The first 120 days since we began (Dayton: city hall, how much, neighborhoods)

[citizens4change]

As everyone is no doubt aware our 1st public meeting is quickly approaching, and I wanted to briefly discuss just what we've accomplished thusfar. For starters, www.ourdayton.com was created and launched during the first part of July. To date, we've now had over 2100 webhits, and 13 followers via that site. This same month also saw the loose creation of "Citizens 4 Change; Dayton!" Since then, we've continued to expand and grow...seeking just the right motivated people to help us in our efforts to create a better and safer city. I can't thank everyone enough for so many of the positive comments, and for those who plan on attending our very 1st gathering. As a result, we now have a very powerful motto which I feel conveys the ultimate message of just what we're all about. "Helping Our Dayton Communities Take Care of Their Own!' To date there are now over 425+ Fans of "Citizens 4 Change," 340+ Friends of Dayton, 10 Friends on Myspace, 38 Followers on Twitter, 301+ Residents in our Group and 118+ People in our recently launched Facebook Cause. The bottom line is the message of Real People working for REAL change is slowly spreading and as many of you know we have also have started the process of seeking our NON PROFIT status and organizing down to the community level with our recent call for volunteers.

Your voice is the first tool that we'll use to bring the shine back to our great city. The second tool is a common sense approach to the complex issues, and the third is our massive economic drive codenamed; "Dimes 4 Dayton" Let me take a moment to share with you a few details of this unique program. If we can get just half of the residents, including those in the suburbs to donate a penny, a dime, maybe even a quarter each week....then we can take that money back to the communities which are suffering the most. This will show our elected people two things, the value of a penny earned and the power of residents coming together for a worthwhile cause. This would be done via 100 unmanned donation stations strategically positioned across the city, at restaurants...banks....grocery stores, you get the idea. These have already been purchased, and are waiting to be shipped even as I type this letter. Recently a seperate poll was conducted and I found out that our residents would donate, based on the fact that every SINGLE penny raised would go directly back into our neighborhoods. Each month the donated proceeds would be placed into an investment account for Dayton, and quarterly the funds would be used for various improvements. Our goal is $2,000,000, and it WILL be reached. Also Via our website our friends, fans, supporters and everyone else would have said access to the account statements, detailing how much money has been raised and to what cause it will be going to...down to the very penny, every dime, every nickel accounted for. A lesson that those who govern our city would do well to learn....ACCOUNTABILITY! The money would be evenly distributed for four things, public schools, city services, homeless shelters, and small business. The slogan for this would be: "Real People = Real Results!" There's not many organizations which can say that 100% of the proceeds they raise gets put to their said cause. Consider for a second the impact which this will have in Dayton for just a moment. With the money generated from this program 2,000,000 dollars within 24 months, we'll be able to begin the "cleanup" of some of our most disadvantaged communities. This will help to restore some of the luster to our city, and will be something which our residents and citizens alike can take great pride in, and in turn it will help attract the right industry into Dayton. The bottom line is, YOUR voice and YOUR ideas are just the tip of the spear so to speak. Along the way, and as our voice continues to swell we'll be able to take this straight to city hall. The more voices we have...the more sway our group will be able to have on the future direction of our city. THIS IS ALL BECAUSE OF YOU AND I JUST WANTED TO SAY THANKS FOR ALL THE SUPPORT, AND I can't wait to see you in December!