November 11, 2006
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Community Centric Service Methodology Glass Bead Games
Lobbying Congress on the Merits of the National Project
After reading:
http://www.bcngroup.org/beadgames/TaosDiscussion/Stratification.htm
A colleague wrote:
What you need to do that I cannot is to end by saying specifically what you are seeking. By "specific" I do not mean anything like a complete proposal.
What I mean is something to the effect that "The program of work that I wish to propose addresses the issues discussed here by... ... ... etc." What this does is to state the problem and state that you are working towards a solution that you want to see funded.
You must tie your proposal directly to the problem in a way that makes the reader see the benefits of hearing more or passing it up the chain. I believe that you have a laid a strong historical basis in the first few paragraphs (you may actually want to think about where those could be cut a bit to give you more room to finish, or you can just lay in text and let me do an edit for your review).
I think that you may have to strengthen the problem a bit, perhaps with a clear and simple problem statement at some point. Weak (or perceived weak) problems don't invite the effort required for solutions in the eyes of these folks. Then if you can end on a high note that ties your proposed program of work to solving the problem you may have a strong proposal opportunity.
As an aside, I have been thinking about how all of this might be structured and I see that the project itself has both a strong educational and research basis. It also is potentially quite large. The Institute is interested in this type of project if it is presented right. But I don't want to give it to them until I get a little buy-in and, perhaps, some additional tweaking from the right people.
I think if we use a very quiet, deliberate and somewhat stealthy approach we may be able to stir up some interest. I think that it may be time for some change and it may be good to think about how that can be used. I don't know if this can be done, but you've tried the frontal assault for years without success...
let's see if we can sneak it in without drawing a lot of attention to it until it's too late to stop it.