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seeing others in a new light

5/30/2014

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When I got the invitation to the Center’s Confluence: "Uniting to End Poverty," I didn’t reply right away. As the Public Policy Director for Children’s Alliance, I get a lot of invitations and expected that the “usual suspects” would gather to debate policy and legislation. But on closer inspection I realized this event was like no other I had attended. There was an amazing array of people taking creative approaches to the issue of poverty. People from the business sector, young people, formerly homeless men and women, ministers, educators, government and social service agency representatives were all coming for three days and two nights. It was daunting and hopeful.

The thing that made it work was using Gracious Space to share learning around these difficult issues. There were certain people at the event that I had vilified in the past. I assumed I knew them, but Gracious Space offered a unique opportunity to sit down with them and really listen. Gracious Space utterly changed me, in the best way. I wasn’t trying to figure out how to score, or waiting for them to stop speaking so I could get my point across. I really listened and I heard a different person. I was astounded and knew it was something I could immediately take away.

With Gracious Space I was able to explore partnerships and solutions with people at a deeper level than before, and with people whom I formerly would have assumed didn’t care about children’s issues. Through the lens of Gracious Space, I found people had great, heartfelt and creative ideas.

After I was promoted to Director of the Children’s Alliance, I continued to use Gracious Space as a way to connect with people’s hearts and minds and look at the broader picture. It’s a challenge I try to live up to daily. I have a renewed desire to change the role of the community in dealing with poverty, and I want to connect with the innate concerns and goodness of people to create better policy to do that.

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    Paola Maranan

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