if you could see tomorrow, what would you do today?
How do you engage dozens of organizations and tens of thousands of citizens to build civic infrastructure, chart a course for a shared future and create purposeful connections among leaders, citizens and community institutions ? The short answer? Stories. In collaboration with a team of leaders, funders and expert colleagues, solid created a Crossroads Charlotte comprehensive brand experience, including unique engagement programs such as Get Real, KnowIt2WorkIt and Art in the A.M. and strategic outreach platforms that connected the Charlotte, NC community with four scenarios about their shared future and asked them to "Imagine Our Tomorrow, Act Today." The Crossroads Charlotte initiative provided a ground-breaking civic platform for engagement across a spectrum of issues and drove impact through collective action.
A Crossroads Charlotte Learning Network linked dozens of leading institutions and organizations with initiatives planning, resources and professional facilitation guidance. The institutions were taken through a process of internal exploration around access, inclusion and equity, and participated in external initiatives to guide the community towards a positive future within their own sphere of influence to maximize the impact of collective action.
Crossroads Charlotte: the Movie (watch the movie above) engaged tens of thousands of people. The locally produced film premiered in six locations across the community and launched a massive engagement campaign to “Imagine Our Tomorrow, Act Today.” The movie was created and co-written by Tracy Russ/solid, produced with local talent and film production companies, and funded by Foundation For The Carolinas and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The movie was nominated for an Emmy and selected by actor/producer Robert Redford for study at the 2008 Sundance Institute.
Four scenarios depicting possible futures for the community were at the heart of Crossroads Charlotte. Fortress Charlotte, Class Act, The Beat Goes On, Eye to Eye. These scenarios underpinned the Crossroads Charlotte engagement strategy and invited people and organizations to “Imagine Our Tomorrow, Act Today.” The Crossroads Charlotte magazine (pictured above left) offered written forms of the four stories. Each story was based on data and facts, or driving forces, that were played out into four possible futures. Whether in written forms, through the Crossroads movie or by way of hearing the Crossroads Charlotte poets, the community was asked to “Imagine Our Tomorrow and Act Today.” Tens of thousands of individuals and hundreds of organizations participated in Crossroads Charlotte over its seven-year activation.
The Crossroads Charlotte Final Impact Report tells the story of this civic engagement initiative that engaged tens of thousands of people and hundreds of organizations together with impacts and outcomes. The four Crossroads Charlotte stories were shared with the community in a variety of media types and formats to meet people in accessible and engaging ways. To see and download the report in full - click the image above.
A DVD Action Kit and Discussion Guide gave people an option to view and share the Crossroads Charlotte stories and submit how they could help steer towards a positive future.
solid managing director Tracy Russ and Project Manager Brant Aycock talk about Crossroads Charlotte, the power of story to drive change and the importance of the arts in civic engagement and community change.
Poet Laurence Maher responds to “Eye to Eye”, one of four Crossroads Charlotte stories. solid worked with spoken word poets from the community to respond to each of the four Crossroads Charlotte stories. The poets delivered powerful narratives of their own creation and helped drive the emotive impact of the stories and the entire Crossroads Charlotte initiative.
Poet Melissa Harris responds to “Fortress Charlotte”, one of four Crossroads Charlotte stories. solid worked with spoken word poets from the community to respond to each of the four Crossroads Charlotte stories. The poets delivered powerful narratives of their own creation and helped drive the emotive impact of the stories and the entire Crossroads Charlotte initiative.
Hundreds of community meetings, gatherings, public and private events showcased the Crossroads Charlotte stories and asked ‘What Kind of Community Do You See?” Each gathering began with this intro video produced by solid with volunteer faces from across the community. The video sets the tone that people are at the center of the discussion in Crossroads Charlotte.
An interactive website and social media platforms augmented the reach of Crossroads Charlotte and served as key civic infrastructure for the community to connect on major issues.
Grantmaking from Foundation For The Carolinas was integrated into Crossroads Charlotte as a strategy for driving change and steering the community towards a positive future. Achieving Community Today (A.C.T.) Projects were one tier of a three-tiered program (ACT, Front Porch and Civic Leadership) of grants and outreach. Click on the image to right for a short video on A.C.T.
solid provided strategic communications and engagement services, project management and executive leadership to Crossroads Charlotte over the life of this large-scale civic engagement project.
solid partnered with the John Lennon Foundation and Sony Music Productions to bring student musical artists together as “The Crossroads.” In two days of production and hard work, the students and professional production crew produced “Make A Sound”, a music video embodying their view of a future in Charlotte through the power of musical story.
Crossroads Charlotte: the Movie was nominated for an Emmy and chosen as the focus of the 2008 Americans for the Arts National Arts Policy Roundtable at Sundance with actor/activist Robert Redford in September 2008, where 29 leaders gathered to consider "The Arts and Civic Engagement: Strengthening the 21st Century Community." Click the image to left for a full report from the Roundtable.
Collaboration is a solid value. Crossroads Charlotte was a multi-year, pioneering civic engagement effort that moved forward because leaders, dedicated people, adventuresome funders and community institutions came together to imagine tomorrow and act today. Credits and thanks to: Foundation For The Carolinas, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Community Building Initiative; initial scenarios by Denis Hayes and Carol Morris; Learning Network leads Octavia Seawell, Denis Hayes, Jeanine Bensi-Enchill, Sylvia Biddle Patton; shout-outs for artistic and creative outreach to Jessica Deltac, Quentin "Q" Talley, Melissa Harris, Lawrence Maher, Valaida Fullwood; movie production partner awesomeness to JoAnne Hock and GreyHawk Productions; making the trains run on time: Brant Aycock, Annetta Foard; Christi Robinson Lee, Patricia Zoder; design wizardry by Adam Roth; digital magic kudos to the team at UNION; telling the story glitter to the entire Crossroads Correspondents team; photos in crossroads matrix by Frank Balthazar.
Special thanks to leaders who supported the Crossroads Charlotte vision with imagination and trust: Michael Marsicano, Susan Patterson, Brian Collier, Dianne English, Mike Rizer and Darrel Williams and all of the CEO's and senior staff of the amazing Crossroads Charlotte Learning Network.