Volunteers
Volunteers and Advisors
Many Thanks
Over the years members of the Little Arkansas Community Coalition have had the privilege to cooperate with and learn from people of many different backgrounds. Without them the ideas discussed during our endeavors would not have seen the light of day. Among these people I am most grateful to our neighbors. I have occasionally been astonished to realize how narrow the cultural gap becomes when we work together toward a common goal. I have also not been surprised at the creativity born of neighborly cooperation. We quite simply share the basic values about how democracy should work and how to deal with complex environmental and historical matters. Against all odds, we accomplished the impossible.
A special thank you for the courage it took to see projects through, to be involved so deeply, and for the willingness to start all over when our historic river landscape was threatened again and again.
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A special thanks to our State Representative John Carmichael his continued support during our fight to preserve the historic areas of the Little Arkansas River community. His determination to turn their voices into real deeds motivated our volunteers. May more of his kind join us in protecting the Little Arkansas River forward in the future.
Who What When Where How
Four Samples
How Volunteers Fought City Hall
Organizing with like minded people
When there was no existing neighborhood organization or coalition who would stand up for a significant historic site, we had to start one of our own. But we couldn’t do it by ourselves. We gathered neighbors, friends, and politicians to form an organization that jumped head long in to activism. We investigated our position, and affiliated with powerful people and organizations until we became one of Wichita’s most powerful and respected coalitions.
You showed up, and we put the emotional souls up front
While emotional, inflammatory, and accusatory statements or questions usually aren’t how to fight city hall, you can bet that the most emotional people will exhibit the most expressive facial and body language too. Their postures will tell the story. They didn’t need to speak or write, just show up.
We find that an undercurrent of anger and frustration often is helpful in getting our point across, but we always make sure to convey forcefully that facts and reason are on our side.
Came together as one voice
We made sure all all communication was consistent. We used one voice. We worked to keep the discourse civil, rational, and respectful, but stated our opinions, and especially facts and evidence, assertively. We explained our case using photographs or video, logs of activities observed, gathered eyewitness accounts, and plenty of examples. We taught all your supporters the facts as best we could, so that whether they speak at the meeting or not, their word of mouth and social media conversations are knowledgeable and well-prepared.
Tenacity
Sometimes our neighborhood or viewpoint might not be treated fairly. City elected officials or staff might be stubborn or biased against us, or our elected people do not consider seriously a problem or a new proposal that we bring forth. Sometimes they just underestimated what is possible.