Problem: The Challenge:  implementing an efficient and effective program to provide free support for many working groups with many projects. Long-standing problems such as declining natural resources and deteriorating watersheds, prove how challenging it is to build effective collaboration across governments, civic groups, and business. To address this, new independent programs are being formed to focus collaboration by several agencies on a specific problem.  Suddenly, people in different agencies an...

Action: Move from talk to action, effectively. Design, implement, and deliver a web-based collaboration workspace to help a community of working groups to manage their strategic program and to measure their progress toward mandated goals. The S4S workspace is not a free-form environment; it provides structured collaboration with accountability. This business-like approach supports: designing strategy and process, tracking internal and external projects, coordinating participants, reporting progress, ...

Problem: Guadalajara, Mexico is experiencing water scarcity at an advanced stage. Lake Chapala, Mexico’s largest lake, is currently drying up. Guadalajara receives water from Lake Chapala where diminishing water, rampant pollution, and rapid population growth combine to create increasing scarcity. The communities I plan to work with are at a critical point in fighting the construction of the Arcediano dam which will force the dislocation of one community and severely threatens the health of the other....

Action: We are traveling to Guadalajara, Mexico in September to research community water management with the Mexican Institute of Community Development (Instituto Mexicano para el Desarollo Comunitario). In a quickly growing city with a quickly depleting water supply, water justice is an important component of the solution. Our project focuses on three communities actively engaged in water policy and water management both internally and regionally.  Not only is Mex...