AURA

     AURA (Alamosa Uptown & River Association) had a mission to increase tourist spending in Alamosa and the San Luis Valley by making a video that would be played in hotel rooms on the city's public access cable TV channel.

    Partnerships

    To solicit private funds and negotiate with AT&T for funding, the AURA team hired a project coordinator. Even though MIRA money was not intended to be used for staff, the project coordinator also worked in requesting money and cooperation from the city of Alamosa.

    Presently, the team is not meeting. The video is done, but TCI (the local cable company) and the city of Alamosa are not cooperating with placing this video on public access TV.

    Leadership

     While working on their MIRA project, the group became frustrated. They felt pressured to be a grassroots program. Some team members didn't like the idea of, in their interpretation, not being able to use existing community development organizations in helping them to develop ideas and work with the community members.

     One team leader said that her team felt like someone's experiment without what they saw as some much-needed coaching. The team members lost interest and any sense of ownership at the end.

    Hence, the AURA mission remains unfinished with a tourism video not being used and no advocacy from the community to complete the team's mission.

     This group's frustration may have been caused by the hiring of a project coordinator rather than working as a team to accomplish their goals.