Gwendy Donaker Brown of Opportunity Fund looks back at our 20th Anniversary Celebration, and teases apart some of the themes of the day:
As a lifelong Californian, I always take special pride in meeting people from the far flung corners of our state who are hard at work building a strong local economy. Two of the seemingly contradictory things I learned at the event were the importance of staying centered and focused, even while changing with the times.
It is a challenge to simultaneously stay focused on your community (however you define it) and be nimble enough to refine what you do to as circumstances evolve. Perhaps the most important thing is to separate what is simply noise from the relevant and important trends that impact your community.