Discussion: Finding Common Ground Through Social Change

When faced with things that could be done to improve quality of life in the city, it is easy to point out the problems but often harder to come up with solutions. Once you seize upon that great idea, putting it into action will most likely take the work of many like-minded citizens.

In this week's Discussion, you will propose a solution to an issue in your community, but you won't stop there-you will also try to recruit your fellow colleagues to work with you.

Special Note: Review the Day 5 response instructions this week.

To prepare for this Discussion:

Review the articles "Civic Infrastructure: A New Approach to Improving Community Life" and "Large-Scale Citizen Engagement and the Rebuilding of New Orleans: A Case Study," located in this week's Resources area.

Review the media piece Sustaining Quality of Life in the City.

Identify a problematic issue in your community.

Develop a solution or an approach to solving the problem that you have identified.

Craft an appeal, addressed to your fellow colleagues, to join your efforts to solve the problem or address the issue that you have identified.

Consider which medium would be best for conveying your message to your fellow colleagues. Be sure to choose a format that is easily viewable by fellow colleagues in the thread. For example:

Prepare a flyer in a Word document.

Write a brief script for a radio commercial.