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What Our Partners Say

Pete Hutchinson

In February, 1999, 14 Flint stalwarts began a journey through the Place for Public Ideas. The first session centered on identifying common aspirations and building trust amongst the class. It should be noted that many of us did not know one another prior to meeting in the Place.

There has been a community impact created by the Place. This impact can not necessarily be assessed seeing a direct correlation between intentional initiatives of the Place and programs taking place in the community. However, based on the participants involved in different initiatives that are also Place alumni it is safe to assume that there is more than a little influence from the Place is in each of the initiatives.

There is a group of members of the first class who have continued to meet on a somewhat regular basis for breakfast and have been involved separately or collectively in a number of initiatives that have had a major impact on the community. Examples of this include developing and distributing a directory of resources for the homeless, that was developed with the input of over 150 of our homeless, involvement in identifying and nurturing new and young leadership to engage in our local political system, infusing Harwood Institute concepts into the strategic planning of Metro Housing Authority, and the merger of the community’s four main economic development agencies.

Additionally, there have been a number of initiatives that have grown in part from seeds that were germinated in the Place. Recalling the second class of the Place's desire to see Flint's pride enhanced through improving its physical appearance, we currently have a number of initiatives being coordinated by Keep Genesee County Beautiful that are fulfilling the goals, such as mobilizing neighborhoods to do clean-ups (Citizens Nuisance Task Force), working with school children to establish a norm against littering (Keep Genesee County Beautiful) and training new leadership to work with neighborhoods to implement beautification projects (Applewood Urban Gardening Initiative). In addition, there are major streetscape projects scheduled or that have been completed in Downtown Flint, the Cultural Center, and the Third Avenue corridor, all of which have Place alumni involved.

Many of those in attendance at the meeting with then Superintendent of Flint Schools, Dr. James Ray, were involved in the leadership of a current grassroots initiative to improve our schools called Great Schools. This group has received input from 200 plus citizens as to what they would like to see in our schools and have presented a report to our school board, which is currently working to bring those aspirations to fruition.

There is currently a move taking place to bring greater coordination between city and county governments. To say that this is meeting with some resistance would be an understatement; however, the fact remains that we are exploring ways to create a seamless master plan, to funnel our federal block grant dollars through one governmental unit, not two; to bring together the 911 systems throughout the county; and to explore utilizing some department personnel to work in both the city and the county governmental systems.

Those who went through the Organizational Place series have also been involved in initiatives that have served to move our community forward. Those who were involved in the United Way's Place, moved forward the work began in the first class of the Place program review and created a new system for funding that has been adopted by the United Way. The doing away of "United Way" agencies and opening up the funding opportunities for any agency was a radical approach that made a large impact on services in our community. Additionally, their four areas of focus and serving as a convener in each of those areas has also created a much more systematic approach to the delivery of services in our community.

Many members of the Cultural Center Place went on to work on a Ruth Mott Initiative to develop a Community Cultural Plan. The plan that was developed is currently being implemented throughout the community, expanding the accessibility of the arts to many who have previously not had the opportunity to take part, and acknowledging that culture does not necessarily only take place at the Cultural Center.

One can plainly see that the original goals of the Place alumni group continue to be worked on and have grown to include major segments of our community. We continue to work to bring new leadership to the fore and support their efforts; we continue to enhance our community's pride through efforts to positively impact the physical environment; and we are continually working on bringing the city and county closer together.

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