|
 The Southern Growth Policies Board (SGPB) was founded more than three decades ago to help guide the transition from the Old South to the New South, with the objective of making the 13-state region the best place in the nation to live, work and conduct business. Each year the organization issues a Report on the Future of the South. This years edition, Reinventing the Wheel, presents a new model of leadership to strengthen the Souths civic capacity to respond to emerging opportunities and challenges from globalization and new economic forces to large-scale demographic changes with new models of leadership, engagement and social capital.
The foundation of Reinventing the Wheel is an emerging awareness that civic infrastructure directly impacts both quality of life and economic opportunity. In September of 2002, under the auspices of one of its four standing advisory committees, the Council on the Southern Community, the SGPB gathered 75 leaders representing all the Southern Growth states for a two-day retreat to brainstorm on the subject of leadership and civic engagement. The retreat yielded preliminary recommendations, which were used to orient seven regional focus groups held over the following six months. These regional focus groups, combined with survey research, produced recommendations from citizens that call for a larger quantity of more diverse and better-prepared leaders in the South. The overall goal of strengthening the Souths civic and problem-solving capacity is supplemented by two objectives:
- Build a broader base of people willing and prepared to assume leadership roles in Southern communities, including those from traditionally under-represented populations.
- Develop courageous, accountable leaders who are guided by ethics, informed by knowledge of economic and cultural changes, and insistent upon inclusive approaches to community action.
A note on the metaphor implied by the title of this report is in order. The wheel whose reinvention is advocated is the leadership wheel, which consists not only of traditional (i.e., elected) leaders, but anyone willing to make a commitment to his community and work with others to solve problems, combined with civic engagement, stakeholder-citizens, social capital, and business/institutional involvement.
The report includes research on social capital and civic engagement, as well as practical examples of how communities have mobilized citizens to address community challenges with inclusive, networked and collaborative strategies. Reinventing the Wheel also presents model approaches for strengthening leadership in the South by engaging youth and immigrants, and recruiting more diverse citizens to assume leadership roles. Copies of Reinventing the Wheel are available for $10. To order, visit www.southern.org and click the publications button on the left-hand side of your screen.
|
