Discipline Seven: Only Everyone

Here is the last installment of Michael J. Brennan's series, "The Seven Disciplines of a Community of Progress: Creating a New Path." In it, Brennan, the president of United Way for Southeastern Michigan, explores how our region can move forward, and looks at past successes.

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The Seven Disciplines of a Community of Progress:

1. Believe It to be Possible

2. Embrace the Genius of the And

3. Pass the Torch of Leadership

4. Power of Three

5. Get on Base

6. Strengthen the Citizen Muscle

7. Only Everyone

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Judge Damon Keith, United States Court of Appeals Judge for the Sixth Circuit in Detroit, is a giant. He has been bestowed over 35 honorary doctorates by some of the most prominent universities. This country, region and city have been blessed by having the courage, wisdom and presence of Judge Keith.

Judge Keith spoke once of his experience when he was appointed by Chief Justice William Rehnquist to serve as the National Chairman of the Judicial Conference Committee on the Bicentennial of the Constitution. Judge Keith described standing outside of the hotel where the committee was holding a meeting. As he stood there, a man came up to him and said, "Boy, can you park my car?"

An angered committee member wanted to speak out, but Judge Damon Keith said to his colleague: "No, don't. Understand, there isn't a day in my life that I am not reminded that I am black." While I believe most would say we have made progress on many of our social justice issues, one cannot claim all is well. The divide doesn't lie just along racial lines.

The 2005 Michigan Women's Leadership Index came out describing the lost ground that women have made in the private sector, bringing forward one conclusion: "the primary cause of the weakening has been the decline of women among the most important category: top compensated officers."

Youth have difficulty mounting a voice and participating in issues that affect their future. Our expanding senior populations often are not thought of as essential players for progress. When we experienced the largest economic expansion in our history through the 1990's, we didn't see the same gains on social issues or a closing of the economic gap.

This region does not hold the franchise rights to these gaps. However, closing the gap is possible. For example, when Madison, Wisconsin, eliminated the academic achievement gap among minority students, it took a weakness and made it into a strength. Turning our weaknesses into an emerging strength is an opportunity sometimes leveraged, but often overlooked or ignored.


There is potency when we widen and include. I once had an associate who always said, "Be careful what you let become normal." Whether we are focused on the disparity by race, economics, education or gender to name a few, the acceptance of the gap and leaving others behind ought never to be "normal."

A student failing in Detroit is no less important than a student failing in a suburb. Human need is human need wherever you are. Not only is gender and racial inequity unjust, it doesn't make economic sense.

As a perspective, African Americans have over $800 billion in expendable income each year according to the U.S. Bureau of Census. Recent studies have shown that U.S. Latino purchasing power has surged to nearly $700 billion and is projected to reach as much as $1 trillion, nearly three times the overall national rate over the past decade. Women control 51 percent of the nation's privately held wealth and control 83 percent of household spending.

The transfer of wealth between generations over the next 50 years is estimated to be between $41 and $136 trillion. Given that women outlive men by an average of seven years, an estimated 85 to 90 percent of these dollars will be solely in the care of women. We can call it a political issue or label it in the category of 'isms', but the diligent effort to include a wider audience at the decision making table is a moral and economic issue.

Our public discourse has often placed the reasons for the disparity in over simplistic categories: "People are poor because society has oppressed them" or "People don't succeed because they just don't try." While there are no doubt elements of both in society, a community of progress focuses on the reality of the data and works to close the gap.

These issues are a long time in the making so, one can reasonably conclude, a long time in resolving. Are we a region that wants to be defined by our gaps? Or are we interested in demonstrating that, through intentional efforts, this region can make marked progress over a three, five and 10-year period.

What is the one thing that can help us make progress on these gap issues? Only everyone. Two words that seem at polar opposites hold a key to progress. It's creating the seat at the table — ensuring there are bootstraps by which to pull up one's boots — engaging voices that often are excluded. It requires increasing the number in our "us".
For a region to be great, it must be great for everyone. All are needed.


Discipline Seven in Action

There is no greater gap that is more evident than school performance and graduation rates in areas of concentrated poverty. In the spirit of putting your money where your mouth is, the Kalamazoo Promise brought a groundbreaking initiative to change the trajectory of its community by offering a promise to everyone. The promise, financed privately through individuals, was that ALL students who graduate from Kalamazoo Public Schools and have been students for four years or more would be given funding for college tuition and mandatory fees.

Fundamentally, the Kalamazoo Promise believes:
1. Education is an important key to financial well-being.
2. It allows Kalamazoo Public Schools to differentiate itself from other public and private school systems.
3. It provides a real meaningful and tangible opportunity for all students.
4. The Kalamazoo Promise will create opportunities for individuals who attend Kalamazoo Public Schools and their current and future families. It follows — and studies have shown — that there is a strong correlation between overall academic achievement and a community's economic vitality and quality of life.
The barrier often stated for our region is that "Kalamazoo can do it because it's a lot smaller." That may be true, but the point is a new path was created in order to eliminate the significant disparity. Interestingly enough, a recent article in the Detroit Free Press showed that enrollment grew in the Kalamazoo Public Schools for the first time in years. Not just by a couple of percentage points, but by 22 percent.

As importantly, the district saw a 31 percent drop in the number of students transferring out. Recently, a developer unveiled plans to build 500 homes in the district by the end of 2008. How did Kalamazoo change the conversation in the community? By making sure the promise was for everyone. Only Everyone.

While my belief that collective action moves communities forward is supported by research, its foundation comes from over 20 years of working in and with communities that strive to improve.

We must not forget that our common good is our shared interest and shared responsibility. I have immense faith that this region can in fact be a model for others in the country to follow. The abundance of a strong desire to participate, the willingness to work hard toward an improved future, the availability of laden assets, and an improved track record of working together positions us for a long-term acceleration towards success.

When we build our center of gravity around the collective action required beyond our own individual action, progress will be made. When our true North is towards the future, not overly weighted on our past, progress will be made. When the capacity to identify and work on the common ground versus those things that divide us, progress will be made. When leadership leads not to institutional interests, but to the greater good, progress will be made. When diverse cultural realities are connected, not kept separate, progress will be made. When we amplify and celebrate our successful "singles", not our failures, progress will be made.

This region — its citizens and leaders — have the capability and resources to write a new story. The story that will be told by our children and grandchildren on how we found our common ground and worked together. On how we used our differences and similarities to forge a new path. A new way. A new story.

Let us start writing our region's new story. The time is now.

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