community building initiative

January 1998 –June 1999

The goal adopted for Phase II was "To continue the active community building process among people of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds in Charlotte-Mecklenburg and build on what was begun in Phase I." Phase II of the Community Building Initiative was built on the conviction that there was still real work to be done around issues of race and ethnicity and on the commitment of hundreds of people to engage in this work. Phase I Leadership Team members Mac Everett and James Ferguson agreed to serve as co-chairs of Phase II and recruited a talented group of citizens to serve on the Phase II Leadership Team. The Foundation For The Carolinas and Mecklenburg Ministries agreed to continue as co-sponsoring organizations, with the Foundation providing funding necessary to underwrite the transitional period from Phase I to Phase II. A Phase II action plan was developed. Key points of this plan were:

Organization of Issue Action Teams around community challenges identified at the December 1997 conference.
Encouragement of broad-based dialogue and public awareness opportunities within the community; and;
Promotion of collaboration with existing community organizations, institutions and programs to work for community change

The phrase "Building A Community Worthy of the Crown", was adopted as the organization’s vision by volunteers and participants. Leadership Team members worked to raise funds necessary to underwrite Phase II, and set in motion a process for creating a Values & Principles statement to challenge individuals and community institutions. They further committed themselves to developing an implementation and accountability plan for recommendations coming out of Phase II. A professional team of facilitators, organizational management and behavior experts, social and cultural experts and others were assembled to guide the program design and delivery and to supervise the on-going work of Phase II. In March of 1998 the Leadership Team reviewed 24 community challenges identified at the "Something Has Begun" (pdf file) conference and prioritized six issues:

1 - Education: Curriculum design and teaching methods
2 - Education: The equitable distribution of resources to our schools
3 - Education: The growing disagreement about how and whether to integrate the school system
4 - Economics: The equitable distribution of resources to neighborhoods
5 - Economics: Jobs and economic opportunities
6 - Public Safety: Recruiting, hiring, training and promoting a diverse police force to serve a diverse community

As these issues became focused, it became clear that an opportunity existed to develop a process unique from other national efforts addressing issues around race. The models employed by many communities focus on either racial dialogue or high-level problem-solving approaches. The design of Phase II was intended to combine a citizen-driven process with dialogue, research and education to produce solution-driven strategies. From this work, the CBI Change Model emerged, moving from the individual, to the group, to the organizational and institutional, and finally, community-wide level. Each of the six Issue Action Teams worked to research, catalog, discuss and review information available within their area of interest, while working on a personal level to learn through continuous sharing and exchange within the group. At the end of Phase II, three working documents were written in the areas of Education, Economics and Public Safety. Accomplishments of Phase II include:

Strong relationships built across long-standing and/or traditional differences
Citizens with increased awareness and information about racial and ethnic issues and their impact on community life
Citizen-led research and data collection on issues related to race and ethnicity
Data-based, citizen-driven strategies and recommendations addressing key community issues
Passionate teams of educated citizens mobilized to move forward with positive strategies
A citizen-based Resource Team Model for addressing specific community issues that features collaboration with community organizations and institutions
A facilitated community conversation and feedback model
Visible leadership in the area of race relations

Phase II: Making a Commitment to Continue