McNeal is Director of the North Flint Neighborhood Action Council. He works to empower residents to create positive change in the community. B orn and raised in Flint, Pastor Patrick graduated from Northwestern High School, earned a Bachelor's Degree at Davenport University, a Master's Degree in Education Leadership at Eastern Michigan University, and a Master's of Divinity at Regent University in Virginia.
In response to the vital need for greater empowerment of socially and politically vulnerable communities, the North Flint Neighborhood Action Council and Community Roots joined forces in the summer of 2023 to revolutionize community-informed participatory engagement.
The North Flint Neighborhood Action Council is a Non-profit organization with the mission to address issues related to safety, education, communication, housing and beautification of North Flint, Michigan.
The 20 diverse engagement sessions held this summer in Flint and Genesee County, gave a voice to the disenfranchised, fostering collaboration among local entities. The participants included neighborhood associations, faith-based organizations, and city government with the hope of the data being used to bring forth community centered and designed approaches to solve some of the most difficult problems facing Flint.
Proponents of this approach assert that inclusive decision-making and targeted focus on resident-oriented policies not only bridge gaps in social equity but also pave the way for burgeoning community growth and development.
This participatory model of democratic involvement illustrates the power of collaboration of churches, neighborhood associations, senior centers, organizations serving youth, and the city of Flint itself. Far from a superficial act, this grassroots engagement approach strives to enrich the lives of all residents by insisting on their dynamic involvement in decision-making processes.
From these engagement sessions emerged three pivotal themes:
- Intense listening that values the input of residents from all walks of life.
- A commitment to returning to the community with the data that was collected.
- Advocacy, after the engagement sessions to ensure that the resident voice is honored and the recommendations followed.
Resident engagement requires more than a single meeting. Ongoing discussions are the heart of the Community Informed Participatory Engagement process.
By emphasizing education and crafting opportunities for young talent to stay within the community, this campaign acknowledges the importance of cultivating robust family values in Flint.
During conversations around economics and developmental opportunities, residents voiced their apprehension regarding the perceived need for more family consideration in decision-making processes. Moreover, participants accentuated that any strategy to enhance quality of life must prioritize supporting families while retaining valuable regional resources.
Community members also underscored the need to place children at the core of community development efforts. They conveyed that every aspect of local governance should aspire to generate a flourishing environment for young individuals. This unified sentiment speaks volumes to the belief that healthy communities are those where children prosper and thus any strategic plan must include this important tenet.
The spirit of democracy encapsulated by such community outreach initiatives underlines genuine empowerment through participation; particularly among historically marginalized groups. By offering a platform to those most affected by policy decisions, the community-informed participatory program helps communities identify what are the greatest problems and then creates a collaborative process to find solutions.
This phenomenal initiative deserves accolades and replication nationwide, highlighting the critical role it plays in fostering social equity and inclusion among all communities. By using the Community Engagement process of working collaboratively with and through groups of people affiliated by geographic proximity, special interest, or similar situations to address issues affecting the well-being of those people, most impacted communities across the country can create a new paradigm of community problem solving.
We appreciate the Community Foundation of Greater Flint's support of this work. Likewise, we are excited about the encouragement and support of the Bridge Alliance and The Columbus Community Foundation in piloting this work in select communities in 2024.
U.S. President Donald Trump boards Air Force One on August 14, 2026 at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. Trump is traveling to Long Island to tour law enforcement facilities in Nassau County and rally support for local Republican candidates ahead of the upcoming midterm elections
Travel Far Enough, You Meet Yourself
Is it possible that our President has simply not traveled enough?
Born and raised in Queens and attending Fordham University in the Bronx, Donald Trump has no record of traveling outside New York until he was over 20, when he transferred to a college in the neighboring state of Pennsylvania. Were his formative years amiss, then, in his learning about other places and other people?
Is his view akin to the famous New Yorker cover by Saul Steinberg, an illustration of the United States with New York City as the epicenter of the country and the Hudson River the border of the known world? We can now at least add Washington, D.C., and Mar-a-Lago to the map of “the realm.”
Our President has now traveled some, but what we recommend is another kind of travel. Not a state-sponsored trip or a venture to scout locations for future Trump Towers. This would be a genuine travel experience, enriching and eye-opening, showcasing other cultures and ways of living.
It will extend far beyond viewing military parades, hobnobbing with such “understanding” world leaders as Kim Jong Un, or taking tea with the King.
WHERE, then, should the President go? As Elon Musk’s Starship spacecraft is not yet ready to take passengers to Mars, perhaps he could explore our own vast country?
Maybe he could travel to “flyover country,” the farming states, where his ying-yanging tariffs and trade restrictions have played havoc with rural economies. Or possibly to California, number one in homeless U. S. citizens, and while there, regale homeless veterans (approximately 32,500 nationwide) with tales of his brave exploits invading and bombing foreign countries.
Or he might tour the Great Lakes, and rename the other four?
WHEN should he go? This will be tough, as he is very busy building his ballroom and renaming bodies of water.
How about a trip in early November, around the midterm elections? Despite the long-discredited accusation of widespread voter fraud, it would be reassuring to know he might be so caught up divvying out ladles of soup in a soup kitchen somewhere that he wouldn’t remember to deploy the military for “election security.”
HOW will he travel? He should definitely not take his Qatari-donated, newly renovated 747, especially after last time, when he had to be smuggled off clandestinely in a catering truck. It’s unlikely any traveling companions, like the Secretary of State or of the Treasury, are going to fall for the ruse a second time. Besides, we may need those people. No more decoys!
Perhaps the President could fly commercially, although this likely would expose him to undue suffering. Without gold bathroom fixtures and maple wood floors, the trip will be no “Luxury Experience.” If only he still had his “Trump Shuttle,” bought with a massive loan he later defaulted on, saying then, “I’m smart. I got out at a good time.”
Considering the potential pitfalls, maybe it’s best the President travel incognito, disguised perhaps as an elderly woman wearing a lot of bronzer.
Wherever, whenever, however: our President needs a vacation.
Moreover, we need a vacation from him.
If the President refuses our travel suggestions, here’s another idea:
Let’s get him a pet! He has never owned a pet. As we know with our children, pets teach essential life lessons: compassion and empathy; they instill a sense of responsibility. There is a well-established connection between those who can care for a pet and those who can care for people.
So, which pet should we choose? A puppy? A kitten? A boa constrictor?
Imagine, the President may even decide he likes having a pet. After all, what is more obedient than a well-trained dog, besides possibly the Cabinet? And what is more docile than a sweet kitten, other than plausibly the Supreme Court?
The President may even become more mellow with a pet afoot and less likely to slap tariffs on our allies, or attempt to annex our neighbors, or bully our Congress. (Realizing, of course, a bully requires active participation from the bullied to maintain his status.)
Maybe we should do both: get the President a pet and devise a travel plan for him. (Do you think we could possibly convince him to leave his phone at home?)
Let’s go for it! After all:
Travel far enough, you meet yourself. (David Mitchell)
And for our President, that would likely be the most profound discovery of all.
Amy Lockard is an Iowa resident who regularly contributes to regional newspapers and periodicals. She is working on the second of a four-book fictional series based on Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice."