A version of this article appeared in the Asheville Citizen-Times. The community ‘innovation engine’ that I developed, Open Strategic Innovation for Communities (OSIC), can assist in organizing further positive change in Asheville and Buncombe county. When it comes to solutions to our greatest challenges, there is less ‘low hanging fruit’. So what’s next? OSIC […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ASHEVILLE, NC – Sustain NC is a professional development initiative of InnovoGraph LLC nurturing sustainability innovation. The central initiating Sustain NC service project is completion of the North Carolina Clean Power Plan. Part of making that happen is deploying a Smart Grid, Distributed Energy, and Efficiency Program (Smart Grid DEEP). There is […]
ASHEVILLE, NC – Today North Carolina management consulting firm InnovoGraph is launching Sustain NC – a community innovation group defining and tracking regional progress through research and strategy. Sustain Asheville and Sustain WNC will have local and regional focus. Sustainability-oriented innovation addressing climate change and human opportunity is adds critical value to state economies. Sustain […]
Ideally there would be a large unified award-winning sustainability strategy project on both the 68-76 Haywood Street and Catholic Diocese property on the 100 block. In strategy ‘designing out’ what isn’t desirable is one starting point in relation to a high stakes matter like this. I understand the desire to turn the corner on the […]
Prior to the announcement of the Asheville Climate Collider I shared my concept for an Earth Science and Sustainability Exploratorium (ESSE), possibly to be located on the former site of Beacon Manufacturing in Swannanoa, NC. As I add more detail over time, this article will also cover my ideas for a National Climate Risk and Sustainability Strategy Center […]
Innovative community leadership looks like a public buy-in design for the properties facing St. Lawrence Basilica and what’s now called US Cellular Center. That design thinking effort could have established strategy and been seeking capital right now. For what? For a public trust-oriented development for this, yes, very strategic site. But we still seem to […]
I see folks introducing a lot of causes and new initiatives. Feel free to create a Top Ten list of things to change and how. Post in comments and I will synthesize what everyone posts. Grant Millin’s Strategic Priority Master List 1. Expand and enforce President’s Climate Action Plan and the EPA’s Clean Power Plan […]
Setting the community, state, and national bar too high worries folks. We know this one. I was recently asked why I would ‘criticize’ the Eblen Charities-Buncombe Schools-NCSECU teacher housing project. As a repeatable path to really dealing with our housing and poverty issues, do we have that now with the Eblen teacher housing project? Guessing… maybe? […]
As an innovation expert I can tell you simply increasing experimentation on poverty programs is not responsible. All the low hanging fruit is gone. The thousands of folks in Asheville actually experiencing poverty or hovering near poverty need responsible leaders at all levels of government. For example, the idea of some in local leadership […]
We are loading in hotels where affordable housing could go… and more higher paying white collar, ‘green collar’, and ’no collar’ jobs to help pay for higher quality housing for each citizen. People in poverty in Asheville have emergency level needs. Increasing net worth by cutting housing costs and increasing SNAP funds while raising the Federal […]