Alternatives: Proposals For Local Governments Struggling With Limited Resources
Alternatives: Proposals For Local Governments Struggling With Limited Resources
In the fall of 1994, the Harry Singer Foundation invited a limited number, of mostly small-town schools, to take part in a pilot program. Students were required to find ways to stretch the resources of local government and make services more responsive to the desires of citizens. The Foundation hopes to gradually add larger communities, and offer categories for innovative state and national projects.
Volunteers at the Foundation narrowed the entries to 22. They were then edited and sent to the National Center for Financial Education in San Francisco, California, where they were reduced to five. These five were then forwarded to a consultant and former-public official in Minnesota who has been in the forefront of the reinventing government movement; the innovative mayors of Indianapolis and Houston, 12 governors, two former-governors and two members of the United States Congress. Many had the help of staff, but all read the proposals and expressed an interest in what these young people had to say.
The final entries are reproduced on the following pages, just as they were seen by the reviewers at the National Center for Financial Education in San Francisco. Across from each paper we reveal the school and participants, information that was kept from judges.
This project was a logical extension of our continuing Responsibility and White Hat programs. Over the years, through student submissions and other sources, we have collected stories of good-things going on around the country, in both the public and private sectors. These inspirational examples have been accessible to anyone with a computer and a modem since the fall of 1993.
First Place
WinnerTeacher
Rochelle Rasmussen
Students
Carmen Pederson
Nichole Husman
Patrick Carlson
Travis Andersen
Spencer McCombs
Mandy Nelson
Luke Johnson
Debbie Stevens
Tara Edman
Ellen Holmberg
Stacey Thompson
Jesica Lounsbery
Lesley Bertrand
Bryan Stevens
Becky Ward
Carrie Peterson
Jamie Austin
Jon Eide
Jason Williamson
Pat Lee
Michael Myer
Jeremy Smetana
Dustin Larsen
Mark Moor
Kristie Trudeau
Ryan Austin
Improving
the City Park
Our government has been growing by leaps and bounds on all levels; federal, state and local. A movement is underway to control this growth and cut budgets in order to minimize taxes. This effort has to begin with all branches of government, including our local communities. In order to learn what the citizens of our town would like to see happen to our community in the event of budget cuts, the junior class of Centerville High School took a poll of the community. The poll was an attempt to discover what services the citizens of Centerville would like to see to improve the quality of life in our community, what they would pay for, and what they would be willing to give up in order to control the rapid spending growth of government.
The Activity
The junior class, even though it is split, joined together to help each other with the polls. The third period class did Poll I with the general public. The fourth period class did Poll II to elicit ideas from government leaders in the community.
When we first heard of the essay, we were told to act as if the project would be one that we were going to actually accomplish for the community. I know when I first heard of the plan, ideas to approve our town spun around in my mind. I had a chance to share those ideas when our class split into four groups. We were to brainstorm and come up with some project ideas. My group came up with a bike trail, a community hall and installation of a fence around the local park (to create a safety feature for the children).
We then went back to the large group and discussed some of the other ideas. Some ideas were to clean up the area park, to fix up an old theater in the town, to clean up the beach and dam area, to help the city finish their "goofy golf "project, to fix up old buildings on our main street, and to build a community hall.
We all had a day to go home and think about what we wanted or thought would be the best alternative for our town. When we came back the following day, we all voted on what we thought would be the best. When we voted, the majority was for the alternative of the community hall. We started to think of problems and concerns such as funding, location, size, time management, rules and regulations, who'd be in charge, who'd take care of it, fund raisers, who'd be able to use it, and community interest. After much thought and discussion, we thought about the essay objective once more. We came to the conclusion that this project would be unrealistic to complete because we would use more money and resources than we'd save or stretch.
So again, we thought over our list of alternatives. We met the next day and voted once more. This time we voted on cleaning up the area park.
The Project
We decided on a project that would allow the city to get some neglected work done and allow volunteers to help with a worthwhile project.
The city has had a number of successful projects that have worked in the past. For example, the townspeople all got together and fixed up the Mainstreet Boulevard. They planted rows of flowers and set antique-looking lamp posts all the way down the street. It is a very distinguishing feature of our town now.
Our alternative, cleaning the park, would conform to what our poll results told us the community wanted: youth and adult recreation, better public facilities and volunteer work. There is a huge area for playground equipment consisting of slides, swings, monkey bars, swinging rings, and a number of other toys and rides for the children at our town park. There are also four large shelters next to the park that have, in the past, been used for private events and community social events. From a distance the shelters look pretty good, but time has been hard on them. The insides are dirty and the picnic tables have been broken a few times. We though that we could paint the shelters, clean the insides, fix and paint the picnic tables, finish the city's "goofy golf" project, and keep the bathroom facilities clean.
We planned to invite volunteers to meet at the park on the reserved day, Earth Day, by hanging up signs promoting community involvement. Classmates would contact area businesses to ask for donations for our paint supply. Once at the park, the idea was to separate into groups and work on different projects that we planned to complete. We speculate that the project would probably be a whole day affair, so we would split into shifts.
Incentives and Disincentives
One group had to come up with the incentives and disincentives. They thought some incentives would be that the project would improve the community, provide a safe place to play and relax, provide a place to enjoy scenery, and provide a service for city government by saving time and money. Not only would we receive personal satisfaction from improving the town; this would also allow us to have a safe way to celebrate Earth Day.
The disincentives of the project would be that it is time consuming, it may be difficult to collect funds, conflicts with scheduling may occur, there could be a shortage of volunteers or our supplies could run out. We considered obtaining liability insurance. A classmate called a law firm and discovered that liability for injuries to volunteers could be waived if we sent out a release form for volunteers to sign. We also needed to find out if the city would approve our idea. We had another classmate consult his dad who was a member of our city council. His dad said that the city wouldn't mind if we did our project because they had been already planning to do something similar this summer. We didn't have any problem with displaced workers.
Conclusion
The junior class of Centerville High School discovered that extra effort by community members can make a huge difference. Participating in this project was an enormous learning experience. Planning such an undertaking helped members of my class cooperate and work hard to overcome obstacles. As a result of working together, we developed ideas, answers and a worthwhile endeavor. Consequently, I realize that our federal, state and local governments do not have unlimited resources for services. Likewise, most Americans need to be awakened from their dreamlike sleep and catch a glimpse of the future, a future filled with many of the same hopes, but tempered with the reality of limitations. With a commitment from society, communities can stretch resources and continue to provide the services that we are accustomed to receiving. Back