Bridge geographies that share a city but not a conversation.

observation — attributed to Lisa Belzberg

Belzberg's diagnosis of urban public schools is structural. The schools are isolated, which means the principals are isolated, which means low-income and minority students are further isolated from the city that surrounds them. The geographic proximity hides the social distance. The fix is operational rather than philosophical. Get business and community leaders into the principal's office. The same diagnosis applies in most cities. Two groups walk the same blocks without entering each other's spaces. Conveners who recognize this can engineer the encounters that geography alone fails to produce. The encounters are not charity; they are mutuality being restored.

For civic conveners, nonprofit leaders, and community-investment officers thinking about cross-sector engagement programs. The observation is most useful as an origin frame for any program intended to connect groups that share urban space.

civic-community, isolation, schools, geographic-proximity