{"id":720,"date":"2009-05-07T12:13:29","date_gmt":"2009-05-07T16:13:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cefocusing.com\/wordpress\/?p=720"},"modified":"2009-05-07T12:23:22","modified_gmt":"2009-05-07T16:23:22","slug":"grassroots-greening-planting-grows-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cefocusing.com\/wordpress\/grassroots-greening-planting-grows-community\/","title":{"rendered":"GRASSROOTS GREENING: PLANTING GROWS COMMUNITY"},"content":{"rendered":"

The “One Small Thing” <\/a>method of Creative Edge Focusing (TM) helps organizations find that one small step people will take to become motivated and engaged. Building Community<\/a>\u00a0through Listening\/Focusing Partnerships\/Groups\/Teams \u00a0is an easy outgrowth of these first collaborative efforts. Below is an example of the “one small thing” that turned a traffic lane into a green and walkable neighborhood.<\/p>\n

“Grassroots Greening — \u00a0Two Bike Lanes, 3 Miles of Green Space, and a Hundred New Friends: How One Woman Transformed a Neighborhood”<\/strong> (Sunset <\/em>magazine, May 2009, pp.46-49) tells how Gillian Gillett, who bought a home on a busy intersection and six-lane thoroughfare in San Francisco, created a neighborhood community by starting with “one small thing” — she collected 300 signatures on a traffic calming petition” needed by the city to consider safety improvements. “While the traffic slowed down (the speed limit was reduced from 40 to 25), her plan to make her neighborhood more people-friendly sped up.”<\/p>\n

By Fall of 2004, Gillett had received a $75,000 grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission for neighborhood revitalization. She got bike lanes added and traffic lanes reduced from six to four. She got a traffic light installed. Now she and others could cross the street to the nearby hospital! This “one small step” now allowed the area to become a walkable “neighborhood.”<\/p>\n

Gillett\u00a0and her husband found themselves now the core of a group of activists, including neighbors, schools,\u00a0and merchants, all suddenly seeing themselves as part of this neighborhood. Gillett and her husband Jeff Goldberg started looking for the next step in building a community.\u00a0Research and canvassing pointed in the same direction: planting trees, plants, greening a neighborhood builds a community.<\/p>\n

They got permission to plant the highway median, the only greenspace available. At the same time, the mayor of San Francisco got on board, proclaiming that 5000 trees a year be planted in SF and appointing a “green czar” to help it happen.<\/p>\n

The first planting, of two blocks of median, had 126 participants. The next, 400.\u00a0 “We do the plantings as a block party with a band and food and participation of local merchants, “Gillett explains. “Before this project, traffic was so heavy that people didn’t really know their neighbors. It’s really contributing to the resiliency of the neighborhood.”<\/p>\n

And\u00a0another quote from the article: “This project connected me to the neighborhood,” Gillett says of her now seven-year quest to improve not only her own block but her entire community. “This was never about plants. It was about making a neighborhood I could walk in. Drivers in their cars think of this road as a way to get to the highway. We think of it as home.”<\/p>\n

The article ends with a listing “Green in the hood” community-based greening projects around the West : Seattle’s www.groundswellnw.org<\/a> , Portland’s www.cityrepair.org<\/a> , LA’s www.laguerrillagardening.org<\/a>\u00a0 , national urban forestry support at www.treelink.org\/nucfac<\/a> , and Gillett’s organization, www.sanjosequerrero.com<\/a> .<\/p>\n

See the article, at www.sunset.com<\/a> , for details.<\/p>\n

You can share your own experiences of being the “first” in your neighborhood with greening at readerletters@sunset.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

See Empowerment Organization<\/span><\/a> at Creative Edge Focusing (TM) for more examples and \u201cThe One Small Thing\u201d Focusing exercise.<\/p>\n

Creative Edge Focusing (TM)\u2019s Culture of Creativity<\/span><\/a> \u00a0fights apathy by\u00a0engaging every person \u00a0at the Creative Edge of individual experiencing. Whether in Creative Edge Education<\/span><\/a> or Creative Edge Organizations<\/span><\/a>, Listening\/Focusing Turns are used as a basic method for helping people to find and articulate their own Creative Edge.<\/p>\n

Creative Edge Focusing<\/span><\/a> and Creative Edge Listening<\/span><\/a> can be used for problem solving at home and at work, alone, in parenting and relationships, during interpersonal conflict, and in group or community decision making situations. The Creative Edge Pyramid<\/span><\/a>\u00a0describes applications from Focusing Alone to Creative Edge Organizations.<\/p>\n

For application in business settings, see my article, \u201cCreative Edge Organizations: Businesses and Organizations As A \u2018Kind\u2019 Of Focusing Community\u201d<\/span><\/a>\u00a0from The Folio: Thirtieth Anniversity Tribute edition at The Focusing Institute, www.focusing.org<\/span><\/a> .<\/p>\n

CREATIVE EDGE FOCUSING(tm): \u00a0SELF-HELP SKILLS FOR HOME AND WORK<\/strong><\/p>\n

Free Downloads:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Instant \u201cAhah!\u201d Mini-Manual<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n

Complete Focusing Instructions Manual (17 pages)<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAjas\u201d Instantaneos Mini-Manual<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Creative Edge Focusing (<\/strong>www.cefocusing.com<\/strong><\/span><\/a> )<\/strong> teaches two basic self-help skills, Intuitive Focusing<\/span><\/a> and Focused Listening<\/span><\/a>, which can be applied at home and at work through The Creative Edge Focusing Pyramid<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Based upon Gendlin\u2019s Experiential Focusing (<\/strong>www.focusing.org<\/strong><\/span><\/a> )\u00a0and Rogers\u2019 Empathic Listening,<\/strong> our website is packed with Free Resources and instructions in these basic self-help skills. Learn\u00a0how to build Support Groups<\/span><\/a>, Conscious Relationships<\/span><\/a>, and Creative Edge Organizations <\/span><\/a>based upon these basic skills of emotional intelligence.<\/p>\n

You can try out\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>\u201cFocusing: Find Out What Is Bothering You.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Click here to subscribe to\u00a0Creative Edge Focusing(TM)\u2019s \u00a0Instant \u201cAhah!\u201d e-newsletter and get the latest exercises first!!!<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Click here for a free Intuitive Focusing Mini-Course<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Click here for a free Focused Listening Mini-Course<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0See \u00a0Core Concept: Conflict Resolution<\/span><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0to find a complete mini-course on Interpersonal Focusing and Conflict Resolution, including Rosenberg\u2019s Non-Violent Communication, Blanchard\u2019s \u201cOne Minute Apology,\u201d Patricia Evan\u2019s books on Verbally Abuse and Controlling Relationships, McMahon\u2019s Beyond The Myth Of Dominance, <\/em>and much more.<\/strong><\/p>\n

See\u00a0 Core Concept: Intimate Relationship<\/span><\/a> to find a complete mini-course on increasing intimacy and sexuality, including the \u201cSharing Your Day\u201d exercise, Listening\/Focusing Partnerships for The Way of Relationship, untangling and equalizing desire, tantric sexuality, and much more.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Download complete Instant \u201cAhah!\u201d Mini-Manual, in <\/strong>English<\/strong><\/span><\/a> and <\/strong>Spanish<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, from CEF Website, or download from links at top of this blog.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Find links to <\/strong>free articles, personality tests, multi-media\u00a0Self-Help training, Classes and workshops<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Dr. Kathy McGuire<\/span><\/a>, Director<\/p>\n

Creative Edge Focusing (TM)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

www.cefocusing.com<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n