So, what is this all about?
The Seventh Generation Initiative is a community-wide effort to determine
the type of shared future that is desired and, just as importantly,
to begin to work on those things needed to make that future a reality.
Most importantly, communities must find more and better ways to work
together. Today’s challenges and opportunities are too complex
for any one institution or jurisdiction to successfully address them.
It takes all of a community’s leadership, working together,
to create community success. Click here to read
more about what makes communities successful.
Where did the name come from?
The Seventh Generation Initiative is derived from this
quote from an Iroquois Chief. The name Seventh
Generation is particularly appropriate for this effort: this initiative
is about communities taking responsibility to create a better future
for subsequent generations.
Who is involved in this effort? Click
here to see who has stepped
up. This isn’t an exclusive club – you want to help create
a better community? Click here to become involved!
What has been accomplished?
A great deal, actually. The Council has made presentations to almost
2 dozen groups, it has helped the community identify the values that
are broadly shared, and has helped the area put together a Report
Card for itself. In addition, it has identified a community destiny
statement that is based on the shared values, as well as a dozen
building blocks, or bold goals, that need to be accomplished to help
make that destiny real. Finally, an Education
Council has been established
to help the community work together to improve education outcomes
identified by the Council.
What are the next steps?
In short, to challenge community members to become players instead
of spectators is key. Communities that are successful have many citizens
participating in creating a better future. Successful communities
also find more and better ways to work together across boundaries – we’re
going to take steps to encourage this behavior, also.
The
community prepares its own report card.
To know where you want to go, you first need to understand where you
are. The Seventh Generation community completed a survey with over
200 responses that was designed to rate the quality of community
attributes. Want to see what the community thinks of themselves?
Click here!
Shared
Values of the Seventh Generation Community.
The values shared by a community serve as a foundation upon which
a common desired future can be built. While issues and interests
drive wedges between community groups, shared values can be the
glue that binds the community together. After two dozen meetings
and one on one conversations too numerous to mention, a clear picture
has emerged of the community’s shared values. Click
here to
see them.
Education
Council forms, is committed to outcomes.
For the first time ever, all of the area’s educational institutions
and most of the public and private institutions have decided to come
together, under the umbrella of an Education Council, to work collectively
to improve educational outcomes for the areas youth. The Council’s
mission, and goals, are straightforward, but bold:
The Seventh Generation
Education Council will increase the education attainment level of the
area through strategic, sustained, and collective action of the entire
community. The following will be our measures of success:
Increase the
on-time graduation rate by 10% each year for the next five years.
Increase
the number of high school graduates going on to post-secondary
education by 10% each year for the next 5 years
Increase the number of children
entering Kindergarten fully ready to learn by 10% each year for
the next 5 years.
