Ceasar McDowell (KNFP 12), Director, The Center for Reflective Community Practice, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
This article was published in the October 2006 issue of the KFLA Newsletter.
"Ceasar McDowellCeasar McDowell is helping to make voices heard both at the community and the global level. Whether he is organizing in urban neighborhoods or creating a multi-national organization for global dialogue, Ceasar works to "ensure people can claim their voice and name their experience in the world." An Associate Professor of the Practice of Community Development, Ceasar is founding director of the Center for Reflective Community Practice at MIT. Through the center, Ceasar is involved in community building focused on growing social networks. For example, following Hurricane Katrina, he worked with community groups in New Orleans, helping support young emerging leaders.
Says Ceasar, "Young leaders were struggling to find their voice in the community process, while leaders from the older generation felt the young people didn't know enough to have their voice heard. I became a mentor to the young people to help them manage their anger and find ways to share their ideas." He points out, "It brings up real issues about communities holding onto tradition and how new leaders emerge that may not go through the same processes. We need to learn how to make space for that." Ceasar's most recent undertaking is global in scope. He is one of two U.S. directors of Dropping Knowledge, a global initiative to support free and open sharing of knowledge among people of the world. As an initiator of strategies to link public dialogue with national broadcasts for public television in the 1990s, Ceasar is again furthering the use of communications technology through Dropping Knowledge, and "using a global dialogue platform to address some of the most pressing issues of our time."
Explains Ceasar, "The initiative involves how to share knowledge across the world and give people an opportunity to raise questions and support each other in seeking knowledge. We've been collecting questions from around the world for an event in Berlin, The Table of Free Voices, and people have selected the top 100 questions through online voting. During the event, 112 scholars will sit around the largest round table ever built to try to answer questions like: 'What is mankind's ultimate goal?' and 'What is the most important rule children should be taught?' Dropping Voices is meant to enable individuals and organizations to find each other and work together on issues of shared interest." The initiative presents Ceasar with leadership challenges in having to coordinate people from different countries and different disciplines. "The people involved are community leaders, writers, artists, scientists, and activists, and the organization is trying to cross a lot of boundaries," he says. Ceasar's commitment to his many diverse projects is sustained by his belief that "small things are important and every step matters." He states, "I believe in transition, growth, and development. I have a deep faith that people can really care for each other and do things to allow others to live full and healthy lives."