Morning Forum

We are still looking for a volunteer coordinator to organize the Morning Forum program on Sunday mornings.  This major volunteer commitment of two to three hours per week requires recruiting willing speakers (without honoraria), receiving suggestions for speakers, weekly contact with the office, personal attendance at most forums, meeting monthly deadlines for the newsletter and web site, and arranging for free outside publicity of Morning Forum events. If you would like to see Morning Forum continue, have interests and skills that would make you a good match for the Coordinator position, please contact one of the Parish Co-Ministers.

From time to time, we will have a special Morning Forum available to our members and friends.  Watch our church newsletter, Shorelines, and the West Shore Weekly announcements in the Order of Service for details.

 

Special Morning Forum Program

Sustainable Cleveland 2019

Sunday, October 11, at 9:30 a.m.

Offered by Dr. Nancy Meyer-Emerick

Could Cleveland become an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable city by 2019, the 50th anniversary of the infamous Cuyahoga River fire? I was one of over 700 people who said yes to this question and attended a 3-day appreciative inquiry summit in August, to design methods to make that happen. Our charge was “Building an Economic Engine to Empower a Green City on a Blue Lake.” For several months before the summit, Mayor Frank Jackson worked with people from all sectors in our community under the guidance of Dr. David Cooperrider and the Fowler Center for Sustainable Value at Case Western Reserve University to design the appreciative inquiry questions and rapid prototyping process that we used.


While some groups focused on business innovation, transportation, waste to profit, advanced energy and manufacturing, others worked on civic engagement, communications and branding, social capital and health. Emotions ran high when the group who had drafted a public compact on sustainability asked us to stand and recite it together. Many of us believe that the compact, “The Cleveland Promise,” will be a unifying vision enabling us to become a green city on a blue lake.  I will be presenting a more in-depth explanation of the Summit and our progress. Please join me!