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IV. Tomorrow, Unincorporated
Imagine
every
High School District in America
having
a
‘Coca-McDisney’
Community Center,
run by
Senior Citizens and Students,
to pay for
Social Security and Education
…
Where among the Fortune 500 will a company sit if it is a Top 5 employer in virtually every
High School district in America?
…
Rebuild our schools by
dual-purposing them
as Community Centers.
…
What would be the political ramifications of
an organization which every American belonged to, which met regularly,
had virtually unlimited manpower,
and unprecedented monies
to be spent at the town-meeting level?
…
Return control of Social Services to the Community
…
Fees & Profits
Social Service $$$’s
Fitness $$$’s
Social Programs
Charity $$$’s
Education $$$’s
Entertainment $$$’s
Scholarships
Govt Contracts
Tax Monies, & Grants
“Franchise” Fees
Alumni Venture Capital
Profits
Advertising
Bequests & Donations
Career Mgmt Revenue
Community Investment
“Social Security “
payments
Tax Deductions
& Donations
Ask Yourself…
What great leap of imagination does it take to see our senior citizens and students running high schools as community centers?
…
How much government, foundation, and charity money would this union of Elders and students qualify for?
…
How difficult will it be to get the Fortune 500 to throw at it sponsorship monies of Olympic proportion?
…
How much less than retail will this smiling group of kids and grandparents be able to negotiate on every good and service not donated outright?
…
Who will be able to resist a ‘Council of Moms’, dressed in their Sunday-go-to-meeting-clothes, trained in tax law, and sent door-to-door to solicit tax-deductible contribution dollars as memberships, sponsorships, and donations?
…
Just how much of a budget could a community amass if it organizes itself to aggressively pursue every group and individual funding avenue available to it?
…
Teens. Senior Citizens. Educators. Are there three more over-qualified, under-utilized, over-patronized, under-appreciated segments of our society?
…
In bring our youth and Elders together in the moneymaking mainstream, might it not mature the former faster and keep young the latter longer?
…
Who needs time more than our teens? Who has time more than our Elders?
…
How much will our quality of life benefit by keeping our Elders in town and actively involved while funding our youths’ post-secondary education in return for service to the community?
…
Where among the Fortune 500 would a company sit if it were a Top-Five employer in virtually every high school district in America?
…
What would be the political ramifications of an organization which every American belonged to, which met regularly, had virtually unlimited manpower, and unprecedented monies to be spent at the town-meeting level?
…
How powerful would a Board of Directors be if it were composed of the top alumni from all our colleges and universities coast-to-coast?
…
How much venture capital could those alumni and faculty raise for investing in students and student ventures?
…
What would be the profit potential of identifying genius while still in school and financing it?
…
…
TOMORROW doesn’t invent any new wheels. It just takes that under-utilized, under-funded, run-down government-issue high school in your town and turns it into a ‘Coca-McDisney Taj Mahal of a community center, then gives you control of the pursestrings.
Along the way it address most of the pitfalls outlined in these pages. It gives us back a sense of community. It re-directs the energies of Capitalism. It returns the democratic process to the local level. It provides for our kids and Elders. It changes things at the ‘system level in noticeable, close-to-home kinds of ways that will positively influence our very desires, motivations, and values. It provides incentive for us to be better people.
The beauty of it is that it can be built from the ground up, one community at a time. It can gradually grow from within the system we now share, inclusive rather than exclusive. Our only hope of peace is to educate the people and give them a voice in the belief that they’ll do the right thing with it.
Perhaps the easiest way to understand the impact TOMORROW would have on our lives is to tour your hometown with it already in place. So, grab your imagination, set the clock ahead a decade or so, and let’s head over to your local high school. It’s Grand Assembly night and we don’t want to be late. We’re designated drivers this week so we’ve got to make a few stops along the way. Grab our contribution to the potluck. I’ll get my dancing shoes. Let’s get out of here.
After picking up our neighbors, we head for the Commons, a vehicle-free, park-like zone which one community improvement vote after another built in the area surrounding the Center. Since the e-basing of the bureaucracy, many of the workplaces, and much of commerce a few years back, much of what was left tended to congregate around the Centers.
“Each district has its own vision for its Commons area. Ours is architecturally interesting, user-friendly buildings, supplied and interconnected by an environmentally efficient system of underground moving walkways, trams, and supply tubes. The aboveground will eventually look like the campus at Cal. …or the Scottsdale Mall. …or a landscaped West Village without cars. We aren’t quite there yet, but our grandkids will be.”
As we join our neighbors on the path to the assembly hall, we pass many of the Center’s facilities: ballfields and an observatory, a motor pool and a dining facility, a health club and daycare facilities, classrooms and computer labs, libraries and gamerooms, music studios and arts and crafts buildings, local radio and TV stations. If it still looks like ‘just a high school’ to you, then you’re not using enough of your imagination and Bill Gates’ money. (He’d probably give you some if you asked nicely.)
“Which brings us to tonight’s agenda. We’ll probably be voting on a few proposals for building and funding the stuff we’ve seen on our way here. We’ll help a few needy families and award a couple scholarships. As voting stockholders in the Center, it will be ours to determine the general directions in which funds are raised or spent, within the guidelines set forth in the By-Laws. We also play a major role in electing the leadership of our Center, the idea being that since we’ll benefit from a well-run Center, we’ll elect, or eventually learn to elect, those who can best do the job.
“Once local business is concluded, we move on to the national and international stuff. With a few well-asked questions and a website, the voices of millions can be heard. Keep politicians around to iron out the details, but the big issues can no longer be entrusted to the self-serving whims of a few. If those who now lead fear that we are unqualified to be included in such decisions, then why aren’t they educating us better? We might not be totally qualified, but our grandkids will be.
“One of my duties here at the Center is giving tours, so you’re in luck. C’mon we might have some time for dancing when we’re done, maybe even a game of horseshoes or ping-pong. Grab me a chicken leg and let’s head over to the main quad.
“One of the first things we did after founding our Center was to bring the classrooms into the 21st century. Technology has enabled us to tailor the curriculum to fit each student’s needs and interests. We don’t force six year olds to sit at a desk all day and memorize things. 7th grade math is sponsored by the NBA. 10th grade biology was written by the San Diego Zoo. Close ties with Paragon and the local university offer a wealth of unprecedented opportunities. Close ties with the local community get the students out of the classroom and into the Real World.
“Our specialized classrooms are our pride and joy. The music studio is fully stocked with instruments and all students record a composition of their own before graduation. Our radio and TV stations are big money makers for the community, and our film studio is looking for the next Spielberg.
“Commons rooms have big sofas and dark wood, fireplaces and foliage, brain-teasing interactive activities and multi-player games. The town library was merged with the school’s to the betterment of both, compliments of Apple. The dispensary was upgraded to handle both school and Center situations by bringing in-house various community health programs. What used to be a cafeteria is now a unique, profitable co-op restaurant featuring an ever-changing menu of community-submitted recipes prepared by local guest chefs. And wait until you see the All-Faiths Chapel.
“With the increased sense of community that has occurred, athletics and other inter-community events have taken on significantly increased importance. With the ‘net, the Center, Paragon TV, and all of the Center’s publications, we now follow community events as avidly as the NFL. We have a full slate of inter-community ‘Olympics’ and team sports scheduled: from serious ones to the Beer Leagues. Lots of non-sporting competition too. Corporate sponsorship, community TV, and emerging local personalities make these events more popular every year.
“Using student athletes, faculty, and a co-op arrangement with a national health club chain, we now have far and away the finest health facility and day spa in the county.
“Ready for a rest? Let’s go sit by the stream for a minute before going over to the offices. Don’t be too rowdy. There’s likely to be some classes going on in the groves just off the path up there.
“Everything we’ve toured so far is just a high school at its maximum potential: a high school with a fully organized and committed community behind it, not committed out of some lah-dee-dah gimme a handout mentality, but out of a greedy self-interested one.
“Every community has the resources, talents, and facilities to make the above live and breathe. And if they can make it ‘in marble’, its ‘marbleness’ will extend back outward into their neighborhoods, homes, and children.
Enough philosophisizing. Let’s head over to the offices. Just inside the door is the reception area for the Council of Moms. Out of there, the Block Moms maintain personal contact with the members of the community, assisting those in need, recruiting those with necessary skills, and basically just keeping tabs on the pulse of the community. A team of Senior Citizens handles the day-to-day running of the office.
The Student Council office, just up the corridor, is a constant beehive of sight, sound, and color. Publications are being readied for press. Sporting events and the Inter-Community Olympics are being organized. Fundraisers are being planned. Classes are being scheduled. Scholarships are being earned. A team of Senior Citizens handles the day-to-day running of the office.
The Community Council is just around the corner. It is responsible for the raising of monies and overseeing the community bank. They go door-to-door during tax season, soliciting un-given charity tax deduction dollars in return for subscriptions, memberships, and donations. They initiate the fundraisers. They are constantly grant writing to foundations and the government. They know how to dig up scholarships and social service dollars. A team of Senior Citizens handles the day-to-day running of the office.
“Here in back is the Mentors’ Council, the community’s effort to take a personal interest in every student from the first day they enter the school system. Now that those students spend a lot more of their education ‘out in the community’, we are able to individualize each “12-year internship”, taking a six-year-old’s interests and tailoring them into a curriculum that results in a 17-year old who has at least a vague idea of what they want out of life. The Mentors manage the Educational Fund, arrange scholarships for all those who need them, and oversee those who are repaying them with service to the community. If we need doctors or teachers, we grow our own. A team of Senior Citizens handles the day-to-day running of the office.
“Lastly, the Tomorrow Foundation maintains a full time senior citizen staffed office for helping with the needs of the district’s Seniors. They work closely with the Block Moms to maintain a constant presence in the lives of our Elderly.
“So how do you like our Center? Could you see yourself getting involved? What do you need? What do you have to offer? Something can always be worked out.
“Since everyone’s still over at the Grand Assembly, this ought to be a good time to take a cruise around town to see what effect the Center has had. Let’s head on over to the motor pool and check out a vehicle. The Center has a bunch of them, from buses to motorbikes. Individuals don’t own cars much anymore: a ridiculous, unnecessary expense. Buckle up. Let’s roll.
“Up there, on the left, at the light, is the First Community Bank of Ourtown. Since you just moved here, you probably aren’t aware that you are a stockholder. It serves as a cash repository for all the cash-intensive operations of the Center, while using those funds within the district. Why send our money out of town and overseas if we don’t have to? …awfully stupid economics if you ask me.
“The bank, like most of the other businesses in town, has cadres of local students working there, as well as college grads working off their scholarships by giving back to the community. Most of our kids get on-the-job experience in their perceived career choice long before they have to make a commitment to higher education. They know that when they do graduate, a good career-start position is awaiting them. For those who don’t pursue college careers, we offer extensive career path counseling and a myriad of apprenticeship programs.
“Did you see that old guy on the porch back there? He’s part of the neighborhood watch program, a program made much easier these days by the fact that once-again we know all our neighbors. His arthritis doesn’t let him get out much anymore, but that doesn’t mean he can’t earn his own way.
“The wheelchair ramp leading up to his porch was built by the high school industrial arts class under the supervision of a local builder. The Kids Corps keeps his grass cut and hedges trimmed. A few years back, he thought he was going to have to go into a nursing home, but we arranged for a couple of other seniors who had nowhere else to go to move into his spare bedrooms.
A little bit of grass cutting, some heartfelt attention, and help with a bad heating bill every once in a while, and three of our Elders can live out their sunset years at home with dignity. But they earn it. The Center helps everyone find a way to contribute. But with most of us ‘contributing’ over at the Center tonight, there is one difference you won’t see as we drive around. But even without people, the signs of it are everywhere: little parks and gathering places sprinkled throughout the town that look like people actually use them. Picnic tables, circle benches, barbecue pits, and dog runs are everywhere. You’ll see more jogging, biking, hiking, and riding trails than roads. School colors are everywhere. Announcements for sporting events, dances, meetings, concerts, and charity projects fill every window. Every backyard seems to have a pool, BBQ, or a volleyball net. We don’t lock ourselves away from our neighbors anymore. People spend a lot more time with people these days.
“We’re going to swing by the college, then we’ll head back. Paragon works closely with the Center and community in many ways. They handle all of the Center’s marketing, networking, and e-business needs. They design the downloadable, pre-packaged tools, administrative systems, sales campaigns, fundraisers, event programming and handbooks. Each Center can download step-by-step instructions for a Harvest Ball, a community newspaper, a volleyball league, or a scholarship fundraiser.
“There’s the Paragon building now. See that contractor’s truck parked out front? He made a proposal to the Venture Capital Board a few years back and they funded his start-up. Paragon plugged him into the network and he stays good and busy: Profitable from day one. Everybody makes money. A lot of other small businesses in town take advantage of Paragon’s storefront advertising and networking services.”
We dip and dodge our way through the mayhem of the first floor, heading for the blessed quiet of the elevator. It doesn’t last long because the second floor isn’t much quieter. This is where they do the mentoring and placement work. At any given moment there are thousands of students at all levels who need personalized attention, pre-career planning, and internship jobs. While the Center handles most of the hands-on stuff with our students, Paragon is responsible for most of the mentoring curriculum, inter-Center networking, and follow-up upon placement. They also hold career faires and do a lot of presentations to schools.
Their main focus though is guiding all post-secondary students through school, maintaining contact until each is well established in their chosen profession. These services are also available to those wishing to change careers or further their education later in life. No one falls through the cracks.
“Providing our kids with this level of guidance takes a fair amount of resources and the commitment of an awful lot of people. But education isn’t the government-sponsored babysitting service it was just a while back. These days everybody wants to get involved. These days everybody benefits. And it shows at every level of society.
“C’mon let’s work our way up to the third floor. Things are a bit quieter up there, but not by much. This is where the Alma Mater marketing Division promotes, fundraises, and recruits for the college. Mailings are being put out, speaking tours arranged, and students interviewed. With today’s increased interest in education, colleges are much more visible out there in the Real World.”
Finally we reach the top floor. It’s quiet up here. This is where the Venture Capital Fund guys hang out. Faculty, students, and alumni, kept organized by senior citizens, of course, look to fund the next great programmer, musician, or inventor. Alumni resources have been reorganized to benefit the educational process in powerful, unprecedented ways.
“You make a proposal to the VenCap Board, be you a plumber, programmer, daycare provider, or research scientist. Paragon plugs you into the network of alumni. Tomorrow keeps things running efficiently. You do what you do best. Everyone makes money.
“All right. Let’s head back to the car. What we just saw might look like just a bunch of students and tweedy types running around like madmen, with some old people directing traffic. But when you take into account an interconnected nation full of alumni stockholders, Boards of Directors from Bowdoin to Berkeley composed of the most powerful of these, and a talent pool composed of the Best & Brightest of our youth, you are looking at the most powerful, far-reaching, creative force ever assembled.
“Everyone belongs. Everyone profits. Paragon and the Center have managed to unite us in ways that no business or government ever has before. It is almost beyond comprehension what humanity is capable of when it is united and efficiently pulling together in the same direction.
“There I go, philosophizing again. Buckle up. We’ve got one more drive-by to make. There won’t be any lights on over there. The old people know how to crack the whip on our butts, but they tend to keep regular hours and not too many of them miss Assembly Night. There it is, up on the hill: Tomorrow Foundation’s regional headquarters. That’s the glue that holds everything together. Out of there, teams of senior citizen administrate every other program we’ve seen this evening. They provide constancy amid an ever-shifting talent pool workforce of students, faculty, and community members. The Foundation is also the final word in taking care of its own: our Elders.
“As made perfectly clear in our by-laws, the purpose here is to spend our discretionary income more wisely, run our community more efficiently, and spend the ‘savings’ on our kids, our parents, and our quality of life. Our two primary financial responsibilities are providing a scholarship for each of our children and a decent standard of living for each of our Elders.
“Well, that’s it for the tour. Ready to head back to the Center? Toooo bad! There is no Center. We have nothing in modern society that connects us with our neighbors anymore. Instead of going to Grand Assemblies, we sit alone in our cars, fighting traffic, after a day of too many hours and too little appreciation, on our way to a date with the microwave and cyberspace.
Life is a precious gift. We have to want more out of it than that. People are fascinating and complex. We have to communicate with each other better. I feel a disclaimer coming on here so I’m just gonna have to go with it. You’ll probably relate.
Disclaimer: I wrote it but I don’t know how comfortable I’d be if I woke up tomorrow in the world described in the preceding pages. I’ve been conditioned to think me-Me-ME! First and view all that rah-rah stuff with some degree of contempt. I’ve spent most of my adult life being propagandized to fear my neighbor and hate him for his differences. I’m probably going to fight tooth-and-nail to hold on to that little piece of me that’s off limits to the rest of the world. I’ll probably never be fully comfortable with being a truly communal being again. For me, and most other adults, it is probably already too late. I’ve spent my whole life being pigeonholed into cubicles, traffic jams, and white picket fences. Alas, I am no longer a communal being.
But our kids still are. They awake every day with openness, curiosity, and a thirst for new experiences. They dive into the social cauldron of school, fend off the full brunt of their parents’ inadequacies, and cram their brains full of new stuff every day. Theirs is a world surrounded by peers, united in the common cause of the pursuit of knowledge. They know every face they pass in the hallway. Those same faces will be there again tomorrow.
If we manage to keep our shortcomings and prejudices out of their way for about a generation, our kids could learn to live in harmony. We may never feel comfortable in the social cauldron of a world described above, but wouldn’t it be wonderful if we made the world safe enough that our grandkids do?
Some Final Thoughts:
Democracy with a Budget: Every senior citizen has one voting share of Tomorrow. Every campus member has one voting share of Paragon. Every school district resident, twelve years and older, has one voting share of in Center. All leadership is elected. Everyone has a vote that counts. Everything is done out in the open. Amass a big budget and they will come. Work from there.
Start with a Magazine: Everything described herein can be built with virtually no start-up costs by initiating projects that collect their fees up front and pay their expenses on the back end: Like a magazine. A community publication will give instant credibility, a mouthpiece for the voice of the community, an outlet for creative expression, and continuity to the effort. It will also provide a regular cash flow to fund future projects.
Work Orders, Handbooks, and the Database: Want to start a Center in your town? Download step-by-step instructions and all the necessary tools and paperwork. Search the database for fundraising campaigns, programming ideas, ad campaigns, paperwork systems, press kits, and personnel forms. Every elective supervisory position comes with a handbook giving instructions for doing their job. Grow things in whatever direction, at whatever speed, and to whatever size best suits the needs of your community or campus.
Leadership and the Talent Pool: Since everyone is a stockholder, the Council of Elders will have the entire community or campus as a talent pool from which to recruit qualified teams to tackle any task. Some teams might be organization sponsored: The Cub Scout Pack 414 Clean-up Crew. The Woodlands Block Association Cajun Catering Team. Others might gel around dynamic leaders: Mary’s Graphic Design Team. Steve’s Woodworking Crew. It would be the community working together on things that would benefit their lives in noticeable, close-to-home kinds of ways.
The Council of Elders: Each campus or community would be administered by a Council of Elders who would oversee the day-to-day operations and logistics, allowing students, educators, alumni, and community members to ebb and flow their contributions around their work and school calendars. The Seniors would provide continuity with all the various entities within the organization.
Financial Considerations: As a Top 5 employer in virtually every high school district in America, the organization described above, owned democratically by the people, would have a cash flow exceeded only by the federal government. Just for starters, it would influence a considerable proportion of our education, charity, education, entertainment, fitness, and social service dollars. It would be a magnet for grant monies, scholarships, bequests, and government contracts. And the people would democratically hold the pursestrings.
Social Considerations: Where to start? Our kids? Our Elders? Our schools? Our sense of community? Our way of life? An organization such as this can take advantage of the new stuff without sacrificing so much of what got us this far. We need to turn off the technology and start making real contact with our world again or our grandkids will be barely human.
Political Considerations: The goal of the organization described here is to have a ‘Block Mom’ on every block where human beings live. Her job would be to stop by every once in a while, have coffee, see if you need anything, maybe ask for your help and basically just give a damn. As for the politics of that, you do the math.
International Implications: The beauty of the organization described in these pages is that it will work just as well in a village full of yurts as it will in a suburb full of split-levels. We all have kids and Elders. We all have schools and neighbors. We all have needs and abilities. Build it and they will come.
Just Show Up at Your School: That’s all it really takes. That’s all that’s really here. If we turn off the technology and pool our resources a little bit, we could dramatically improve the quality of our lives in dramatic, close-to-home, kinds of ways. We, the People need to regain the Information Age upper hand. TV was a one-way medium so we’ve spent so much of the past half century listening that we seem to have lost our Voice. If we don’t find it again the future is beyond our control. The future will be something each and every one of us navigates alone. What a nightmare.
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