A worldwide nonprofit was born because on guy hated the way electrical boxes looked in his neighborhood.
Evan Meyer was tired of looking at the giant electrical boxes on the streets of Lincoln Blvd. in Santa Monica, California. So his friend encouraged him to stop complaining and do something about it. Now he runs a global non-profit dedicated to beautifying the walls that surround residents in this area.
Beautify Earth in itself could be a whole other study in expanding community through design. Walls, trash cans, electrical boxes, and parking lots have the potential to show off the voice and creativity of a city. The "broken windows" study claims that if you fix up a neighborhood (fix the "broken windows"), then crime and vandalism will go down. Ever since that initial theory came out, numerous cities have started to toy with using community pride as a motivator for decreasing crime.
From the Civic Love webpage:
Beautify Earth in itself could be a whole other study in expanding community through design. Walls, trash cans, electrical boxes, and parking lots have the potential to show off the voice and creativity of a city. The "broken windows" study claims that if you fix up a neighborhood (fix the "broken windows"), then crime and vandalism will go down. Ever since that initial theory came out, numerous cities have started to toy with using community pride as a motivator for decreasing crime.
From the Civic Love webpage:
Our goal is to make government more accessible and civic engagement more fun. Strong, healthy communities are built around collaboration and joint effort. By breaking down the barriers to get more citizens involved, we will see better outcomes for all stakeholders – government, business, and citizen.
For the purposes of this case study, I want to focus on one element of Beautify Earth: their Civic Love event. Civic Love is a yearly event that gathers members of a local community together-both residents, business members, and outside residents-to encourage and engage them to elevate their quality of life through changing their community.
This year, the event took place at the Victorian, a bar and event center in Santa Monica. This event was free and open to the public.
This year, the event took place at the Victorian, a bar and event center in Santa Monica. This event was free and open to the public.
THE HARDWARE
Physical aspects of community design:
- Food is the answer for any group gathering, and the reason I list it first is because of its instinctual influence on people. Free food and drinks are the first thing to convince someone to come out to an event. The Victorian catered for the event so there was a continuous buffet of items at all times. Cover a person's basic needs and they'll show up.
- The location for this event appeared to be a dining room converted into more of a meeting room. There were round tables placed about the room with table cloths and flower decorations and the room was small enough that you can see everyone within close proximity fairly well. Plus, you could hear anyone that was speaking. (This description is important for later on when you read about "location" in the software section).
- The way this event was structured is as follows: an hour of networking to start, brief introductions of community businesses and nonprofits who discuss how they work within the local community, small group discussions, and then dancing. (Yes, dancing. Purely optional, and most people left.)
- The first hour was a "networking" event which would perhaps turn many people off. Networking, while necessary, feels like shmoozey obligation. However, having the first hour set aside for this was a good way to have people meet prior to breaking out into smaller discussion groups. Plus, some people could not stay for the whole event, so it gave a participate the opportunity to meet as many people as possible.
- The first 30 minutes of the actual event involved Evan Meyer (the founder) introducing the purpose of his nonprofit Beautify Earth and why he decided to do a yearly Civic Love event. He then invited 10 members from the community to come up one at a time and give an elevator pitch about their organization. For example, at this event a few of the speakers were:
Evan Meyer
Julie Rusk (Santa Monica Wellbeing Department)
Nicole Landers (Community Healing Gardens)
Mhal Daveed (Safe Place for Youth -a npo that provides housing and services for homeless youth)
Shawn Landress (Parks and Recreation)
Mark Turner (Bareburger, a local burger joint that is active in sponsoring community events)
Julie Rusk (Santa Monica Wellbeing Department)
Nicole Landers (Community Healing Gardens)
Mhal Daveed (Safe Place for Youth -a npo that provides housing and services for homeless youth)
Shawn Landress (Parks and Recreation)
Mark Turner (Bareburger, a local burger joint that is active in sponsoring community events)
- After brief introductions to local members, all participants were encouraged to move tables and join a small group of 6-8 people for small discussions. This general act of forcing everyone to meet other participants outside of their comfort level helped to really solidify the communal engagement. During small groups, Evan facilitated discussion with the crowd with questions such as "What is one tiny habit you can change to make your community better", "What have you done to help engage others in your community", and "What do you plan on doing to further engage others". Each table went from person to person and everyone had an opportunity to speak.
THE SOFTWARE
Subliminal messaging of community design:
- Location plays a vital role in an event that is intended to bring people together to engage on the micro level. The location picked out was a smaller and more cozy space, which helped participants feel at ease while also making public speaking more accessible. Plus, there's something to be said for small groups at round tables. Round tables at any event are the perfect way to get people talking and making eye contact with everyone. It's also the best way to guarantee that everyone will get a chance to talk during small discussions by going around in a circle. The way a room is set up, the lighting, the tables, the space-is vital in helping establish a sense of comfort-something extremely important to an event that is all about communion.
- Inviting local business members to any event-especially to speak at this event conveys the message that a community is not only about residents-the businesses, the local groups, and even neighboring areas are all vital to making up the micro climate you live in.
- And finally, the "software" behind hosting small groups. This gave myself and other participants the chance to connect with like-minded individuals and hear their stories on a more personal level.