Improve community involvement by seeking consensus and compromise.

The following is a preview of one of the topics to be covered during Leadership Training Institute seminars at the Congress of Cities in Orlando, Fla., November 11-15.

In speaking to a group of housing professionals in an Arizona city, I was struck not only by their passion for their work, but also by the difficult times they face.

I discovered that a long, long list of Arizona cities had professionals such as police, fire, nurses and teachers who cannot afford to either own homes or even rent them. It is not a story limited to Arizona. It is being told increasingly throughout the country, including in Kentucky. And it is likely to get worse before it gets better.

But the most striking moment of the seminar was when a participant cried out at the end: "I came here to learn how to talk to my city leaders. They do not listen to me." (Her actual comments were much stronger, but wouldn't be appropriate here.)

My immediate reaction was one of sympathy both for the woman crying out in complaint and for the individuals (particularly elected officials) who have voluntarily put themselves in the position of making decisions that affect the future of our communities.

The issue involved the increasing numbers of homeless people pouring into the town. The townspeople, understandably concerned, have elected leadership seeking a solution that, as the woman's crying out demonstrated, is not one that pleases everyone.

The young woman has recruited the faith community to her side in an effort to view the homeless as people who must be helped if not accommodated. The problem was that, at the time, the faith community leadership had yet to step forward in any bold sort of way, leaving the young woman to her own devices.

And so it is--not at 30,000 feet but at ground zero--that all the "community development" theory in the world can prove to be ineffective. In cities across America, the divide can be about where we should locate stockyards, or whether and how to promote growth, or saying yes or no to arenas, or defining the community's vision of the future or a host of other issues.

These real life scenarios present a conundrum. They are issues about which reasonable, informed and caring people can disagree/and yet they are starting to fray the fabric of modern citizenship because there is little effort or desire to arrive at consensus.

But there is hope. Many experts say that we are morphing into a new age, and I believe it is evident if we put our ears to the ground. There is a yearning for the basics.

It involves going back to the idea that, paradoxically, as the world grows crazily large, our work at mastering it begins at home. It is home where we can gain perspective on our place in this global environment, on people as the new natural resource, and on prosperity that translates into a meaningful life of both work and play.

We begin as the young woman with a passion to help the homeless must begin. After her outburst, we talked through her dilemma, even suggesting that her stridency and passion was perhaps an impediment to her role as messenger.

Perhaps inspiring others to action could be her role, while leaving to others the heavy lifting in the long and laborious meetings out of which progress is made.

But as we retreat into the comfort of hearing our own voices and those in agreement with us, we must be careful to indeed remember the homeless, and those who are often left out of important community conversations. At the end of the day, that is what is important.

Details: Lovely will lead Leadership Training Institute seminar L04, entitled "In Praise of Democracy: When Controversy and Conversation Collide," on Tuesday, November 11 from 9 a.m. to noon. For more information or to register for Leadership Training Institute seminars, visit the NLC homepage at www.nlc.org.

Sylvia Lovely is president of NewCities Institute and the executive director/CEO of the Kentucky League of Cities.