MINDS: Mapping the Future of Ferndale

Michelle's Mind Map for May 2nd

Submitted by Michelle Foster: Summary of May 2nd meeting on the synergistic elements of Wanda Land, Timebank, Paper Street and the Ferndale Community

End game: build critical mass (capacity)

- target for June 5th - 150 people

garage + digital learning studio + community (the social perspective) = community + potential

Capacity Building:
City - Ferndale & Hazel Park & Highland Park
I3
Craig Niche - creative school workspace
Emily Semelbauer - Timebank digital learning kiosk
Acme Digital
Art Services - Brad Smith
Ferndale DDA
Chamber
Affirmations Rust Belt DIY Fair
Garden Fresh
Kulick Farmer's Market, Royal Oak Farmer's Market, Eastern, Birmingham
Detroit Zoo
State Fair
Detroit Carpentry Apprenticeship
Blumz
Dino's
Chazzano
New York Bagels
Catering
Patch
Schools - educational development
- 2 hours a month

Voice/Center for creativity

Physical Design:

Front: Signage and Farmer's market set back behind parking entrance



Weekly schedule and map updates digitally - Blog Map
- graphic with youth centers/locations


Collect intelligence - Mobile Kiosk
- follow up; continuing capturing capacity through blog involvement

Use empty garage space as conversation starter to hear innovative ideas

After-glow: alternative activity

Create social event more so than buyers market - BRUNCH


Seed capital for innovation/ideas - from local banks?, DDA?

Money for block parties??

Press Release:  (ADD Tagline: "Wonder at Wanda Land" Michelle Foster 5-2-2011)

Possible posting:  Ferndale Elections voting precinct 5-3-2011

Expressed interest gain access inside



Next meeting: May 9th, 8 am

Ground Crew - I see this coming in very handy for Wanda Land, the Timebank and Paper Street!

New app for connecting to the talent and interests of surrounding community.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FPMGfAenZg&feature=player_embedded

Very cool new collaborative consumption tool, Zaarly, for phones - how can we use it and possibly adapt uses for it?

Make offers for things you want with other users in your immediate area, or beyond.

http://www.zaarly.com/

Informs our Understanding! (Gap Analysis for Meeting Agenda 5-2-2011 )

At issue: Work perks (Detroit Free Press 5-1-2011)

Google staffers can tinker in shops

They are a way to stimulate creative ideas

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE ASSOCIATED PRESS

   MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Amid all the free food and other goodies that come with a job at Google, there’s one benefit a lot of employees don’t even know about: a cluster of high-tech workshops that have become a tinkerer’s paradise.

   Workers escape from their computer screens and office chairs to weld, drill and saw on expensive machinery they won’t find at Home Depot.

   Besides building contraptions with a clear business purpose, Google employees use the shops for fun: They create elaborate holiday decorations, build cabinets for their homes and sometimes dream big, like the engineers working on a pedal-powered airplane with a 100-foot wingspan.

   The Google Workshops are the handiwork of Larry Page, who co-founded Google with Sergey Brin in a rented garage. Page authorized the workshops’ opening in 2007 to try to reconnect the company with its roots.

   Google, which has kept the workshops under wraps until last week, gave the Associated Press an exclusive tour shortly after Page reclaimed his original job as CEO on April 4.

   The workshops offer a peek into ways Page may try to make the Internet giant work with the verve and creativity of a garage-bound entrepreneur. Page says the 13-year-old company needs to return to thinking and acting like a feisty startup as it faces competition from younger Internet stars such as Facebook, Twitter and Groupon.

   “There is a feeling here at Google that all good things start in a garage,” said Greg Butterfield, an engineering lab manager who oversees the workshops. “Larry wanted to create the same kind of environment he and Sergey had when they started Google — a sort of a playground or sandbox for pursuing their ideas.”

   Originally known as the Pi Shop, the geeky getaway is open only to a privileged few among Google’s 26,300 employees. To gain entry, workers must pass a test that includes such questions as “When you are using a band saw, what speed would you use to cut through aluminum?”

   There are four separate rooms — for metal, wood, welding and electronics — tucked into an isolated corner of Google’s 4.3-million-squarefoot headquarters in Mountain View.

   Besides heavy-duty equipment, such as an oscilloscope, plasma cutter and miter saw, there are some children’s toys. One piece of gadgetry under construction in the shops partially consists of Legos — the same material that Page once used to build an inkjet printer, years before creating Google.

   The projects that have emerged from the workshops include a giant tricycle that was designed to haul around 250 pounds of high-tech photo equipment. The trikes are used to supply the company’s online mapping service with pictures of streets and other areas inaccessible by cars.

   Engineers have used the shops to work on early prototypes of smartphones that run on Google’s Android software, and they have customized parts for the automated, driverless cars that the company has been testing. There are other products still under development in the shops; the company declined to discuss them.

   Most Google employees, though, use the shops for personal purposes. The ideas percolating in the workshops are so unpredictable that employees are encouraged to drop off scrap metal or other detritus just in case the junk might suit someone’s project.

   During the AP’s recent visit , a couple of old wheel axles and the rusted tailgate from a truck were sitting in the welding shop.

   “You never know what you are going to find in here,” Butterfield said.

   Google isn’t the only place in Silicon Valley where computer-coding engineers can show off their industrial might.

   A venture called Tech-Shops sells memberships starting at about $100 per month to use heavy machinery for wood, metal, plastics and textiles. Besides the San Francisco Bay area, TechShops operates in Raleigh, N.C.

   Google’s workshops are free to all employees, like virtually all the company’s perquisites . But the workshops are much more exclusive than Google’s other benefits.

   All employees must be certified to run the machinery before they are issued a badge to enter.

   The screening usually falls to Rodney Broome, 63, a veteran machinist who teaches the craft at nearby San Jose City College when he isn’t busy as the foreman of Google’s workshops.

   Just as they do when they are trying to get hired at Google, employees have to pass a test.

   About 300 Google workers, or 1% of the workforce, have been certified so far. Most of them are engineers, although badges have been given to a few who work in ad sales.

   Broome said there have been no injuries in the workshops so far.

   The screening standards are so strict that a college degree in mechanical engineering wasn’t enough for Google software engineer Ihab Awad.

   He attended a local high school’s wood shop class for a semester before earning Broome’s clearance.

GROWING IN MICHIGAN

Younger Bush is working for education reforms

   As governors across the country work to reform antiquated education systems, more are looking to Jeb Bush for inspiration and ideas.

   And as the 2012 presidential contest begins with no one rising to the top of the GOP side of the ledger, some are quietly sounding a drumbeat about Bush, Florida’s 43rd governor, who served from 1999 to 2007.

   “When it comes to education, he is a modern-day Superman who has bold ideas and knows how to get things implemented,” said Tom Watkins, former Michigan state school superintendent who worked with Bush in launching the first charter school in Florida in the 1990s.

   “With the Republican field open, he offers a pragmatic, measured response to issues that could make the electorate ready to embrace another Bush,” he added.

   Since leaving office, Bush, who runs the Foundation for Excellence in Education ( www.excelined.org  ), has been advising governors and legislators about how he implemented his “Florida Formula” to reinvent education in his state.

   The 58-year-old younger brother of former President George W. Bush and son of former President George H.W. Bush was in Minneapolis this week talking to legislators.

   Bush, who has also been in touch with Gov. Rick Snyder’s team about education, dismissed talk of his running in 2012.

   He also didn’t want to discuss political prospects in 2016, instead focusing on education. But as is sometimes the case with politics, saying no isn’t always the final word.

   Snyder last week laid out a plan that included changes involving merit pay, teacher tenure, charter schools, online learning and more.

   “I’m very impressed,” Bush said after examining Snyder’s dashboard of educational plans he hopes to implement. “It’s a comprehensive sweep of reforms rather than just one thing.”

   In Bush’s formula, digital learning is paramount.

   Others agree, including an organization in Belleville .

   “We can reinvent education to personalize learning, offer opportunities in and out of school, prepare kids for the hyper-competitive global economy and opportunities for international collaborations,” said Glen Taylor, coexecutive director of WAY — Widening Advancement for Youth ( www.wayprogram   .net  ).

   Taylor and Beth Baker, who co-founded the program, met recently with Bush in Florida, where they are expanding.

   Getting back to the national political stage and education, Bush took some heat when he stood alongside President Barack Obama at a Miami school as they both talked of reform.

   “The president’s heart is in the right place on education,” said Bush, who told me he doesn’t agree with all of Obama’s ideas. “It’s better to embrace the things we agree on than fight over the things we don’t.”

   Sage advice for Michigan.

   • CONTACT CAROL CAIN: 313-222-6732 OR CLCAIN@CBS.COM  . CAIN HOSTS “MICHIGAN MATTERS” AT 11 A.M. SUNDAYS ON WWJ-TV CBS DETROIT.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush met recently with Glen Taylor and Beth Baker, who co-founded WAY, or Widening Advancement for Youth.

Meeting at Paper Street: Monday, May 2nd at 8AM

A second Design Charrette to continue developing the elements of the Wanda Land Street Fair, the Ferndale Timebank and Paper Street Incubator as related to the "Change by Design" of Ferndale.

Please add any new developments or ideas that should be included in the agenda.

Aligns to OUR Purpose (By Design)

Bold ideas: Online study, payouts

Snyder‘s education plan has innovative reforms to reward schools’ success

By CHRIS CHRISTOFF FREE PRESS LANSING BUREAU CHIEF

   Gov. Rick Snyder will propose Wednesday financial rewards to individual schools that show exceptional academic progress.

   The money could be divided among the teachers or used in other ways they choose, according to a source familiar with the plan.

   It’s among reforms in a special message on education Snyder will deliver at 10 a.m. at the United Way for Southeastern Michigan in Detroit.

   Snyder also wants to allow students to choose online classes they can complete at home or other sites, rather than comply with state rules that they be in a classroom at least 1,098 hours a year.

   “There are some kids who learn better reading and looking at words than they do listening to a lecture,” said Bill Rustem, Snyder’s director of strategy.

   Rustem said it would be up to school districts to set guidelines for online programs, which education experts say can work well for both advanced students and those who perform poorly in traditional classes.

   Snyder also will call for changes in teacher tenure laws and charter schools in his education message. He delivered a similar address on local government reforms in March.

Best way to track results is measuring, Snyder says

Educators need more incentives, training

By CHRIS CHRISTOFF FREE PRESS LANSING BUREAU CHIEF

   EAST LANSING — Gov. Rick Snyder told several hundred educators Monday to get used to the idea of measuring students’ performance.

   He’ll talk a lot about that Wednesday, he said, when he delivers his special message on education in Detroit.

   “We have to put much more emphasis on proficiency, on growth, on measurements and results than we have had in the past,” Snyder told the Governor’s Education Summit, an annual gathering of mostly teachers and school officials. “It’s about really delivering results for these kids, to show the whole system needs to be geared to say each child gets a good year’s education each and every year.”

   He said teachers and administrators must be given more incentives and training to improve the schools.

   “The way to approach it is not to get down on people, it’s not to approach it with blame,” he said. “It’s not (to) be negative with one another. It’s about how we look to the future and be positive and build on that as an opportunity to succeed together.”

   That means more autonomy for individual schools and teachers, and a system to financially reward outstandingteachers who can mentor others, he said.

   State schools Superintendent Michael Flanagan called for a deregulation of schools, such as eliminating minimum numbers of hours or days students must attend each year. Instead, schools would set their own guidelines for studentsto meet state academic goals.

   “My goal is to take away as many regulations as we can but hold people accountable for academic growth,” Flanagan said.

   A person familiar with Snyder’s plan said the governor won’t call for eliminating the minimum hours requirement, but will ask to give districts options, such as online learning programs for some students.

   Snyder’s speech is much anticipated, as the Legislature wrestles with how much to cut from state aid to school districts. Snyder has called for $300 per pupil less than the current year for all districts, but the Republican-controlled House and Senate are considering slightly different cuts.

   Snyder has often spoken of moving to an education culture that depends more on measured outcomes than on debates over money.

   He also will talk about an education system that begins with prenatal care programs.

   “I hope he will set some big audacious academic goals for us to accomplish in Michigan like they have done in other Midwestern states like Missouri, Kentucky and Illinois,” said Carol Goss, president and CEO of the Skillman Foundation, in a response to the Free Press. She has met with Snyder to discuss education ideas.

   She said she hopes Snyder will propose more public-private partnerships, more accountability, and giving students more career alternatives than going to college, which does not suit some.

   In his remarks Monday, Snyder pointed to the United Way’s early childhood programs as an example of how the state could join with private ventures.

   Snyder also has met twice with philanthropist Eli Broad, a Michigan native and head of the Broad Foundation , which has aggressively funded some education initiatives.

   “They talked about using their expertise in education to help supplement what we’re doing to get a handle on not only the Detroit school system, but other public school districts, and what kind of innovative practices are out there,” said Snyder’s chief of staff Dennis Muchmore.

   Democrats, who’ve sharply criticized Snyder for his proposed cuts to schools and universities, were wary about his Wednesday speech.

   “I’m ready to work with the governor if he’s serious about giving our children a quality education, but his actions are speaking louder than his words,” said Rep. Lisa Brown, D-West Bloomfield, minority vice chair of the House Education Committee.

Skillman Foundation CEO Carol Goss

State Superintendent Michael Flanagan

File photo by PATRICIA BECK/Detroit Free Press

   “The way to approach it is not to get down on people, it’s not to approach it with blame,” Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said Wednesday of measuring student performance. He spoke at the Governor’s Education Summit in East Lansing.

Next Steps / Assign Roles & Responsibilities

WELCOME!