Studer Community Institute

"Can we get there?"

April 2, 2014
/ Shannon Nickinson
/ community-dashboard

Jerry Maygarden seemed to have more on his mind this morning that just bringing change to the Pensacola Chamber of Commerce.

Based on the tone and tenor of his speech at the chamber’s monthly Gopher Club breakfast, the former mayor, legislator and business leader is out to Pensacola itself. Since assuming leadership of the chamber about eight months ago, Maygarden has been steering it through great change as it moves out of economic development in the public sphere, a role it has filled using public tax dollars supplemented by private funds to market tourism economy and lure outside industry to the region. A protracted, public battle about conducting that business in the sunshine of public meeting and records law ultimately lead to the chamber spinning off tourism marketing to a separate entity. That left the chamber’s role in local economic development efforts in flux. “Only about 35 percent of chambers do economic development,” he said. Now, Maygarden says, it’s time for the Pensacola Chamber to get back to its “central mission” -- community building. Maygarden used a mix of come-to-Jesus-meeting passion and more than 30 years of political savvy this morning to tell the congregation what it needed to hear. Community building, he says, is more than marketing your community to the world at large. “It’s one thing to chase the brass ring… maybe land an Airbus… it’s another thing to create incentives… it’s another entirely to create a community that business and industry wants to be a part of.” Maygarden envisions the chamber as a strong voice for the business community that is engaged in what he calls the work of building a vital community, one that might make some of those Top 10 lists of best places to live, work and play we’re always reading about. Vital communities, Maygarden says, have three things: They are friendly; they have a spirit of connection; and they are enlightened, he says. His examples: -- Friendly, vital communities welcome newcomers into the fold. They are respectful of new ideas and they are open to people of all walks of life. “How many times have you heard ..., ‘you can’t really engage in that because you weren’t born here.’ Or ‘there’s nothing but old money involved in those decisions.’” -- Connected communities engage all people in relationships beyond their socioeconomic or demographic boundaries to share a sense of purpose and find solutions to problems. “It means you’re open to all people and everybody has a place at the table.” And possibly for the strong-mayor advocates in the audience, “And you don’t create systems of governance that exclude people from the table,” he said. “You do as much as you can to have representative thought and democracy in all of your decisions.” “Ask yourself: Do we fight among ourselves a lot around here? Do we bicker?” -- Enlightened communities have compassion, are healthy and value education at all ages and stages of life, Maygarden said. Enlightened communities are generous. They “give to provide relief, alleviate suffering and promote opportunity.” They take into account how, for example, Maygarden said, their treatment of the homeless reflects upon their image in the world at large. They are “designed to promote physical activity, sound minds and robust bodies.” And they are educated. Communities with public school systems that do this well can be found across the country, Maygarden said, from Farmington, Mass., to the West Coast. “They would not for a single solitary moment tolerate an F school. Not one. And they would not blame poverty for the existence of poor grades. They find to teach kids and get to them early.” Maygarden said he met with the Early Learning Coalition of Escambia County, which says 27 percent of our kindergarteners come to school unprepared and they never catch up. At the other end of that spectrum, the same number dropout of high school. “Ask yourself are we an enlightened community? Can we get there?”

Back to Blogs

"Can we get there?"

Recent Posts