STARTING POINTS FOR A
COMMUNITY PROBLEM SOLVING DIALOGUE

STARTING POINTS FOR A COMMUNITY PROBLEM SOLVING DIALOGUE in PDF format
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There is a significant conversation and learning opportunity that awaits the thoughtful adult populations of Pittsburgh. How is it that the city once known as one of America's most livable, the City of Champions has according to the recent Economic Benchmarks report by Ralph Bangs and S. Laurel Weldon, produced this economic condition?

• About 56% of the black female-headed families in the City of Pittsburgh in 1989 were living in poverty. This is the 5th highest poverty rate among large U.S. cities. (p.15)

This much-needed dialogue is grounded in the teary episodes of the real life complexities and the economic struggle to overcome "not having enough." And an increasing number of impoverished female-headed household are raising children in the vicious snare of poverty's sub-culture of indifference. Despite the best efforts of some and the tragic choices of far too many urban families themselves, there appears to be a systematic gap between the haves and the have-nots. Unlike a world split apart where the twain never meet, these worlds co-exist side by side.

• In 1996 the estimated unemployment rate for blacks in the Pittsburgh MSA was two to four times as high as the rates for whites? (p.12)

We know that some people will make it no matter how the deck is stacked. But we need to talk about the deck. And about the experiences of everyday people. In many ways the often-touted robust economy breeds a significant indifference to the plight of these, the working poor. Forced to hold on to two part-time jobs with limited benefits, these are the ones that must war, physically, emotionally, and psychologically with the promise of "being there" as a nurturing presence and bringing home the bacon as well. Far too many real choices about work are merely masked ultimatums covered over by the glaze of economic necessity. How does a fractured culture of work affect teen identity, teen connectedness and teen performance. How are the parents of these teens wrestling with the economic tensions and tough choices they face as real problem solvers responding to the challenges of building a strong supportive family environment.

WHAT ARE WE TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH TOGETHER?

A Community Problem-Solving Dialogue is working relationship that weaves alternative perspectives into a community-constructed plan for action. These Dialogues work as are tools for change. They support inter-cultural collaboration that gives respect and voice to the expertise of everyone. And they create a platform on which to build workable visions of more just and compassionate community.

You are part of a select group of persons with extensive experience serving urban communities convened to articulate the ironies and issues surrounding urban teenagers growing up in Pittsburgh's fractured culture of work...

These dialogues are centered around the stories of mothers, fathers, teenagers and families in the workforce or attempting to enter the workforce. We want to bring their stories and voices to the table to get at the stories behind the story that flesh out the facts from the Bangs report. Our goal is to turn the blank face of these shocking statistics into concrete, experiences with a human face and to tell the stories that explain what is going on and how it happens.

The scenarios we create, of how people are coping and what Pittsburgh can do to support them, will be published on the Carnegie Mellon Center for University Outreach web site as a Working Partners Think Tank Report that expands the knowledge base of the Greater Pittsburgh community and its policy makers.

(see the enclosed Working Partners - An Urban Youth Report on Risk Stress and Respect, as an example of a Community Problem Solving Dialogue report)

HOW DOES A COMMUNITY PROBLEM-SOLVING DIALOGUE WORK?

We Build our Story with Three Moves

1. Telling the Story Behind the Story:

We start off by getting at the Story Behind the Story. Together, by pooling our knowledge, we will construct a set of scenarios, or situations that reveal how this situation comes about. For instance, many families find themselves entangled in a nomadic work cycle of dead end, low-wage, easy hire, always tired, first to be labeled, misunderstood, and all too often fired wage earners, simply "churning" on amid the greatest economic boom in the post war era? How does such prosperity escape Pittsburgh's working poor? And what are the consequences of parents' inability to model a meaningful culture of work at home?

2. Imagining Good Rivals:

As we develop these stories, we will make a self-conscious effort to imagine what are called "rival" interpretations of each situation. That is, we will actually try to see these experiences from different points of view, with different eyes. That means each of us may end up being the voice for very different folks, trying to bring their words and experience to this table.

3. Considering Options and Outcomes

After we develop together a better picture of does happen, we should look at what could happen. What are some of the options open to mothers, fathers, employers, community supports, policy makers, educators? And what might be some outcomes of acting on those options?

Everyone works as a Collaborative Planning Partner

As partners, each of us plays two roles. One is to be the Planner, who offers his or her ideas. The other is to be a Supporter, who helps the Planner (or who ever is speaking) flesh out and develop their idea. Supporters listen carefully. Then they ask their Partner one of 3 different kinds of questions:

1. I am following you. Tell me more...
2. Help me understand: What is your key point? Your purpose in saying that?
3. But what if someone listening to you would say ..?

We develop our Story-Behind-the-Story as at team.

When you are acting as a Supporter, you may find you can draw out more of what people know about an idea or a situation by asking one of these7 questions:

• What do you mean? (Explain that word or idea to me a little more?)
• How so? (How does that work?)
• Such as? (Give me an example.)
• How do you know?
• Why?
• Why not?
• So what?