas can make a difference.
At a global scale, Youth Venture provides seed investments to emerging social entrepreneurs with the mantra "Dream It. Do it." Building off the investment model of their parent organization, Ashoka, Youth Venture works with young social entrepreneurs in nine countries and invests $1,000 in the most promising ideas. It also provides mentorship and support and plugs entrepreneurs into a global community of change-makers.
Closer to home, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation has launched the "Community Sparkplugs" program to invest in promising ideas focused on health and nutrition.
The effort is a partnership with N.C. Recreation and Parks Association, the N.C. Council of Churches, the Center for Environmental Farming Systems, and the N.C. PTA among others, and led by New York-based The Rensselaerville Institute.
Community Sparkplugs is being piloted with a total of $90,000 going this year to three counties - Lenoir, Caldwell and Scotland. If successful, it will be expanded to other counties throughout North Carolina.
The counties were selected because of low health rankings on certain metrics, but also because of their demonstrated can-do attitude.
Dave Watson-Hallowell of TRI, who is serving as project director of Community Sparkplugs for a Healthy North Carolina, said sparkplugs are "regular community members that have the passion for getting things done, and they're folks who would rather do something than sit around and complain about it."
Sparkplugs are defined by TRI as people who have the energy to notonly dream up good ideas, but have the fortitude to get it done with a bias for action. They are results-oriented folks who take responsibility for their own behavior and have a broader belief in the common good. Collaboration and teamwork also feature heavily into their strategies, especially the willingness to share credit and harness the power of volunteerism.
In each of the targeted counties, a workshop is held for aspiring sparkplugs.
Ten of the best ideas are then granted $3,000, along with ongoing technical assistance during the six-month project period.
What's going on now
In Lenoir County, the Cooperative Extension's $3,000 award will go toward a cooking demonstration project at the Kinston-Lenoir County Farmer's Market, during which local chefs and cooking enthusiasts will demonstrate how to cook in a healthy manner.
Other projects include a community garden and cooking classes by Common Ground of Eastern North Carolina and a walking, zumba and nutrition program by Sistahs in De Spirit.
And sparkplugs are now being fired up in Caldwell and Scotland counties. For instance, Scotland High School varsity soccer coach Colin McDavid is leading "Joga Bonita," a high-intensity youth soccer program. In Caldwell County, 11-year-old Daniela Berry plans to expand her Plant a Row program to help others create a year-round source of food for local pantries.
Similar micro-investment strategies are under way or are being planned in other parts of the state.
For example, the Grameen Bank, which achieved fame through the Nobel Prize of its founder Muhammad Yunus, has launched a U.S. franchise. A team of leaders from Charlotte is now trying to bring the micro-loan program to hard-to-serve neighborhoods in the Queen City.
Though the Grameen model is to help break the cycle of poverty through small business creation (vs. grass-roots social change activities), the principle is not dissimilar: Citizens have good ideas for improving the conditions of their communities, and they need resources, encouragement and support to help get them launched.
Often when we think of needed community change, we think big. This is often daunting and leads many of us to defer action to others. But this squanders the potential of grass-roots change-makers who have good ideas and are willing to take little bets that can contribute to a richer whole. Seems like we owe it ourselves to help get these sparks lit.
Christopher Gergen is founding executive director of Bull City Forward, a member of the faculty of the Hart Leadership Program at Duke University, and co-author of Life Entrepreneurs. Stephen Martin, a former journalist, is a speechwriter at the nonprofit Center for Creative Leadership.
