INSIGHT Citizen's Academy
Get
to know your local government! This 12-week INSIGHT Citizen’s
Academy provides area residents an opportunity to discover their City government
through interactive, hands-on experience and to gain exposure to the wide
range of government services, programs, functions and challenges. You
do not have to be a city resident to participate. All you need is an
interest in the way City government operates!
Thursday Evenings
August 4 – October 22, 2009
PLUS Bonus Sessions and Facility Tours Every Tuesday
Register now for the 2009 INSIGHT Citizen’s Academy!
Objective back to top register
Familiarize local residents with the various functions of Winchester’s government; encourage participants to get involved; enhance their ability to navigate through the complex system of government services, and provide an avenue for open communication with City officials.
“This program was one of the highlights of my life in Winchester.”
Benefits back to top register
-
Gain a deeper understanding of how local government works from the people in the government who directly serve you - Meet government leaders and staff members and visit various government facilities
- Understand how you can become engaged in public affairs
- Participate in dialogues with City staff about successes and challenges
- Serve as a role model for other community residents interested in social change
- Help foster an environment that contributes to the quality of life for all residents
- Gain the knowledge needed to become a member of a City advisory board
- Help build a livable, sustainable community
“Having the opportunity to meet the people first hand was the best part - as it made the workings of the government come to life.”
Curriculum back to top register
Get an inside look at each City department and discover how each work on a day-to-day basis to keep Winchester running smoothly and safely. Take a tour of government facilities such as the Timbrook Public Safety Center, the Water and Wastewater Plants, City Yards and more. Visit
other facilities such as the historic Handley Regional Library, the
award-winning Visitor Center and the recently renovated John Handley
High School
At every session, discuss the City’s past, present and future with department leaders and staff. Get to know the people that make the daily decisions and find out how and why decisions are made. Government operations can be complicated if you don’t have the opportunity to be a part of the action. Now you can get inside, get explanations, meet local officials and gain a new INSIGHT into your local government.
“Everyone we met with was very enthusiastic about sharing with us what they do, and explaining a lot of processes. I really liked the fact that they all wanted questions and were eager to answer them.”
Schedule back to top register
Each
session lasts for no more than 2.5 hours beginning at 6:00 p.m. and ending
at 8:30 p.m. A welcome reception is held at the beginning of the program
and graduation ceremony with a mock City Council meeting is held at the end
of the program. A light dinner will be served at the welcome reception
and at graduation. During
the mock council meeting, you have the opportunity to be a council member and
discuss and vote on real-life scenarios. The mock meeting is led by the
Council President and Mayor.
This program is not like school. It is an informal, interactive weekly discussion of the City’s functions and services. It is also a forum that allows you to ask your questions and to discover the inside operations of a complex governmental system.
Week 1
Session 1: WELCOME RECEPTION
Tuesday, August 4
City Hall, 4th Floor Exhibit Hall
Session 2: Telling Our STORY I
Winchester's History, Tour of Historical Rouss City Hall
Thursday, August 6
Week 2
Session 3: BONUS SESSION
Attend Planning Commission Worksession Meeting and/or Attend Council
Meeting
Tuesday, August 11
Session 4: DESIGNing Winchester I
Planning
Thursday, August 13
Week 3
Session 5: BONUS SESSION
Attend Finance/HEW Council Committee Meeting
Tuesday, August 18
Session 6: Telling Our STORY II
City Manager, Council, City Attorney, The Budget Process
Thursday, August 20
“It was just amazing!”
“INSIGHT has really taught me a lot.”
“All my questions were answered with respect.
Week 4
Session 7: BONUS SESSION
Attend Planning & Development Council Committee Meeting
Tuesday, August 25
Session 8: DESIGNing Winchester II
Economic Development, Old Town Development, Parking Authority
Thursday, August 27
Week 5
Session 9: BONUS SESSION
Wastewater Treatment Plant
Tuesday, September 1
Session 10: Working as a SYMPHONY I
Utilities, Engineering, Tour of Water Treatment Plant
Thursday, September 3
Week 6
Session 11: BONUS SESSON
Constitutional Officers: Commonwealth's Attorney, Clerk of Circuit Court,
Sheriff
Tuesday, September 8
(ALSO: Attend Court anytime between 8:30 a.m. & 4:30 p.m.)
Session 12: Working as a SYMPHONY II
Police, Emergency Communications (9-1-1)
Tuesday, September 10
Week 7
Session 14: BONUS SESSION
Emergency Management & CERT
Tuesday, September 15
Session 15: Working as a SYMPHONY II
Fire & Rescue
Thursday, September 17
Week 8
Session 16: BONUS TOUR
Adult and Juvenile Detention Centers
Tuesday, September 22
Session 17: Working as a SYMPHONY III
Public Works
Thursday, September 24
Week 9
Session
18: BONUS SESSION
Going Green 101 – What the City is doing and what
you can do at home and work to be more green.
Tuesday, September 29
Session 19: Having EMPATHY for Others I
Public Transit, Zoning & Inspections
Thursday, October 1
Week 10
Session 20: BONUS SESSION
Winchester Public Schools & Tour of John Handley High
School
Tuesday, October 6
Session 21: Having EMPATHY for Others II
Social Services
Thursday, October 8
Week 11
Session 22: BONUS SESSION
Handley Regional Library
Tuesday, October 13
Session 23: Maintaining PLAY
Parks & Recreation
Thursday, October 15
Week 12
Session 24: BONUS SESSION
Win-Fred Convention & Visitors Bureau & Shenandoah
Apple Blossom Festival (Behind the Festival)
Tuesday, October 20
Session 25: Finding the MEANING
Q&A, Mock City Council Meeting (You become the Council Members – mock
meeting led by Council President and Mayor), Graduation Ceremony
Thursday, October 22
“[The most effective part of the program was] being able to meet the team, see and explore things and find out information that it would be difficult if not impossible to learn on one’s own. I thoroughly enjoyed it.”
Registration back
to top register
To ensure a spot in the program, please register by August 12, 2009 using one of the following options:
- Complete the online INSIGHT Registration Form.
- Call Amy Simmons (533-0603).
Prior to the start of the program, you will receive a welcome letter and the complete program schedule with meeting locations via mail or email.
There is no charge to participate in the program.
We also welcome past graduates to participate during any portion of the academy at any time.
“It was just amazing!”
“INSIGHT has really taught me a lot.”
“All my questions were answered with respect.”
History back to top register
The INSIGHT Citizen’s Academy was created in 2004 by former City Manager, Ed Daley and the City’s former Administration Director, Sharen Gromling, in an effort to open communication between the citizens and the City of Winchester.
The original Academy consisted of 12 weeks plus a graduation ceremony with each session being held on Thursday evenings for two hours. Several departments where scheduled to give presentations each week in order to cover all aspects of local government. Unfortunately, this format provided an overload of information and too many details. Although the participants learned a lot, it was at times very overwhelming and difficult to comprehend. The Class of 2004 consisted of 24 residents.
The Academy was not held in 2005 but in 2006, the Academy graduated 21 local residents.
After two years of presentation, after factual, yet boring presentation, the City of Winchester decided to energize the program with a new concept in 2007 and INSIGHT was completely overhauled. INSIGHT went from 13 to 8 weeks, the amount of information presented was drastically decreased and an optional INSIGHT College was added at the end of the program. To make the information easier to comprehend, INSIGHT was organized around themes borrowed from Daniel Pink’s book “A Whole New Mind”. This format was a tremendous success and left the participants wanting more. (Click here for an explanation of the book and the Academy’s new format.) The Class of 2007 consisted of 27 graduates.
The 2007 INSIGHT College was offered to provide residents all the details not presented during the Academy and in only one week (graduation from the Academy was not a pre-requisite). Residents could sign up for a topic (i.e. Development, Public Safety, Human Services, etc.) and get the information that interested them most. The College was not as successful as the 2007 Academy and registration was low; therefore, a decision was made to merge the informational presentations and interactive learning opportunities together in 2008.
It was this year that the Academy settled into a rhythm that has proven to be most successful. The 2008 Academy was lengthened to 10 weeks and an optional day of exploring was added to each week. The regular sessions were held on Thursdays, as had been the case since 2004, but now the Academy offered bonus sessions and facility tours every Tuesday. Most of these bonus sessions were topics not offered in the past, giving participants a more in-depth experience. Twenty-nine participants graduated in 2008 – the largest to date.
The International City and County Management Association (ICMA) featured Winchester’s INSIGHT Citizen’s Academy as a case study at its 2009 leading practices conference. City Managers from across the country attended the conference to learn about proven programs in other communities so that they may implement similar programs at home. Being featured at ICMA’s conference is a compliment to the program and an honor for the City of Winchester.
Several new sessions were added and a few adjustments were made to the 2009 schedule, but for the most part, it is the same successful program as offered in 2008.
Since 2004, over 100 people have graduated from the program and many have gone on to serve on an advisory board and Council. Some even come back year-after-year to continue learning about new City programs, successes, challenges, and services. There is always something new to discover at the City of Winchester’s INSIGHT Citizen’s Academy!
“It is something everyone should participate in. I would definitely consider attending again next year. Thanks for everything!!!”
"A Whole New Mind" by Daniel Pink back to top register
Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind – Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, believes that in order to fully succeed in life and business, people and corporations need to use the right side of their brain more. The left side is more logical and literal and the right side is more emotional and contextual. Pink writes in A Whole New Mind, “Our broader culture tends to prize L-Directed Thinking (left-brain thinking) more highly than its counterpart, taking this approach more seriously and viewing the alternative as useful but secondary.” He continues by saying this way of thinking is changing. “L-Directed aptitudes – the sorts of things measured by the SAT and deployed by CPAs – are still necessary. But they’re no longer sufficient. Instead, the R-Directed (right-brain thinking) aptitudes so often disdained and dismissed – artistry, empathy, taking the long view, pursuing the transcendent – will increasingly determine who soars and who stumbles.”
According to Pink, the world is moving (and needs to move) from a Information Age where you receive information, compute it and then use it, to a Conceptual Age where people use their feelings and emotions to comprehend and make decisions. L-Directed thinking is not becoming extinct, it is still indispensable. “It’s just no longer sufficient.” In the Conceptual Age, what is needed is a whole new mind.
There are six aptitudes needed in the Conceptual Age to compliment L-Directed reasoning: DESIGN (in addition to function), STORY (in addition to argument), SYMPHONY (in addition to focus), EMPATHY (in addition to logic), PLAY (in addition to seriousness), and MEANING (in addition to accumulation).
DESIGN = Utility enhanced by significance
“Good design is a renaissance attitude that combines technology, cognitive science, human need, and a beauty to produce something that the world didn’t know was missing.” – Paola Antonelli, curator of architecture and design, Museum of Modern Art
STORY = context enriched by emotion
“The story – from Rumplestiltskin to War and Peace – is one of the basic tools invented by the human mind for the purpose of understanding. There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories.” – Ursula K. Le Guin
SYMPHONY = the ability put together the pieces and to synthesize rather than analyze
“The guy who invented the wheel was an idiot. The guy who invented the other three, he was a genius.” – Sid Caesar
EMPATHY = the ability stand in others’ shoes, to see with their eyes, and to feel with their hearts.
“The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy.” – Meryl Streep
PLAY = well-being through games, humor and joyfulness
“The opposite of play isn’t work. It’s depression.” – Brian Sutton-Smith, professor of education, University of Pennsylvania
MEANING = finding happiness and value in every situation
“I believe the very purpose of our life is to seek happiness…we are all seeking something better in life. So I think the very motion of our life is toward happiness.” – The Dalai Lama
“Great job by the City.
It really makes one feel they can be a part of things.”
A Whole New Insight back to top register
The City’s INSIGHT Citizen’s Academy is designed
around Daniel Pink’s Conceptual Age theory. To make the program
more enjoyable and effective, every other week focuses on one of the six Conceptual
Age aptitudes. For example, learn about how current City planners and
developers are DESIGNing 
Winchester’s
future (weeks2 and 4). See how Social Services and Housing and Neighborhood
Development Departments EMPATHIZE with others’ trying times (weeks 9
and 10). Hear Winchester’s STORY from a local historian and Winchester’s
City Manager (weeks 1 and 3). Discover how City departments work seamlessly
together like a SYMPHONY to get goals accomplished (weeks 4-6).
See the current schedule for more information.