Enlarge The group at Monday's Civic Summer School session on effective advocacy.

Posted: October 13th, 2011 Greg Lacour

One of the keys to effective community advocacy—especially when your passion for a particular cause is hot and overflowing—is to realize that few others share your passion, and to tone it down.

This goes against everyone’s instincts. If you feel strongly that your block needs a sidewalk, your inclination is to picket your city council member’s home around the clock—Occupy Councilman Peacock’s house!—until it gets built.

But that approach hurts more than it helps, said panelists at a Crossroads-sponsored Civic Summer School session Monday.

“Passion will kill your cause,” said Mike Clement, the former corporate communications director at Bank of America and managing director of Strait Insights, an organization and communication strategies firm. In dealing with public officials, he said, understand that “no matter how passionate you are, it’s probably not the most important thing to them. That’s just the reality.”

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Posted: September 21st, 2011 Greg Lacour

Some stories worth sharing this week:

• For all that Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ teachers, students and administrators have been through these last few years--the closings-and-consolidations mess, the contention over teacher effectiveness ratings, the burnout of Superintendent Peter Gorman--it was gratifying to see the district win national recognition for its efforts to help poor and minority students succeed and graduate.


• U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood visited Charlotte on Monday to formally award $25 million to the city for its starter streetcar line, the first stage in what Mayor Anthony Foxx and other city officials hope will be a catalyst for economic development along its 10-mile route.


• For a quarter-century, Hospitality House of Charlotte housed families forced to stay in Charlotte because of the hospitalization of a loved one, and did so for free. But last year, a drop in donations forced the charity to charge a $40-per-night fee. Recently, the Leon Levine Foundation came forward with a $25,000 grant as a community challenge, seeking a dollar-for-dollar match from donors. Want to help? Click the Hospitality House link above.


• Dozens of residents packed an N.C. Utilities Commission public hearing Tuesday on the proposed merger of Charlotte’s Duke Energy and Raleigh’s Progress Energy into the nation’s largest electric utility. People from all over the state traveled to Raleigh for their only opportunity to speak on the merger, which several residents said would create a monopoly.


• Finally, is Charlotte about to be known for banking--and bananas? Chiquita Brands International Inc. is considering a relocation of its corporate offices from one Queen City, Cincinnati, to another--Charlotte. Sources tell the Charlotte Business Journal that the city, Mecklenburg County and state are preparing an incentives package worth between $5 million and $6 million.

Posted: August 22nd, 2011 Greg Lacour

As anyone who’s ever tried it knows, effective community advocacy is hard. It takes time, energy, patience, persistence, a gift for motivation and organization--and often a significant amount of money.

But sustained action can yield results, and a panel of experienced advocates met with community members Saturday under the Crossroads banner to learn what the session’s title advertised: “The Hidden Strategies & Techniques of Effective Advocacy.”

The session, held at the Johnston YMCA in NoDa, was part of the Civic Summer School component of Crossroads’ Know It 2 Work It civic engagement campaign. KIWI Project Manager Jason Fararooei led the discussion, introducing the three panelists:

• Bill Gupton, a longtime environmental activist and group chair of the Charlotte Sierra Club chapter.
• Elyse Dashew, a public education advocate who’s running for a Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board seat.
• Gregg Greer, a minister and Southern Christian Leadership Conference member who’s running for City Council.

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Posted: August 17th, 2011 Greg Lacour

Some stories worth sharing this week:

• Charlotte’s Latino community banded together as part of a nationwide movement Tuesday to deliver a message to the local Democratic Party headquarters: Tell President Obama to end the Secure Communities, or SCOMM, program, which has led to massive deportations.


• Seems like everybody is going out of their way to see “The Help,” the film about a pair of African American maids in 1960s Mississippi who manage to bring about change and cross social boundaries just by being who they are. Charlotteans who lived through those days certainly related to the film’s depiction of life in a segregated South. Do you plan to see the movie--or have you already? What did you think?


• Some encouraging news for Charlotteans who value recycling: city Solid Waste Services reports that city residents recycled 30 percent more paper, glass, plastic and metal in the first year of the so-called “single-stream” system.


• The C.D. Spangler Foundation has donated $100,000 to MeckEd, the nonprofit that helped Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools campaign this year for additional tax money.


• On a lighter note, Creative Loafing has come out with its annual Best of Charlotte selections. Take a look at the picks and see if you agree.