Open Source Treatment Model
July 1st, 2010 by John Creighton in WarmUp
Tags: Citizen Centric, Institutions
Read an interesting article about Alcoholics Anonymous in Wired this morning. AA strikes me as an example of an early open-source, patient centric model of treatment.
Read more...Participatory Systems
June 25th, 2010 by John Creighton in Dispatches
Tags: Citizen Centric, Institutions, Public Leaders
LONGMONT, Colo. — Services provided by western nation welfare states play a significant role in creating the high quality of life we all enjoy. We don’t like to admit it but facts belie complaints. Gregg Easterbrook, author of The Progress Paradox, declares that the great story of our era is that average people are far better off compared to generations past. The current Great Recession not withstanding, Easterbrook compiles data to support his claim. Here are some of the improvements [...]
Read more...National Writing Project
April 12th, 2010 by John Creighton in Dispatches
Tags: Citizen Centric, Education, St. Vrain
The National Writing Project (NWP) is nearly 40 years old. Yet, it is an organization ahead of its time. It is the type of citizen centric organization that creative, entrepreneurial people seek out — in this case creative, entrepreneurial educators. NWP was founded by James Gray while at the University of California Berkeley. It originally focused on the Bay Area under the name Bay Area Writing Project. NWP now includes a network of more than 200 university based sites in [...]
Read more...Citizen Centric Instiutions
April 6th, 2010 by John Creighton in Dispatches
Tags: Citizen Centric, Culture-Structure, Public Leaders
I have interviewed hundreds of people over the past 20 years about the role of public institutions in their lives. One of my more recent reports, The Organization-First Approach, co-authored with my mentor Richard Harwood for the Kettering Foundation, examines how a variety of public organizations engage their communities. I imagined, recently, what I might say if I was interviewed. Specifically, what kinds of institutions will people need and want in the future? Here’s what I said (as with any [...]
Read more...Choosing A School Is Just Another Form of Self-Expression
March 23rd, 2010 by John Creighton in Dispatches
Tags: Citizen Centric, Education, St. Vrain
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan launched the Obama Administration’s push to overhaul No Child Left Behind last week. The drive for education reform continues in the context that the nation’s goal must be for American students to catch up with their peers across the world. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation invested millions of dollars during the 2008 Election cycle to shine a spotlight on American students’ laggard status. ED in ’08 (the Gates financed initiative) aired advertisements documenting the [...]
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