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OpenBeam aligned community projects

 The following are projects that OpenBeam is either interested in (and therefore logging and following their progress) or to whose progress we have made some amount of contributions:

Project Phase Definitions

The following defines the various project phases:

  1. Concept- idea scoped out with enough details to give an early sizing and/or to build a proof of concept
  2. Planning - idea is solid, stakeholders are identified, and there is strong commitment to go forward from all parties.
  3. Development - program or application is being developed
  4.  On-going program - a product, program or service is in production or the project is completed

Concept 

Planning Phase

Development Phase

On-going or Completed

Description: Purpose: Change power dynamics to create a pluralistic and intercultural community where all people benefit equitably. Goal: Create equitable access to community resources and civic involvement.
Impacting : Aging ; Arts & Culture ; Best Practice ; Business Process ; Diversity and Inclusion ; Leadership ; OpenBeam ; Technology Enablement
Led by : Diversity Council


Creating a 21st Century Community Space

Description: A Place for All. Third Sector's shared space concept would provide a common entry point to community resources through its "front door" concept. Seeking 40,000 - 50,000 sf of public space for 3 core uses.  Community Cultural Center providing interactive gathering spaces for civic engagement, education, celebration.  Community Front Door offering a centralized entry point for individuals seeking access to community resources and activities.  Nonprofit COOP functions as the enterprise, funding general operations for the entire facility while creating operational efficiencies for NPOs.
Impacting : Arts & Culture ; Diversity and Inclusion ; Education ; Food ; Interaction ; International ; Intelligence ; Language ; OpenBeam ; Welcoming
Led by : Community Mobilization Resource Coalition (CMRC)


Digital Equity IT Infrastructure

Description: Increase access to and effective use of technological devices and programs among communities experiencing barriers in the Rochester area. To do this, we will generate immediate and longer-term solutions related to the following barriers to access: 1) technological devices/hardware with appropriate software installed (computers and tablets); 2) affordable, reliable internet; and 3) culturally appropriate education to support digital literacy.
Impacting : Children & Youth ; Computer Literacy ; Diversity and Inclusion ; Education ; OpenBeam ; Technology Enablement
Led by : Rochester Area Nonprofit Consortium


Exploring the use of Clear Impact to support Results Base Accountability

Description: See if Olmsted County can emulate: " United Way of Story County recognizes the power of our LIVE UNITED credo. We can do more together than any of us can do apart. Collective impact is the future of human services across the globe, and it is true for us locally. It is especially important to adopt this strategic call to action during the response and recovery of the COVID-19 pandemic. The inequities in health, education, and financial stability of our community have always existed, but have never been more apparent."
Impacting : Business Process ; OpenBeam ; Technology Enablement ; TBD
Led by : OpenBeam


Rochester Intercultural Economic Exchange (RICE)

Description: Many Rochester groups have individual efforts to increase cultural and trade relationship with emerging global markets. These efforts can be made more effective if coordinated and they receive a local leadership sponsorship from local governments and business leaders. Rochester-MN with its DMC initiative is in a unique position to play a brokering role.
Impacting : Best Practice ; Diversity and Inclusion ; Economic Development ; Entrepreneurship ; International ; OpenBeam ; Technology Enablement
Led by : OpenBeam.net


Tech Solutions to confront global pandemic threats

Description: An OpenBeam concept to offer technology enablement to propose and support a multi-phase effort to make fundamental lifestyle change to transform the community ecosystem to be more resilient in the new reality of a global pandemic environment that is expected to be us with for many years to come.
Impacting : Diversity and Inclusion ; Health ; OpenBeam ; Pandemic ; PPE ; Technology Enablement
Led by : openBEAM.net


Description: Interlocking between DMC, Olmsted County and Rochester City and Community organizations to ensure social impacts are factored into DMC project evaluation process and City Comprehensive Plan (P2S).
Impacting : Aging ; Best Practice ; Business Process ; Civic Engagement ; Commitment ; Diversity and Inclusion ; Governance/Public Policy ; Health ; Housing ; International ; Intelligence ; Mental Health ; OpenBeam ; Sustainability ; Technology Enablement ; Transportation ; Workforce Development
Led by : DMC EDA


DEI Practioner Convenings

Description: Rochester Area Foundation has signed on in support of the Commitment to Racial Justice that was crafted by the Rochester Nonprofit Consortium. Together, we stand in solidarity with those who seek justice and racial equity. We have committed to listen, learn and act in support of the following:  addressing the policies and practices that influence racism, structural bias and inequity;    connecting to resources, organizations, and best practices to apply a race equity lens; and   building capacity within our organization and community to promote social and economic mobility and wellbeing for all residents.
Impacting : Diversity and Inclusion ; OpenBeam
Led by : Rochester Area Foundation


Food, health and culture intersections: Community-Led, Health Equity Structural Intervention Initiative

Description: Forming coalition to apply to the grant. The purpose of this Research Opportunity Announcement (ROA) is to solicit applications from community organizations to develop, implement, assess, and disseminate co-created community-led, health equity structural interventions, in partnership with research organizations, that intervene upon structural factors that produce and perpetuate health disparities.
Impacting : Diversity and Inclusion ; Food ; Health ; OpenBeam
Led by : Diversity Council


Maintain and Evolve the 2016 Rochester/Olmsted County Compass Points (Community Dashboard)

Description: The 2016 Rochester/Olmsted County Compass Points report has been available since Oct. 2016. The new project is to look at ways to maintain and sustain the dashboard. Working with Minnesota Compass to implement a social indicators dashboard that measures progress in Olmsted County. Compass tracks trends in topic areas such as education, economy and workforce, health, housing, public safety, and a host of others.
Impacting : Metrics ; OpenBeam ; Technology Enablement
Led by : openBEAM.net


RCTC/Perkins Collective Impact

Description: Collaborating with RCTC to strengthen Career and Technical Education: The Perkins V Federal Grant for Career and Technical Education (CTE) provides funds for approved Career and Technical Education programs. In Minnesota, funds are distributed on the basis of state-approved career and technical education programs and appropriate teacher licensure. Programs are administered under Minnesota Rules Chapter 3505 and the federal Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V).
Impacting : Diversity and Inclusion ; Education ; Funding ; Governance/Public Policy ; Mentoring ; OpenBeam ; Workforce Development
Led by : Rochester Community & Technical College


Update Intercultural Cities Initiative (ICI) Index

Description: The Intercultural City Initiative is a bold effort on the part of a wide variety of organizations and individuals to align the collective power, creativity, expertise, and energy of our cities toward a future of inclusive growth. Inspired by the comprehensive and coordinated approach of the Council of Europe Intercultural City program, Minnesota’s Intercultural City Initiative is focused on using high leverage influence strategies to realize this future faster.
Impacting : Best Practice ; Business Process ; Caring Relationship ; Commitment ; Diversity and Inclusion ; Governance/Public Policy ; International ; Intelligence ; Mediation ; OpenBeam ; Technology Enablement ; Vision/Identity
Led by : City of Rochester, MN


Description: Many area Community Based Organizations(CBO) to their credit are embarking on DEI projects and seek friendly guidance how to get going. OpenBeam to help identify actions that area organizations may pursue to make impacts on area's DEI needs. OpenBeam to provide assistance in two ways : (1) OpenBeam's founder, Al Lun, will serve as Diversity Council ambassador to be a conduit of information sharing between the CBO's and Diversity Council. If requested, a DC staff person may also join in the effort. (2) OpenBeam's dmcbeam.org community assets database is made available to enable community resources connectivity in general.
Impacting : Best Practice ; Diversity and Inclusion ; Education ; OpenBeam ; Technology Enablement
Led by : OpenBeam.net


Developing Age-Friendly Olmsted County (AFOC) Plan

Description: Age-Friendly Olmsted County (AFOC) is a cross-sector initiative to ensure that residents of Olmsted County have what they need to live with autonomy and dignity in all life’s stages. When Olmsted County became a member of the AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities in early 2020, it officially joined a global movement, with roots in the World Health Organization, to help cities and communities respond to an aging population and prepare for a permanently older society.
Impacting : Aging ; Best Practice ; Caring Relationship ; Diversity and Inclusion ; Health ; Housing ; Mental Health ; OpenBeam ; Transportation
Led by : Family Service Rochester


Discovery Walk Co-designing

Description: Public realm along the 2nd Avenue corridor from 2nd Street to 6th Street (Soldiers Field.)
Impacting : Best Practice ; Diversity and Inclusion ; OpenBeam ; Recreation & Open Space ; Vision/Identity
Led by : DMC EDA


Microsoft Office 365 Cloud Usage Enablement

Description: MS Office 365, comprising SharePoint, Outlook, Teams, Planner, Power Automate, Forms, etc, has been adopted and installed by many area non-profits, which is a good step toward cloud-based collaboration so that information and document sharing can take place outside the office. However, much of the power of Office 365 is not known to these organizations, such as how it can be used to build intranet/extranet websites and workflow applications that manage essential operations such as contact (Client/Donor) management. This project will lead to: (1) Getting small non-profits to better use products such as SharePoint and (2) Build simple CRM (or other apps) to demonstrate the quick app development capability of SharePoint, Power Automate.
Impacting : Business Process ; Mentoring ; OpenBeam ; Technology Enablement
Led by : openBeam.net


OpenBeam: A "For Purpose" Enterprise

Description: Exploring the building out of Open Beam as a "For-Purpose" entity to support community initiatives. Many social/economical development initiatives suffer from vertical organizational structures that have their origin in the industrial age of emphasizing command and control. Vertical structures are silo in nature and do not facilitate cross structural information sharing and individual accountability. They inadvertently create distrust and thwart innovation. This project builds out the Open Beam entity to demonstrate how a “For-Purpose” dynamic organization works. The result is that Open Beam’s way of doing work becomes a proof point that we should let go of the traditional organizational model and adopt a holacratic framework to mobilize team effort. In so doing, Open Beam will help area non-profit or small organizations become more effective in their governance and their use of cloud technologies.
Impacting : Best Practice ; Business Process ; Entrepreneurship ; OpenBeam ; Pandemic ; Technology Enablement
Led by : openBeam.net


 

Description: Many best-practiced communities have implemented community web-based dashboards to provide a "read-out" of the health and wellness metrics of the community. DMCC's website is a push technology and not so much as social, collaborative virtual teaming site. Olmsted County, Mayo, OMG (and others) have just completed a community health study and published a report. We should go further and have a plan to be more agile and responsive in changing statistics by implementing a dashboard.
Impacting : Best Practice ; Business Process ; Children & Youth ; Diversity and Inclusion ; Education ; OpenBeam ; Technology Enablement
Led by : openBEAM.net


Global Technovation Challenge

Description: Technovation is a 3-month program where teams of young women work together to imagine, design, and develop mobile apps, then pitch their “startup” businesses to investors.
Impacting : Children & Youth ; Computer Literacy ; Diversity and Inclusion ; Education ; Mentoring ; OpenBeam ; STEM
Led by : Rochester Area Math and Science Partnership


Housing Alliance Coalition

Description: A continuing project to realize this purpose: “We are a cross-sector Alliance of organizations and individuals who seek to preserve and increase the supply of affordable housing that meets community needs and priorities in the Rochester area, through shared information, coordination, and collaboration.”
Impacting : Aging ; Business Process ; Commitment ; Diversity and Inclusion ; Housing ; Neighborhood ; OpenBeam
Led by : Coalition for Rochester Area Housing


Human Libray of Southeaster Minnesota

Description: The Human Library, an initiative developed by the World Culture Center in Denmark, allows people and organizations to check out human "books" for a unique learning experience. If you want to know what it's like to be, say, a single mother, a homeless person, a refugee, or a gay man, you check one out of the library and they share their personal story and answer your questions.
Impacting : Diversity and Inclusion ; OpenBeam
Led by : Diversity Council


Joint Studies on tackling Racism as a Public Health Issue

Description: Olmsted County commissioners are looking to tackle racism as a public health issue. The board on August 4, 2020 unanimously approved a measure officially asking members of the county’s Public Health Services Advisory Board and Human Rights Commission to work together to investigate racism and disparities in health care.
Impacting : Diversity and Inclusion ; Governance/Public Policy ; Health ; OpenBeam
Led by : County of Olmsted, MN


Project HEALINGS of MN

Description: HEALINGS provides an opportunity to close vaccination gaps and solve persistent health inequities by galvanizing disparate regional efforts and forging unbreakable connections between BIPOC Minnesotans and the state, local, private, and nonprofit entities that serve them. More than 250,000 touches that will establish a formidable network of human relationships to fulfill current COVID priorities and lay a foundation for equitable management of major health events arising in the future. The initiative will focus on Minnesota’s major population centers and the tribal communities of the Anishinaabe and Dakota.
Impacting : Best Practice ; Diversity and Inclusion ; Health ; Medical Services ; OpenBeam ; Pandemic
Led by : Diversity Council


RISE for Youth

Description: RISE for Youth is a first-of-its-kind collaboration between Mayo Clinic and the Rochester branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) designed to help Black and underrepresented students transform themselves from youth with potential to competitive and empowered talent entering the workforce. The program aims to create new pathways for success by providing students with critical educational and leadership skills, training and long-term mentoring for successful careers in health care, science and beyond.
Impacting : Children & Youth ; Diversity and Inclusion ; Education ; Mentoring ; OpenBeam ; STEM ; Technology Enablement
Led by : Mayo Clinic


Targeted Business Enterprise Utilization Plan

Description: To further increase participation rates of targeted businesses and workforce on DMC projects, four priorities have been identified that are outlined below. (1) Build capacity of Targeted Businesses located in Southeastern Minnesota (2) Assess gaps with existing subcontractors to determine market opportunity. (3) Recruit women and minorities from workforce to start their own companies. (4) Host workshops to educate entrepreneurs, provide consulting services for WMBVE certification process and assist with bid process to win contracts on DMC projects.
Impacting : Diversity and Inclusion ; Economic Development ; Entrepreneurship ; OpenBeam ; Workforce Development
Led by : City of Rochester, MN


The Village Community Garden & Learning Center (VCGLC)

Description: The Village - Where We Grow Together! The Village Community Garden & Learning Center is a new community garden opening this 2019 growing season. The focus of this garden is to grow together as a community that comes from many parts of our world, and to learn about each other's traditions in food, arts, and culture. Thank you to Rochester Home Infusion for donating 11 acres for this project, and to our many partners at Diversity Council, Olmsted County, U of M Extension, Rochester Farmers Market, UMR, and RCTC. We are excited to share this new community asset with the city of Rochester and surrounding communities. This season will focus on the establishment of the garden through development of water resources, fencing, funding for event resources, and building our community of gardeners. We look forward to growing together!
Impacting : Arts & Culture ; Diversity and Inclusion ; Education ; Food ; Health ; Immigration ; OpenBeam
Led by : Diversity Council