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What Our Partners Say

Karen Aldridge-Eason

Flint has now become a place for public ideas.

We used to be a town where everybody had somebody to blame for what was wrong. There was a general sense of things not going well. But I remember in one meeting when things seemed to begin turning. After everybody complained that somebody has to fix this, a man stood up and asked, "What are we going to do?"

People used to try to get things done by making you feel guilty.

Now, there's more of feeling that weíll be there for you. People feel like they're not just on their own, that we'll go with them if they want to do something.

Hope is contagious. Confidence has improved.

People have a lot more courage to talk about things like race.

People don't talk like they're victims as much. They may not agree with Reverend Jackson. They're saying, "I may not be somebody, but we could be somebody."

They're coming to meetings they wouldn't have attended before. They're saying, "I don't know what I have to offer but Iím going to attend," because they're looking to connect with other people and they know they won't be embarrassed because they don't have to necessarily get up in front of everybody. Harwood made it easier, less threatening, more open.

People are thinking, "How far can this go? How safe is this? Are there others? Is this real? What could happen if we just keep on doing this? Will it result in something? Can I trust my feelings about it?"

I've got this feeling of anticipation that makes me hope and worry at the same time. I'm really afraid that failure could kill it, but we've got a lot going for us. There's a feeling that we're in this together, that we've weathered it before and maybe we can show others.

We've had a leadership boost and we've got organizational structures in place.

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