This past week 100 people from the greater Richmond area participated in the Greater Richmond Challenge.  The Greater Richmond Challenge is an annual event put on by the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce.  This unique event gathers people from all walks of life to directly experience and address issues in Richmond and the surrounding counties.  The event is held over a period of 36 hours and is quite intense and involves tours of locations where problems exist, such as public housing projects and public schools.  The 100 participants are broken into five groups that each focus on one of the issue areas.  The five issue areas were crime and public safety, education, transportation, work-force development, and work-force housing. 

Hands on community based problem solving is a technique that has been used increasingly in both the public and private spheres.  Architects and planners often seek community input before beginning work in an area.  Local governments also seek input in the form of forums or brainstorming groups before taking action based solely on what public officials deem fit for an area.  By involving many minds and the community many issues are addressed that may have been overlooked by a public official or out of town architect.

By involving locals in problem solving a level of trust and understanding can be created between government, private interests, and the public.  I think this also helps to build community because it gives people ownership of actions that normally occur out of their hands.

http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news/community/richmond.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2007-05-12-0067.html