Every Friday, Erica Smith?s parents invite their family to join them at their home to eat and chat and catch up on what?s been happening with them all during the week.

?We call it Soul Food Friday,? says Mrs. Smith. ?It?s my sisters, their families, cousins, my grandparents. We feel it?s important for us, no matter what, to get together and bond. We are very supportive.?

Piecing together Bermuda?s Sustainable Development Plan ? and carrying out the painstaking research it required ? has shown Mrs. Smith that not everyone is so lucky.

?Going through this process and speaking to people and researching I realised that not a lot of people have that support system,? she says. ?There is a whole range of people in Bermuda that feel as if they are completely disconnected from participating in society as we know it for a whole host of reasons. That?s not sustainable.?

Family get-togethers and Bermuda?s disenfranchised are not topics one might expect the Government?s Director of Sustainable Development to wax lyrical on.

But Mrs. Smith, 38, is adamant that sustainable development ? despite many people?s preconceived ideas ? is not just about the environment.

Indeed, as those who have read the 461-page draft plan, Charting Our Course: Sustaining Bermuda, will know, it takes in everything from civil servants? performances and the school curriculum to economic empowerment and crime prevention.

Tonight, the issue under the spotlight at the fourth public meeting on the draft Sustainable Development Plan will be Sustaining Our Communities.

It?s a topic close to Mrs. Smith?s heart. She believes that Bermuda has become far too focused on money and personal gain ? to the detriment of society.

?I feel as if Bermuda has changed from a community approach of everyone taking care of everyone else to a focus on individualism and what I can do for myself, my own self-interest,? she says. ?I think that?s unfortunate. To me, it?s not working.?

She despairs at the way society tags people as successful based on their material possessions.

?We have moved from measuring somebody?s success from their ability to contribute effectively to society or participate effectively in society, no matter what they do for a living, to really determining success by how much money is in your pocket. That?s a shame because people have something to contribute no matter if they are a truck driver or a garbage person or a nurse or a farmer.

?At the end of the day, if you can provide for your family, if you can contribute effectively to society, if you are a just a very engaged and nice person, at the end of the day that?s a measure of success.?

In today?s Bermuda, one measure of success is whether you own your own ?piece of the rock?. Mrs. Smith, a married stepmother-of-two, does not and empathises with others forced to rent because of astronomical property prices.

?I think, as a fairly young Bermudian, some of the issues that are in the plan are issues that are affecting me and my family. I can honestly say that my husband and I have conversations about how we can possibly own a piece of property.

?If I?m saying that can you imagine what a whole range of people are saying? I think we have to come to some recognition that this is a reality. This is not something that?s specific to one sector of society. This is affecting a whole range of people.?

The need for affordable housing ? and its potential impact on the workforce ? is highlighted in the plan, which received the wholehearted endorsement of the Cabinet.

Mrs. Smith says: ?Many people can?t afford to live here in Bermuda. Anecdotally people have told us there is a potential for a middle class brain drain. People are leaving Bermuda. They go away, get a degree and come back but housing is so expensive that they never get a piece of the rock. For a lot of people their only option is to move overseas.

?We haven?t captured that in documented numbers but we have definitely captured it from an anecdotal perspective and I think it?s a reality. I think many middle class young Bermudians are choosing not to come home or to come home and leave.?

Mrs. Smith says that in 2004, when Cabinet decided to definitely produce a Sustainable Development plan, it was thought that it could be completed by September 2005.

But the team tasked with putting it together quickly realised how big a job it would be and how many topics the public wanted to see tackled.

A graphic artist was commissioned to put together a poster highlighting key areas of concern on the Island and this was mailed to every home.

Mrs. Smith says 800 replies were received, which she acknowledges was a poor response, but the team also visited churches, charities, schools, businesses and even Westgate Prison to get feedback.

?We were everywhere,? she says. ?We truly wanted to know what Bermudians felt. People told us about unsustainable things that needed to be addressed and things they wanted to maintain and keep.

?By doing that I think we were able to capture as much as possible the sentiments of the Island.?

The issue of community is one Mrs. Smith keeps referring to when asked to describe what members of the public told her.

?In speaking to the gentlemen at Westgate, they felt as if once they were in Westgate and got released they were never given a second chance.

?Some felt that they were already being tarred from being young. This society is very judgmental so it hasn?t historically given people second chances.

?Others were saying that they just found it difficult to participate in Bermuda?s current economic structure and that there was really too much of a gap between the rich and the poor.?

That economic divide must be tackled, says Mrs. Smith, or Bermuda can expect more anti-social behaviour from disillusioned young Islanders.

?It could become the playground for the rich, maybe so there is no middle class and just left those people who can?t leave the Island ? the poor.

?It could be an island of gated communities as a result of trying to make sure any anti-social behaviour is kept far away from areas. That?s a potential.?

It?s clear that Mrs. Smith has a passion for her subject. She was appointed last January having previously worked in the Department of Planning, beginning there as a trainee planner before eventually becoming assistant director of forward planning and later assistant director of administration and control.

With a degree in architecture and a Masters in city planning from the University of Pennsylvania and becoming the first Bermudian to qualify under the American Institute of Certified Planners in 2000, it?s clear she knows her stuff and has relished the challenge of producing a blueprint for Bermuda?s future.

She realises there is scepticism about the plan and how it will be put into place but she says she is inspired by a desire to improve the Island and encourage Bermudians to make changes to their own life and behaviour.

?I wouldn?t take this job if I didn?t feel very strongly about this,? she says. ?I choose to be a civil servant because I feel like I had a calling to make change in Bermuda and becoming the director and being involved in this process is a natural evolution.

?From my perspective there is no ulterior motive except to make Bermuda a better place in 20, 30, 40, 50 years from now.

?It?s a beautiful place but there are some issues we need to address. There is a whole range of people in Bermuda who feel as if they are completely disconnected from participating in society as we know it for a whole host of reasons.

?Either they don?t get paid enough or they don?t have anywhere to live. They are struggling. In any society you have to realise that these people exist and you have to make sure that you have systems in place to help these people.

?There are always going to be a group of people that always have a negative comment or question the ability to implement the plan and that?s fine.

?But I think we have to speak to the greater good and the greater masses. It?s very clear to us that these are issues that Bermuda and Bermudians want to see addressed.?

She refutes suggestions that the document goes too far and tries to include too much. ?I actually think it?s not wide-ranging enough. I think there are probably some things that need to go in there.

?I think it needs to be all-encompassing as much as possible because everything that we do is interrelated and interlocked and we need to recognise that.

?Everything has an impact. The document itself is a clear reflection of what Bermudians have said are the issues facing us right now. It would be very difficult for us to say ?okay, you have highlighted this as an issue but we can?t put it in the document.??

She dislikes the term ?sustainable development? but hasn?t come up with a better alternative for the finished document.

?It?s common sense planning,? she says. ?We have never had one plan from the centre of Government that gives focus to the work that the civil service does and is readily accessible and available to the public.

?I think it?s quite a ground-breaking and precedent-setting process in that respect.?

Mrs. Smith says the high numbers attending the sustainable development forums so far pleases her hugely.

?We just weren?t sure if we were actually going to be able to connect with the man on the street,? she admits. ?You look at this document and it?s like 400 and something pages but at the end of the day it is addressing the issues that are near and dear to the average Bermudian on the street.

?Obviously we haven?t been able to catch every Bermudian. But I think we are successful in catching the issues facing Bermudians in a very easy to read and succinct way.?

The Island?s tiny population reassures her that the plan really can make a difference; that was brought home to her while talking to a colleague in the UK.

?I was explaining the process that we had been through and that we had mailed out the booklet to every household and they were like ?well, yes, you can do that in an island of 65,000 people. You really are of a size where you can make a difference?.

?I do think we can make change but I think we have to all agree that we want to make change and respect that, although we may have different points of view in this discussion and debate, that we are committed to having a better Bermuda.?

She estimates the cost of the Sustainable Development initiative as less than $1 million and says much of the financial burden of implementing its recommendations will be borne by the Government shifting its priorities and resources.

The team produced 150 copies of the document itself at a cost of $20,000. Mrs. Smith says she regrets not printing it on recycled paper, adding: ?Part of it was cost and part of it was an oversight. At least it?s double-sided. In a utopia, we would be able to achieve it all at the same time. We live in reality.?

But she is proud of what has been achieved and delighted that Cabinet agreed to the draft plan, despite the criticisms it contained of Government.

?I do think it?s quite revolutionary and groundbreaking that they accepted an honest critical look. I have never seen that before.

?I think that?s been one of the basic principles throughout this entire process. I think having the public involved every step of the way is an assurance that it will happen.

?The public have a lot of power and influence in this. I guess the proof will be in the pudding. If it isn?t implemented I guess the question will be ?what will the public have to say about it???

Public consultation on the document officially ends on September 25 and Mrs. Smith hopes to produce the final plan by the end of the year.

?I hope that we can do it but it?s dependant on so many factors,? she says.

?I can only hope and pray that it?s before the end of this year. If not, that?s fine also. I think we have got the ball rolling. People know that I?m accessible and I?m more than willing to give people an update of where we are.?

Her role remains open-ended because the Sustainable Development Unit will only exist as long as it is needed.

She firmly believes that everyone on the Island can do something to ensure they are taking sustainable development principles to heart ? even if it?s simply becoming a better neighbour.

And she says we have to disregard the country?s motto ? ?Quo Fata Ferunt? or ?whither the fates carry us? ? when it comes to ensuring that future generations can still call Bermuda home.

?We can?t let our future rest in luck or fate,? she adds. ?Even if not everything in the plan can be implemented at least it?s started a process of us really discussing how we can improve ourselves for all of Bermuda.

?If nothing else were to happen I think that would be a huge accomplishment.?