Reframing communities for regeneration

In his talk, Michael Porter discussed an Inner City regeneration project he's advised in Newark NJ.

The key was to stop defining the community in terms of its deficiencies, and focus instead on the kinds of competitive advantage that would make someone want to put real big resource into it.

This its Unemployed became its Underutilized workforce. Its Post Industrial location became its central location in a regional cluster. Its lack of retail facilities became an underserved local market, with a density yielding more purchasing power per square mile than the suburbs.

I often hear people define their parishes in terms of deficits. How can Churches learn to reframe the way we see ourselves in terms of opportunity instead of past glory and shortages?

How do we do well at doing good?

Great session with Professor Michael Porter of Harvard Business School. His background is n the auto industry, and he's one of the world's leading experts on strategy and competitiveness. He's also worked on urban poverty projects and healthcare.

Michael drew our attention to some classic misunderstandings churches have about strategy:

1. Strategy is not Aspiration —
   e.g. "serve 1000 families" — but how?
   
   
2. Strategy is not Action —
   "build new building," — an action that might be part of a strategy, but not a strategy that says why and how?
   
   
3. Strategy is not a Vision or mission statement —
   "serve our community" — just good intentions/ waffle

He showed us some classic blocks to strategic thinking in non-profits

1. Multiple, Conflicting, or unclear Goals
2. Services driven by donors or staff passions and preferences, not value or effectiveness
   
3. No attempt to measure performance
4. Little attention to costs, so that value becomes unmeasurable
5. Inability to make tradeoffs; trying to be all things to all people, or do it all ourselves
   
6. Inability to sunset a program, leading to program proliferation — why can't we give dead programs a decent Christian funeral?

We've got some great intentions. So if we want to get real about community service, what is this saying to us, and how can we apply it?