FLTI Week 5

“What we have before us are some breathtaking opportunities disguised as insolvable problems.”
-John W. Gardner

Dear Leaders,

As family leaders it is critical to develop skills to identify a problem and its root causes as well as remedies. Last week you learned to look beneath the presenting problem and assess what other issues might lie beneath. You also began to acquire specific skills to breakdown complex issues and arrange them in ways that create dialogue and develop manageable community responses. As family leaders, we are most successful when we can link the need for systems change with the tools necessary to solve problems. Our Colorado FLTI founder, Eileen Forlenza, made it clear: families must be equipped to solve problems in order to make change occur whether in the local circle, community circle, or policy circle.

Your Community Project Forms are due on Tuesday! Please call me, a facilitator or another participant if you have questions. I also encourage you to call your partner (from the activity last session) to further discuss the 7 Step Problem Solving Model and continue thinking through the project process. Some helpful and important questions to consider:

1. Does my project address a community problem?
2. Will my project strengthen the community?
3. How will my project strengthen families in the community?
4. Does my project fill a community need?

On Tuesday, each of you will give a ONE MINUTE description of your community project. I am so excited to hear each of your ideas – just think of all the amazing projects about to feed into our community!!

THIS WEEK:

In Session 5, we will discuss The Intentional Use of Language: Context and Frameworks.

Objectives of Session 5:

• Learn about different communication styles.
• Identify your personal communication patterns.
• Learn to craft a message so it becomes a vehicle for civic exchange to a target audience.

Important Information:

• POTLUCK is THIS TUESDAY! Please sign up! Please have your food in the room BY 5:00. Our Phase II facilitators will be joining us, and we are excited to have them back in the room!
• Below is reading material to supplement our discussion last week. Please review at least one article.
  • Power Over vs. Power With
  • The 5 Whys

REMINDERS:

• Please bring your own coffee mug and/or water bottle to class.
• Join our cohort Facebook group and like our general Facebook page.

NEWS:

• Check out this very cool project idea!!
• Consider subscribing to the Family Matters newsletter and Live Smart Colorado blog.
• Out Youth Leader, Maria, is fundraising for the Students of the Year campaign which benefits The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). Find more info here.
• Denver Art Museum is hosting an upcoming event on February 23: Appropriation, Appreciation, and the Global Art World. Tickets here.
• The Women’s Lobby of Colorado is offering a #COleg Advocacy Training on Feb 13 at Ross-Cherry Creek Branch Library 5:30pm – 7:30pm. More info here.

“I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.”
-Carl Jung