We have always been storytellers. It's what we do best. Be sure you understand the problem before you offer the solution. Lots of the time people start throwing around solutions that really don't fit the situation here. They put off people and divide everything into sides.
Solutions polarize if offered too early.
They should emerge, with more support, out of good, solid discussion and knowledge of the local situation. Through productive conversation, people provide meaning for each other, help make sense of what is happening, and add to their own sense of an initiative's value. When the push to produce results has begun to yield success, talking together about the significance of what is happening can provide people with personal reasons for continuing their work on civic change. Make the Experience of Community More Tangible Using funds from the Pew Partnership, Longview and Tyler initiated cultural festivals that engaged multiple racial and ethnic communities by presenting their performers and artists to crowds consisting of people from all backgrounds. These festivals provided diverse groups with an opportunity to function as one community and made more tangible the idea of Longview and Tyler as a region with an increasingly diverse population.