Service for the 21st Century

Recently as we at the Project were developing our new mascot (right) I came up with the tag line "Service for the 21st Century." At the time I simply thought that it "worked" with the robot and some other marketing materials that we were putting together for our June round of recruiting but when I attended the Freedom to Connect Conference, I started thinking more about what it really meant.

Freedom to Connect was not a conference about robots or service. It was mostly about the importance building and protecting an open communications infrastructure in this country. There was much talk about policy, innovation, and the need to take action. While the specific topics varied, they all played off of an economic picture presented by Yochai Benkler. Professor Benkler set the stage early-on with his discussion on how increased computing power, an open internet, and collaborative production are combining to radically transforming the economy and society. (I will attempt no further summary of his book, The Wealth of Networks, which you can and should read online at benkler.org.)

Mr. Benkler has a lot of provocative things to say but his description of the economic situation is generally accepted. Think back to the dot com days and all the talk of the "new economy." People don't use that phrase much any more but business is still very much focused on dealing with that new reality... and so are we at the CTC VISTA Project. And, like many businesses, I think we sometimes fail to appreciate the magnatude of change and the opportunity that it represents.

As a VISTA program we are charged with addressing the complicated situation of poverty. It's a fuzzy issue and yet there is a tradition of thinking about this work simply as either addressing disparities or providing opportunities for participation and advancement. These are fine goals but they represent a patchwork approach that does not capture what is possible in a time of paradigm shifting change. Right now we have reason to believe that more is possible.

We should expect more specifically because creation, collaboration and communication have always been central to the fight for economic and social justice and these are the very points on which the economy is now pivoting. We have an incredible opportunity to upgrade our traditional means of engagment while connecting many more people with the new tools and knowledge that can result in meaningful, substantial, and profitable participation in the economy and society. This is what VISTA service in the 21st century should be. It is what CTC VISTAs do everyday. The world needs more of it.