Skokie Vision 2

Skokie Vision #2: I love this "lighthouse community" vision from a Skokian who attended our campaign launch. In fact, if elected, I intend to work with Skokie residents and the Village Board to implement the thoughtful Principles of the Welcoming Community, which serve as that very "guide for what a progressive, inclusive community should be."

In 2015, I co-founded and led a north suburban movement that we called The Justice Project: The March Continues, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the North Shore Summer Project and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s open housing speech in July 1965 on the Winnetka Village Green. Thirty of us from 9 suburbs including Skokie came up with Principles of the Welcoming Community as framework for creating and sustaining a just, inclusive, diverse, and sustainable suburb. We even created measurable benchmarks to go with those Principles. 

Our idea was that we could grant an annual "Welcoming Community" certification, such as "bronze" or "platinum," calibrated to how close the community got to the vision. Our goal was to inspire a culture in the northern suburbs in which our suburbs take pride in being a "Welcoming Community." It's a culture-setter. And as we know, perception matters. 

Over 30 years ago, the late Donella Meadows gave a powerful, prescient talk to environmentalists on the need for leading with vision, Envisioning a Sustainable World. I invite you to read her talk or better yet, watch her deliver it. The crux, as she puts it, is this: "[W]e can hardly achieve a desirable, sustainable world, if we can’t even picture what it will be like."

Of course having a vision isn’t enough. Of course it’s only the first step toward any goal. The grandest vision will get nowhere without proper information and models and implementation (and resources, labor, capital, time, and money). There are great difficulties in all these steps of social change and much work to do. I’m by no means indicating that we all become nothing but visionaries. I think what I’m advocating is simply that we make the world safe for vision.

Imagine a Skokie led by that Welcoming Community vision. Imagine that Village Hall communicates to developers: "You want to build here? Then how does what you want to do fit in with our vision of a safe, beautiful, Welcoming Community? We invite you to join with us to realize that vision." That’s a whole different approach than being reactive or having no plan at all. 

I am so proud of these Principles. Skokie has everything it takes to be a lighthouse community, starting with its people.