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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Futures Committee - 09/09/2019 - City Manager’s Office 300 LaPorte Avenue PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 970.221.6505 970.224.6107 - fax fcgov.com MINUTES CITY OF FORT COLLINS FUTURES COMMITTEE MEETING Date: September 9, 2019 Location: CIC Room, City Hall, 300 Laporte Ave. Time: 4:00–6:00pm Committee Members Present: Mayor Wade Troxell Julie Pignataro Emily Gorgol City Staff: Darin Atteberry, City Manager Jeff Mihelich, Deputy City Manager Jackie Kozak-Thiel, (Staff Liaison) Presenters: Sarah Sullivan, Director, Mindful Communities Initiative, The Crim Fitness Foundation, Flint Michigan Sara Flitner, Director, Becoming Jackson Whole, Former Mayor of Jackson, Wyoming Additional Staff Present: Teresa Roche, HR Jeff Swoboda, FCPS Dean Klingner, PDT Jillian Pittman, Economic Health SeonAh Kendall, Economic Health Shannon Hein, Economic Health Katy McLaren, Environmental Services Nina Bodenhamer, Finance Terri Runyan, City Manager’s Office Greg Yeager, FCPS Victoria Shaw, Sustainability Services Gary Schroeder, Utilities Perrie McMillan, CDNS Angie Rhodes, HR Lynn Sanchez, HR Caroline Mitchell, Environmental Services Kristy Volesky, FCPS 2 Beth Sowder, Social Sustainability Wendy Williams, City Manager’s Office Community Members: Todd Cornell, Mindful Fort Collins Kevin Jones, Chamber of Commerce Rich Shannon, community member Christine Kneeland, community member Adana Barbieri, mindfulness trainer Jon Barbieri, mindfulness trainer Michael Wilbourn, Poudre School District Mindful Council Sue Schneider, Larimer County Extension Susan Davids, United Way of Larimer County Matt Robenalt, Downtown Development Authority Gary Goodman, UC Health Integrative Medicine Ann-Marie Bowman, UC Health Mary Ontiveros, CSU Office of VP for Diversity Eric Holsapple, Larimer County Real Estate Group Laura Nelson, Interfaith Council Pam Turner, Shambala Meditation Center Eddy Hopkins, Pastor at Peak Community Church Joseph Moore, Pastor at First Presbyterian Mary Ann Bayer, World Wisdoms Project Sara Maranowicz, Bohemian Foundation Cheryl Zimlich, Bohemian Foundation Dale Adamy, community member Margit Hentschel, CSU Center for Mindfulness Meeting called to order at 4:06 pm Approval of Minutes: Julie moved to approve July minutes. Emily seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 3-0-0. Chairman Comments: None Summary • Much community interest in pursuing this conversation • A lot of intersection between mindfulness and City Council’s 20 adopted priorities, our approach to co-creation, and how Council meetings/listening sessions might look different • This space gives us the ability to imagine, dream big, think about what opportunity there is into the future • Potential next steps: next cohort of Mindful Cities Initiative is off and running; we will continue to keep an eye on their process and learning 3 Think Tank Item 5-2019: Future of a Mindful, Compassionate Fort Collins: Learnings from the Mindful Cities Initiative Jackie Kozak Thiel, City of Fort Collins’ Chief Sustainability Officer • Award winning wellness program at city of Fort Collins • At State of the City, Darin and Mayor talked about bottom line question: How do we preserve our friendliness and connection as we grow? • Mindful Cities Initiative (MCI) – seeing an increase in mindfulness in the mainstream o Increased complexity and challenge of everyday life o Neuroplasticity – you can train your brain • Deep work happening in health and education sectors • Mindfulness means ability to be fully present, pay attention, be aware, not be overly reactive • From personal benefit to societal well-being, connecting silos, how we engage with one another • Pilot MCI cities are Jackson, WY; Flint, MI; Boston, MA o Another city with interest is Parkland, FL Sara Flitner, Director, Becoming Jackson Whole • Exploring what whole leadership means and how it can sustain wellness and emotional wellbeing at scale across communities • Jackson is the home to exploration, pioneering spirit, big bold energy, beautiful mountain town, but statistics in Jackson also tell story of human suffering: o Median family income is $81k o Median home price is $2.5 million o 1 in 10 food insecure o One of highest suicide rates in state of WY, which is higher than national average • Our brains didn’t evolve to take in so much information and still be optimal o Harvard Study – at any given time, only 47% of people paying attention • Becoming Jackson Whole: vision to develop widespread mindfulness practices o Mindfulness shown to be the best mental fitness exercise we know so far • Power tools of the new economy: self-awareness, self-regulation, attentional fortitude, empathy, relationship management, social connection • Phase one—community assessment, site visits, summit o Interviewed 50 community interviews + 350 online surveys o Site visits to innovators in the field o Summit – brought together CEOs, presidents, highest level leaders from huge variety of industries • Final lessons learned: listen, prioritize collaboration, (keep the skepticism but) trust the science, (don’t wait for perfection to) take action, develop your practice • Science of optimizing your brain shows micro-practices (like taking a breath) are contagious, even if it feels difficult at first Sarah Sullivan, Director, Mindful Communities Initiative, the Crim Fitness Foundation, Flint, MI 4 • Mindfulness is not about ignoring big issues, but about embracing the full catastrophe • Research & experience with pilot projects o Fewer than 1,000 research projects about mindfulness in 2015, currently closer to 9,000 • Crim Fitness Foundation founded in 1977 as fundraiser for special Olympics o Expanded in 2005 to support mental and physical health o Mindfulness program pilot in 2011, started with focus on education ▪ Have seen decrease in suspensions and impulsivity, increase in behavior regulation o Haven’t worked as much yet in business or healthcare, but exploring • Engage about 8k people per year through free community classes, programs and events (pop. 100k) • Asked 137 leaders what more mindful cities would look like: more compassion, resilience, sustainability • Mindful Flint is compassionate, respectful, kind; intentionally inclusive; achieved through collaboration; community-wide effort • Reflecting back, looking ahead o Aim to launch pilot project in all sectors, expand ambassador program to support cross-sector collaboration o By 2050, aim to close the 15-year life expectancy gap in the county Comments/Q&A: • Mayor Troxell: o If we’re high performing, we are serving our community better o Opportunity to bring a number of things together that focus on mindfulness and intentionality as a community o Would like to hear more about institutional partners in community ▪ Sarah: University of Michigan and Michigan State both have small campuses in Flint, initially involved for support with research. Hospital collaboration is emerging—came to summit and have interest in getting more involved. • Councilmember Pignataro o Mindfulness practitioner for about a decade o Struggling to wrap head around how you could do this at a Council session ▪ Sara: Trained elected officials in mindfulness, started by doing 15 minutes before meeting started. Most colleagues (not everyone opts in) felt calm, patient, not high stress and anxious, not as reactive ▪ Sarah: Crim invited to go to City Council meeting, not a weekly meeting but a training open to the public, started with deep breaths, gratitude practice, can create a shift, build momentum o Equity – went to a mindful leadership training, how do you mitigate mindfulness feeling like a white, middle-class fad? ▪ Sarah: In Flint, similar perception when launched, shifted hiring practices of their mindfulness teachers, expanded definition of mindfulness—not 5 just long, extended practices, but anything that helps someone feel grounded and aware ▪ Sara: Jackson is not a very diverse community, grappling with this as well, many of the Latinx community members are time-starved • Councilmember Gorgol o Thinking about community tensions that come with growth, but also about listening sessions and how those can be tense; another opportunity to bring community members into that practice • Community Questions and Discussion o Interested in faith communities, those practicing things they didn’t know was called mindfulness, how is this received by that sector? ▪ Sarah: Launched programing in schools, made sure everything was secular, did not reach out to the faith community at first and now have faith leaders reaching out. Many will add prayer or religious aspects to their own practice/training, but original programming is secular ▪ Sara: Advisory board members is Episcopal minister, went for leaders that people admired and respected, it seems if the intention is based on respect, not experts, just saying “we know if we take a few deep breaths, there’s a better way to do this” o Question for the police chief: One of the most extraordinary jobs to have and filled with fear, uncertainty, reactivity. Have you done training in this space? ▪ Chief Swoboda: Just beginning their journey; talk a lot about hiring for character and training can follow, “things can be lawful but awful,” leading with heart, seeing selves as peace officers, all in in this mindfulness endeavor o Where are things currently at their school districts and where do they hope it goes? ▪ Sarah: Supporting six school districts and 23 school, working intensely with three pilot schools: Those have been provided with the most staffing and resourcing and seen highest outcomes. o Did you start with student explicit instruction or teacher instruction? ▪ Sarah: Started with student explicit instruction. Switched approach to do staff and parent training first so it becomes part of the culture and routine. Additional Discussion: None Meeting adjourned by Wade Troxell at 5:56.