By Elizabeth Wilson    10-25-2022

Movement Day Tucson is an annual collaborative event that strengthens our existing Taskforces and launches new ones, but it is so much more than that. It is a time to see what people are excited about and where God is moving in our city. It allows us to make new relationships and further cement existing ones. It is the launch point to catalyze our entire year!

Practically speaking, Movement Day Tucson is a time of collaborative brainstorming using the Co-creation method. Co-creation was created as a problem-solving format by Universidad Francisco Marroquin in Guatemala. The basic principles of Co-creation revolve around self-guided organization and collective knowledge. The free form brainstorming style allows for each participant to engage in the projects where they feel they are best equipped to offer their unique knowledge. Each project will get its own station and there will be 3 rounds of Co-creation sessions. During the sessions, participants are able to move freely between projects and collaborate with project owners.

With Co-creation, each participant will take on one of 3 roles:

1. Project Owner – Each project presented will have a project owner. Project owners will have the opportunity to introduce their concept to the Brain Trust and have input given on how to refine their projects. Project owners will be responsible for answering and asking questions, receiving feedback, and narrowing project direction as each Co-creation session takes place. They are then responsible for taking the ideas that come out of Co-creation and implementing them. For Movement Day Tucson, Project Owners will be 4Tucson staff and Directors of each Taskforce presenting a project. The projects for 2023 will be for the following Taskforces: Poverty Reduction, Economic Opportunity & Development, Housing, and Education.
2. Station Facilitator – Each project will also have a Station Facilitator to assist the Project Owner. The job of the Station Facilitator is to help ensure conversations go smoothly and each Brain Trust member has their input heard. They will also assist the Project Owner in taking notes and collecting feedback. For Movement Day Tucson, Station Facilitators will be 4Tucson staff or volunteers who are familiar with the Project and Co-creation process prior to the event.
3. Brain Trust – The Brain Trust is made up of the participants of the event. This group will come from a wide variety of fields of expertise. They will also be skilled in a variety of disciplines that will allow them to have a unique voice when speaking into projects. Brain Trust members will have the freedom to contribute to the projects in the best way they see fit. They will assist with project design by asking questions, challenging assumptions, generating ideas, and helping to create an action plan. Brain Trust members are the key to the Co-creation process.

To make this unique design experience come to life, 4Tucson gathers people of all walks of life who are passionate about the topic at hand and brings them to the table at Movement Day. We bring in residents from the target neighborhood, experts in the field, boots-on-the-ground workers who are making a difference, and anyone who is willing to work together to see change.

Once the day is over does not mean the momentum stops there! Movement Day is only the beginning. Throughout the remainder of the year, our Taskforces take the projects from Movement Day and continue to refine them. At least once a month, each Taskforce gathers and discusses how to continue the collaboration. Our Taskforces work throughout the year to make our programs come to life through the power of partnership.  

Overall, we need Movement Day participants who are willing to get out of their comfort zones and try something new! The Co-creation process is high-energy and requires dedicated participation for the whole session. This experience in unlike any other that participants have been part of. Even those who are familiar with community development and other modes of collaboration walk away from Co-creation experiencing something new and different.

We see Movement Day as a way to not just talk about collaborating but to actually walk through the steps of creating a project together, with input from everyone involved. It helps us to break down the walls that stop us from working together and creates a safe space to think outside the box. Then, at the end of the day, we walk away with real plans to start projects that have community input built in from the start.

Yes, 4Tucson is a Christian organization but Movement Day Tucson gives us an opportunity to act out one of our mottos; that, “you don’t have to believe what we believe to care about what we care about.” As we work together, 4Tucson demonstrates that Christians do care about issues that our whole city cares about, and we want to work together to find the best solutions.

All-in-all, Movement Day allows us to dream. It allows us to shift our thinking to ask, “what is the best thing that can happen?” When realize that our big impossible dreams match the dreams of others, we realize they’re not so impossible if we can work together.