However you arrange the pieces, the whole remains a mess
VERSION 1. click to enlarge
THIS IS A CONCEPT MAP I created based on a thumbnail sketch we used as part of our discussion about how our group can help the Montagnard community. In this Version 1, I stopped connecting dots among stakeholders after the clutter began piling up and it was no longer easy to track relationships or responsibilities. The resulting visual mess seems to reflect the real life confusion that's derailed almost every refugee initiative of the past couple of years: decentralized network, lack of leadership, difficulty communicating, difficulty understanding boundaries. What has succeeded? Small groups that can work without the network: NAI, Elon Law, Triad Nepalese Community Center, among others.
Above all, it is difficult to explain this tortuous landscape to outside funders, experts, or potential partners who could help. I will play around with the graphic order and try to make a prettier picture in Version 2.
Some preliminary observations: There are many stakeholders (I left off trying to list individual American churches), it is hard to understand the City of Greensboro’s involvement in the Montagnard community and there are no businesses involved except Moses Cone Hospital System. Oh! There's no technology presence. It seems like we've really ceded community building to churches and nonprofit refugee agencies.
I wonder how the Montagnard community would map their encounters with the American refugee system?
NOTHING TO BRAG ABOUT
A second try at visualizing the refugee system in Greensboro
THIS IS THE SECOND VERSION, “prettier” than the first but no less confusing. I've put Montagnard Dega Association (MDA) in the middle and sought to trace its relations to many of the important refugee stakeholders. Heavily outlined names represent independent stakeholders. Heavy connecting lines from MDA delineate strong relations, dotted lines represent unknown or tentative connections. Admittedly, a lot of this is guesswork, but only because the entire refugee system lacks transparency.
A NEW VISION, A NEW SYSTEM
To read a one page pitch on why we concentrate on the Montagnard population, see BRIEFS
Jim Keith and I have been conversing about how we can maximize outcomes from limited resources, regarding the Montagnards and other refugee groups.
Here are our working premises:
1. We have focused on the Montagnard community because it represents one of the oldest refugee groups in Greensboro and most likely, the largest. Further, although they have been with us a long time, we have not yet envisioned and created a good system for responding to their needs and interests. We recognize that the experiences of refugees are an integral part of our community. As such, their problems are our problems.
2. We need to work harder to serve the Montagnard group well AND in doing so, create a vision/system that can serve as a model for OTHER refugee groups coming here.
3. As everyone acknowledges, the current system is unsustainable. We believe refugees are not the problem but an important part of Greensboro's future. As such, they must be engaged now in the important business of community building.
4. So, as we acknowledge, learn from, and seek to build on past efforts, we think the time is ripe to CONSOLIDATE and LEVERAGE our group's achievements, to clearly explain a new vision, and build a sustainable model for the future.
