Where will we be in 2020?

PUBLISHED IN THE GAZETTE, JUNE 27, 2008

  Imagine it's the summer of 2020.
   The Pikes Peak region has become such a model of success for midsize urban communities that time.com has sent a team of reporters and image-capture artists (once known as photographers) to do the story.
   What would that story say? What would those photographs show? Close your eyes and think about it.
   That sort of imaginative exercise will be a small part of what will fuel Dream City: Vision 2020, a new community engagement project kicking off with a news conference at 10 a.m. today by The Gazette, Leadership Pikes Peak, the Pikes Peak Library District, the Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region, or COPPeR, and the Quality of Life Indicators team.
   The aim of the project is to give everyone living here - kids, construction workers, artists, teachers, military personnel, engineers, retirees - a greater role in shaping our future.
   "The exciting thing about Dream City is that we hope to reach not only our established community leaders, but also involve thousands of ordinary people throughout the community in building the future," said Susan Saksa, executive director of Leadership Pikes Peak. "And by doing this effort, we hope to break new ground for the Pikes Peak region and become a national model along the way."
   The project will be divided into three categories: inspiration, education and engagement.
   The inspiration phase launches today, with the dreamcity2020.com Web site, which will give you many opportunities to participate. Whether you'd like to give your two cents about what our community needs or you'd like to find a place for your classroom or organization in Dream City, you'll find it there.
   The heart of the inspiration phase will continue July 20 with an art, photography, video, poetry and essay contests for kids and adults. The theme: draw, paint, sculpt, photograph, videotape or write about what you want your community to look like in 2020. Winning entries will be displayed at the Fine Arts Center Modern gallery and other venues throughout the community.
   "I think using the arts to engage the community is a really natural way to begin because people express themselves through the arts," said Bettina Swigger, executive director of COPPeR, which is planning an arts summit tied to Dream City.
   She also likes the idea of having minors play a major role in the project.
   "There's the obvious fact that they're the ones who are going to be inheriting this community," she said. "But beyond that, their creativity is often more open ended than that of us stodgy old adults. Plus, if we engage the kids, hopefully we can get their parents on board."
   The education phase will begin in November. The Gazette and the education community will dedicate themselves to focusing on what residents need to know to move forward. History, no doubt, will play a significant role, as will stories, lectures and workshops about natural resources, growth and things we can learn from other communities.
   "Our job in the Dream City process will be to provide the spaces where citizens can connect, bring relevant facts to the table for all to use, and be an honest broker of information and debate," Gazette executive editor Jeff Thomas said.
   The Pikes Peak Library District will be involved in all the phases of the project, particularly the educational component. Dream City will piggyback on the library's successful All Pikes Peak Reads program, which will loosely tie its book themes for the next two years around the themes of Dream City.
   "One of the long-standing goals of All Pikes Peak Reads was to build a framework that we could use for other kinds of conversations as a community," said Dee Vazquez, community relations officer for the library district. "We couldn't imagine a better project to create energy and change through dialogue."
   The engagement phase of Dream City kicks off in December with a series of discussion groups facilitated by Everyday Democracy, formerly known as Study Circles, the organization that ran Food for Thought salons here in the '90s.
   Leadership Pikes Peak will work with Everyday Democracy to enlist and train groups of citizens to conduct community interviews and facilitate group discussions about the next chapter in our region's history. Those discussions will culminate in a series of community summits, at which action groups will be formed to make the "big ideas" a reality.
   The success stories related to civic engagement abound.
   Almost a decade ago, Portsmouth, N.H., launched Portsmouth Listens to address some problems in its schools. The project engaged hundreds of people and led to a school being renovated and a major school redistricting.
   Getting ordinary people to take a greater role in decision-making also was the goal of a civic engagement initiative in Mossyrock, a tiny town in Washington.
   You can see the results in expanded projects for youth, more after-school programs, job training, programs that address poverty and the 100 people (out of a population of about 2,300) who attend weekly city council meetings. "It's been just extraordinary," said Wilma Sofranko, a farmer and artist who was among the organizers.
   Civic engagement also has made an impact in Colorado Springs.
   In 1976, the city was stagnating when a group of civic leaders and citizens formed the group Citizens' Goals (which later evolved into Leadership Pikes Peak) and went away on a retreat in Keystone to talk about the future of Colorado Springs.
   Their dialogues and workshops led to, among, other things, the Pikes Peak Center, Silver Key senior services, an expanded trails system, Spring Spree and a 911 emergency line.
   "I don't think civic engagement can change things overnight," said Barbara Yalich, a retired Colorado College administrator who was involved in the Keystone Summit. "But I think that the coming together of people, the power of the people, if that's not too cliche, not assembled in political groups to elect candidates or get legislation passed, can do amazing things. Something about the spirit has to emerge from the community that says we can do better than this."
   Colorado Springs City Councilwoman Jan Martin said she agrees.
   "The concept of Dream City, of having the community take time to talk about what we can become instead of what we aren't is a powerful thing," she said. "If we can engage the community about how to move forward, there isn't anything we can't accomplish." 

<i>   WARREN EPSTEIN IS THE GAZETTE'S NEWSROOM COORDINATOR FOR DREAM CITY: VISION 2020.</i>