Place-making: It’s time to make connections

Our region is full of it.

Almost all of our athletic superstars have boasted it.

Heck, even Grant Wood encouraged it.

Iowa pride has existed in many forms over hundreds of years. Yet the question of 'who owns this place” feels like an age-old dilemma. Who gets the funding? Who creates the strongest catchphrase? Who can place it proudly as a check off in their annual report?

The answer: Nobody. Everybody.

Truth be told, such territorial squabbles are a thing of the past. Thank goodness.

It didn't really hit me until I looked out at the 150 or so people who gathered for our 2015 Diversity Forum - people who came not for name recognition or a paycheck, but because they wanted to roll up their sleeves and make this place the best it can be.

Does that mean that community development professionals like me are out of a job? I'll check with my boss and get back to you, but my guess is no. We still need drivers who can provide the space for collaboration and exploration. We need resources to get great ideas off the ground. We need to make sure that we keep the doors open for the fresh perspectives that will be necessary as our community gets further into the nitty-gritty of what place-making looks like here, for us

Our region already is full of great placemakng ideas, and full of people eager to put these ideas into play. Sounds simple enough, right? Push the green light and go. Make it happen.

The reality is, the people behind these ideas need our support in order to keep their enthusiasm and momentum. We have to guard against letting great ideas be swallowed up in a sea of mission statements and organizational charts, or snatched away by others who feel, for whatever reason, they have to be the chief architect, or 'own” our community's success.

As we set out to determine what place-making means to our region, I take great comfort in knowing that we have an unprecedented ability empower inspired individuals and connect them to a support system that will encourage them and help open new doors.

At the October Diversity Forum, groups came up with nearly a dozen projects that would increase social offerings, connectedness and welcomeness in our region so that we all can thrive. The list was long, the list was mighty. The list included several initiatives already being led by several groups in the region.

That's not bad news. We have people inspired and ready to play. It's time to make connections.

Those Diversity Forum groups have committed to work to keep these projects going. On Tuesday's Learning Forward event, we will. We hope you'll join us.

Join a discussion about placemaking projects in Cedar Rapids with Gazette columnist and editorial board member Lynda Waddington and representatives from the Employee Resource Group Consortium.

' WHAT: Learning Forward: A Commitment to Placemaking

' WHEN: 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesday , Nov. 10

' WHERE: Whipple Auditorium, Cedar Rapids Public Library, 450 Fifth Ave. SE

' Quinn Pettifer is the outreach and engagement manager for The Gazette. Comments: (319) 398-8240; quinn.pettifer@thegazette.com