More About Innovative Minds

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.  Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

           - Margaret Mead

 

"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe…"

           - John Muir

 

Ted Turner, Pearl Cleague, Martin Luther King, Jr., Dr. Robert Bullard, Alice Walker, Ralph McGill, John Lewis, Arthur Blank.  Atlanta has been fortunate that it has always seemed to have its share of thoughtful, effective, committed citizens.   Famous and quiet alike, the best Atlanta leaders have labored on issues as diverse as economic development, poverty, healthcare, civil rights, music and the arts.   And Atlanta has also been able to rely on one of the most substantial stocks of nonprofit organizations of any city in the country, with only a few (like New York and Boston) able to count on more.

But real change in our city has often come slowly, if at all on some issues.  We can all reel off the list of problems we face today - traffic, unhealthy air, poverty, crime, sprawl, declining school quality, embarrassing political leadership, poorly-funded arts…

The leaders have always been here, but just not always working together - or even in awares of the work of others.  Too often, our best-known activists and leaders are working on their own issues in a silo, too overwhelmed by the short term needs of their work to see the connections they have to the other issues our community is struggling with.   Indeed, when one is worried about a smog-alert day and kid's asthma, or how to ensure a homeless shelter has enough food for the night's guests, it may not seem obvious that these issues are also related to environmental justice and traffic jams and local food production.

But what of our innovative leaders who understand that It's All Connected, and that our best hope for healthy communities is to address our problems with a comprehensive systems approach?  What if there is an emerging class of leaders who are working to build coalitions and partnerships across organizations and issues - providing linkages that will make Atlanta's already substantial investment in leaders and leading organizations more effective?

Those thinkers are here, and are already working on a plethora of ideas and organizations that will transform Atlanta in the coming decades.  They are finding new and innovative ways to address the issues of our time and the future:  climate change, energy, poverty, access to food, spirituality, environmental justice, business sustainability, local arts, holistic healthcare, schools and education, mobility, and more.  Perhaps just as important, these thinkers ARE becoming aware of each other, and how their issues and ideas can feed off of each other.

Inspiring Futures intends to bring together the best of this new breed of thinkers… of Innovative Thinkers, and help them make the most of their brilliance, their energy, and their leadership.  For the last two years Inspiring Futures has hosted the local Bioneers Conference, bringing together these Innovative Thinkers, to share their ideas, to educate each other, and to bring inspiration to the armies of citizen volunteers and leaders in Atlanta.  Their work is the intersection of the array of social justice, ecology, spirituality, community, and human health.