Talk:City of Character

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Intro[edit]

Does anyone have verifiable references from reliable sources for IACC "ostracizing those who do not" practice good character? I am removing claim until it can be properly referenced. AdamsEdits (talk) 17:26, 31 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Program[edit]

Does anyone have access to the Character city materials (such as those the IACC sells) to better detail the program they advocate? I've only been able to find second-hand information and some promotional material online? Reboot (talk) 21:29, 30 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I'd certainly like some help from others particularly those who might have a little less bias against this than myself... Reboot (talk) 22:52, 30 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I have revised this section to further clarify the program, and condensed the character quality list to a summary with a link to the full list. AdamsEdits (talk) 17:26, 31 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Criticism[edit]

If Bill Gothard is the founder of Character First!, please site verifiable references. Reliable sources state that Tom Hill, President of Kimray, developed and piloted the program. (See: Character First! Web site.) AdamsEdits (talk) 17:26, 31 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Good point. What the references actually say is that it was founded as a subco of Gothard's basic life principals. In other places it is just said that it is "affiliated". The character cities.org site itself merely identifies Gothard as the person who identified the character traits and that he is a friend to Hill. On the other hand no real information about exactly what the affiliation to BLP seems to appear on the site itself. However if the criticism is valid and the Texas Observer (http://www.texasobserver.org/article.php?aid=2258) article states:
The IACC was established in 1998 as a division of the Character Training Institute, a subsidiary of the Institute of Basic Life Principles, a religious organization with $80 million in assets led by evangelist Bill Gothard. The IACC generates about $1.7 million in revenue annually from the sales of training materials, and conference and speaking fees. Although it is now legally and fiscally separate from the Illinois-based institute, IACC founder Tom Hill, CEO of oil and gas company Kimray Inc., sits on the institute’s advisory board, as does San Antonio millionaire and ultraconservative James Leininger, who spreads his considerable financial largesse among right-wing political candidates. [See, “Wrath of the Soccer Moms,” March 24, 2006.] U.S. Rep. Sam Johnson, a Republican from the Texas 3rd District, is the chairman of the board of directors; he twice recognized Gothard and the institute on the House floor and entered his hallelujahs into the Congressional Record.
Albeit you can suggest that this is "unverifiable or biased" which might make it more appropriate in the "criticism" section. The IACC site itself does not say much more than it is a sub of character first! and character first's site says: "While the Character Training Institute and IBLP are separate organizations, they share a common goal of building good character in families and organizations. This common vision allows cooperation between IBLP and the Character Training Institute international projects such as Mongolia, Taiwan, and Romania." which at least partly verified the texas observer statements.
The third party reference of character traits and their reference notes several IBLP guides that they attribute to being forwarded by the various character cities organizations.
More direct claims about Gothard actually being the actual founder or at least the designer of the CharacterFirst! program are made in a series of Broward New times articles:
http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/1999-04-15/news/the-culture-war-continues/full
http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/2002-09-12/news/culture-wars/full
http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/1999-02-18/news/little-soldiers-in-the-culture-war/full
I've written the author asking if there is any direct public information that might verify these claims that Gothard was the founder .
Other critical materials: http://billgotharddiscussion.com/ state gothards role in founding Characterfirst (which the IACC and Characterfirst site acknowledge their relationship but not exactly to IBLP). International IBLP sites such as: http://hk.iblp.org/en/ tie the two together by offering both sets of programs. The most damning thing is that the two are co-housed: http://www.conferenceokc.com/
The oklahoma pub info states: " 2112032625 CHARACTER COUNCIL OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA, INC. Domestic Not For Profit Corporation Legal
(RA) Registered Agent: CHARACTER COUNCIL OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA, INC.
520 W MAIN ST
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK 73102
(RA) Effective Date: 3/16/2004" which is the same address as the whois:
"Registrant Email:tswayze@characterfirst.com
Admin ID:GODA-21333879
Admin Name:Host Master
Admin Organization:Character Training Institute
Admin Street1:520 W. Main St.
Admin Street2:
Admin Street3:
Admin City:Oklahoma City
Admin State/Province:Oklahoma
Admin Postal Code:73102
Admin Country:US
Admin Phone:+1.4058150001
Admin Phone Ext.:
Admin FAX:+1.4058150002
Admin FAX Ext.:
"
however the link ::https://www.sooneraccess.state.ok.us/corp_inquiry/corp_inquiry-entity.asp?submit=initial&:Sfiling_number=2112032625&:Nsession_id=3765253&:Ndocument_number=&pgcurrent=1&:Norder_item_type_id=24&:Ssearch_parm=Character&:Spagefrom=BEsearch ::wants money and I'm afraid I'll get a copy of the whois record besides there are other orgs with similar ::names that seem affiliated: " 2100630656 CHARACTER TRAINING INSTITUTE, INC. ::Domestic Not For Profit Corporation Legal
(RA) Registered Agent: T RAY PHILLIPS III, %PHILLIPS MCFALL MCCAFFREY MCVAY & MURRAH
211 N ROBINSON 12TH FL
OKC, OK 73102
(RA) Effective Date: 9/23/1999"
While I think You are correct that there is not enough verifyable information that Gothard directly founded CharacterFirst! or IACC, there is sufficient cause and references to state that he is involved in the organization and that its teachings are based upon his. Do you disagree? Reboot (talk) 18:02, 1 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
If you visit http://billgothard.com/bill/teaching/characterqualities/ , you will find a list of 49 character qualities and definitions. My understanding, based on my own research and a phone call with Character First! is that Tom Hill started with this original list (with the permission of Gothard) and adapted them for use in his business (Kimray), and later education, and other areas. Character First! has since independently developed numerous publications expanding on these 49 character qualities.
Ideally, it would be good to state this piece of information in a clear way, such as "Tom Hill adapted Bill Gothard's list of 49 character qualities for use with his business, and later founded Character First! to provide training and resources for other businesses to follow his example of character emphasis."
Agreed. Think the only problem is that this doesn't completely hold up in that the materials listed in some of the minutes (espec the correlation on which of them are biblical) and documents from the organizations: http://charactercincinnati.org/Faith/biblioIACCspecific.doc. While this document isn't obviously published by the IACC, it gives us an idea of what materials are used in at least 3 of the most prolific character councils. In the bibliography, you'll see a number of early works by Gothard as well as the Basic Life Principals group (the basically non-secular version of the 49 trait training albiet with a larger set of goals on the whole) lead by Gothard. 71.77.6.45 (talk) 12:54, 4 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I see two main problems with making this connection:
1. We need clear verifiable references for Bill Gothard's direct involvement in the program. (Such as official Web sites or mainstream news reports published by reliable sources)
2. Gothard might be referenced in a longer article about the history and beginnings of Character First!, but this article is about IACC, not the Character First! organization. Adding this connection, in my opinion, seems out of place and looks like we are trying to add undue weight to a minor point, since the vast majority of IACC's character training material was developed and produced by Character First! and Tom Hill, not Gothard. (See Wikipedia's policy on Neutral point of view)
It might make sense to merge this article into a CharacterFirst! article. What do you think? When I originally started the article, from the press reports, I wasn't completely clear on the organization structure, etc. Since the IACC is really a subdivide of CharacterFirst! (and this is really obvious if you watch the videos linked in this talk page) I kind of now feel like the CharacterFirst is the story and the IACC is a part of it. Granted I'm not sure the CharacterFirst is worthy of encyclopedic mention without the IACC. Regardless of this, I think Gothard is worthy of mention when discussing that the character qualities used in the program are his. I don't have any particular axe to grind with Gothard (indeed had never heard of him), I only came across him in researching this program when it as mentioned in our local paper. I just think that a mention of a program about good character needs a clear/complete explanation about who decided what is good character. Reboot (talk) 12:56, 4 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you for your efforts in keeping Wikipedia a balanced encyclopedia resource! AdamsEdits (talk) 21:45, 2 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I do try, while admitted personal bias where it exists (libertarianish views on gov't role) and attempting to get others to help round out where I may miss. Thanks for your help in doing so. Reboot (talk) 12:56, 4 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Mike Huckabee[edit]

I disagree with lack of notability charge as several newspaper articles have been written about Mike Huckabee's support for Character Cities. I'm researching it in response to an article in my local paper about them. I think an immediate tag of it is a bit reactionary. I found several newspaper articles primarily negative about the movement and it seems to be very active around the country. I went to Wikipedia to learn more and was surprised not to find any information. Reboot (talk) 19:32, 30 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

city Minutes[edit]

cities with minutes about the CoC program: http://www.eldoks.com/CC040201MN.PDF (EL DORADO, OK) note that it is a source for information that designation takes place during IACC training seminars, http://www.mcdonoughga.org/include/citycouncil/072406SpecialCalledCouncilMeetingMinutes.pdf (MCDONOUGH, GA) which also claims to be the first city of character so designated (http://www.mcdonoughga.org/city_of_character.html), http://www.cityofowasso.com/city_council_minutes/council_minutes.html (owasso, OK) although they do not apparently make previous minutes available online but the site also references the character trait of the month and presents the character trait as part of the city council meeting. http://www.carmel.in.gov/GOVERNMENT/meetingnotes/councilminutes06-04-01.html (Carmel, IN but this one designated itself as a "City of Character"). http://www.topeka.org/pdfs/council_minutes/010901m.pdf (topeka, ks seems to have been made a city of character by mayorial proclimation, also references a fire department program to emphasize character). Reboot (talk) 19:38, 1 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

other materials[edit]

Links to actual training materials from CharacterFirst (posted by Toni Swayze http://www.charactercities.org/ccn/profile.php?3,1)[edit]

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqEHDlGK3V4 - ChracterFirst!
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDRtnGydI-w - IACC (basically a commercial) intro, describes role of IACC in developing the "culture changing character initiative", role of IACC seminars, role of governing council to declare itself a character organization, make character training part of the operations of the civic government, character bulletin. Testimonials are given for each part of the program. Describes role of character council in implementing the program including using a "private non-governmental individual" to lead it. Describes the use of media and public service announcements and the character council being the center of recognizing who is practicing good character. Character development strategies responsible for "cultural transformation" and personal development. Testimony includes stating that the character program is as important as good police, fire, etc. Emphasizes employer-employee mutual character responsibilities. beats home government, business, civic groups, "faith based" (an orthodox style church building is used to represent this) and family. "This is something that is woven throughout every part of your life". since putting it in place "we have had two grievances and no lawsuits from employees"... character can "unify your commission, whether you're divided because of where you live, by political affiliation or whatever...those things are thrown by the wayside". Jim Daley of little rock testimonial. Francis Tolentino of the "League of Cities, Philippines", Tom Hill "founder of Character First", Bob Young Mayor of Augusta, GA, Rodney Ray City manager of Owasso, OK. Kay Hill "Character Family".
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oR_YzR4QAqY - Character First business, begins with Proverbs (ch. XXIII, v. 6-7), Tom hill testimony, Todd Anderson VP of CP Morgan (http://www.charlotte.com/mobile/story/411622.html, a Reginald Jones restaurant owner. Hill claims character program reduced workers comp 10fold, anderson claims 10x increase in profitability, jones makes no claim as to effectiveness. Repeat of "inward motivation of what is right according to highest standards of individual behavior" and "motivation to do what is right when no one is looking". Seminars for businessmen and ceos. David Green of hobby lobby claims that character has been in decline in society (RB: Caesar Augustus made the same claim). Green "obvious to any businessman that this is a great need. Kelvin Simms of Clarion health (IN hospital?) testimony. Seminar workshops review company policy and how they can be modified to emphasize character. "Trained character consultants are available", organization wide character focus. Three steps: Emphasize good character (by building awareness through materials, meetings, leadership examples...including for employee's families, monthly bulletin: emphasize in hiring promotion, etc "hire and promote based on character", recognize employees publicly... "formalized method" of character... Kimray employee testimony

Reboot (talk) 22:21, 1 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Another resource[edit]

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view_article.php?article_id=94440 "The “character council,” which counts the local evangelical community as members, urges the government to legislate ordinances that will control or regulate street “fraternization.”"... among other items of interest Reboot (talk) 06:32, 5 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

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