Previsioning Team Meets

December 30 a small group of organizers met with Allison and Dave Ewolt, facilitators, to prepare for a visioning team meeting on Saturday, Jan. 6. We are preparing a draft vision statement to discuss as well as other key organizing elements that need to be in place before we launch our initiative.

Allison and Dave, verterans of sustainability organizing in Bellingham, Washington and other cities, helped shape a working organizational structure called ACORN. It is particularly effective for managing complex change.

Other developments include: discussions with a social marketing expert in Phoenix about developing communication strategies; opportunity to present the initiative to the editorial board of Tucson Citizen for the possibility that the newspaper will help us announce the initiative to the public.

The Vision Team meeting will take place at El Ojito Springs Coffee House on January 6, Saturday, from Noon to 3 pm: 452 S. Stone Ave., Tucson, Arizona Phone: 624-4800. Anyone who wishes to join this team, which will guide the sustainability initiatives in the Tucson Metropolitan Area, is welcome to attend to learn about the functions and commitments required of the team members.

Next General Meeting: January 9, Tuesday, 4:15 pm to 6:15 pm, Ward Six Offices: 3202 East 1st StreetTucson, Arizona 85716. Phone: (520) 791-4601

Go to http://www.sustainabletucson.org/ to keep up with developing work.

Susan

Tucson Crossroads Joins Sustainable Tucson

Tucson Crossroads and Sustainable Tucson joined forces to coalesce our common resources.

December 12th's meeting was very productive. Thirty-five representatives from across the Tucson community's diverse sectors met at Ward Six offices (Nina Trasoff, Council Member and Member of the City of Tucson Subcommittee on the Environment).

Kerry Schwartz from Arizona Project WET (http://ag.arizona.edu/AZWATER/wet/), Water Resources Research Center at the University of Arizona, addressed the coalition from the AAEE Board of Directors which requested the coalition suggest how AAEE can best support the work in Tucson.

Lindianne Sarno, Co-Director of Sustainable Tucson addressed the coalition in terms of how the collaborative work can unfold along many fronts, coordinated from a center of shared objectives and sensibilities. She invited everyone present to help populate the new website with resources, articles and key links for other coaltitions members. The new website is built for interactive communication and features a listserve, blog, and word press pages for members. Please go to www.sustainabletucson.org to see how this is developing and sign up for the listserve.

Allison and David Ewolt of Natural Systems Solutions in Tucson ( http://www.attractionretreat.org/NSS/) introduced us to the Sustainable Bellingham model for a sustainability movement in Tucson. The Acorn structure for working together was introduced. Allision and Dave stressed the importance of forming a visioning team with representatives from the major coalitions within the initiative to make sure there is a think tank at the heart of the initiative providing direction for dozens of projects happening simultaneously.

We moved into break out groups for education and events, and to form the structure through which we will work together. The visioning group will meet in late December and early January before the next large group meeting.

Our coalition has attracted hundreds of individuals and organizations in its first few meetings. There is palpable energy, a shared sense of purpose and urgency, and a desire for developing a viable community through new communication tools such as the Living Directory (www.favors.org) and other ways we can get to know each other and network to leverage our impact.

Next Meeting: January 9, Tuesday, 4:15 pm to 6:15 pm, Ward Six Offices
Go to www.sustainabletucson.org to keep up with developing work.

For Sustainable Communities,

Susan