Local expert offers solutions to help the community heal

Thomas Bryer, who’s the co-chair of University of Central Florida’s Center for Social and Civic Prosperity, proposed potential questions that the community should be addressing.

“How open and transparent are governing institutions? How welcoming are community organizations?” Bryer said.

He emphasized the importance of inclusion in the community, and how lack thereof can lead to the recent vandalism.

“It’s a horrific act, but perhaps whoever did it did so without any sense of an option to discuss their views on whatever issues are of concern to them, right or wrong, whatever the validity of those views might be. Maybe they didn’t feel like they had another outlet to express those views. So, we have to look at the governing institutions that allow all voices in the community to express themselves,” Bryer said.

Oviedo is home to multiple community-led groups that are dedicated to improving the city. There’s Oviedo Citizens In Action, the Oviedo Historical Society, and the Johnson Hill-Washington Heights Community Outreach, just to name a few. Bryer stressed the need for organizations to reach out to their members in times like these.

“If I were in a position of one of these community-based organizations, the first thing I would do would be to reach out to followers of our organizations,” Bryer said, “Tell us what you’re thinking. Tell us what you’re feeling and tell us how we can respond as an organization.” 

Bryer said the city of Oviedo’s events like World Market Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day events, such as the parade and festival held on Monday, are great ways to bring people together, helping inclusivity grow.

“Those kinds of initiatives seem quite strong, quite stellar, and I would look to those as further examples for achieving that inclusivity,” Bryer said.

As for more on how Oviedo could achieve a greater inclusivity, Bryer proposes a citizens’ assembly.

“There’s a process called the citizens’ assembly, which is an approach for citizens across the community to come together physically or virtually or both to engage in that shared conversation,” Bryer said, “These kinds of deliberative dialogues are something that I teach at UCF and preparing future government sector leaders.”

Oviedo Community News searched for best practices in building a better connected community across the country and even beyond our borders. Affordable housing was propped up as a tool for inclusivity in the city of Toronto, according to a New York Times article (paywalled). 

“Instead of apartment building entryways segregated by income level, the subsidized townhouses resemble the market-rate homes across the street, erasing the stigma of poverty,” the Times article states.

Bryer says that though affordable housing does increase diversity, this doesn’t promise an upturn in inclusivity.

“If affordable housing is enhanced, is improved, and socioeconomic diversity is increased within the community, that can go a long way towards a kind of quantitative diversification of the community. But that won’t translate automatically to actual inclusivity,” Bryer said.

Bryer urges the government to let the voice of the Oviedo community be heard.

“Government, by all means: step out. Say ‘This is wrong. This is horrific’. It is, absolutely. But then let the community voice emerge. Let community organizations facilitate conversation with their members, with their stakeholders,” Bryer said, “And there might not just be a single response. Maybe there are a thousand responses shed that shine a brighter light on all that is good in the city of Oviedo.”

Correction: An earlier version of this article misspelled Bryer’s name.