At Your Service
Facilitating Focused Strategic Planning
Successful communities carefully craft a shared vision, then develop and implement an action plan to achieve that vision. Using a four- point strategy, our team will identify and reach out to all segments of your population to involve them in the planning process, ensuring no one is left without a voice. We work with local individuals, groups and organizations to strengthen your ability to overcome the obstacles you face and fulfill your common dreams and aspirations.
Community Communication & Dialogue
In an age of extreme social divide, effective dialogue and deliberation is more important than ever. Our team of facilitators is skilled at hosting community forums that bring together a diverse citizenry to discuss difficult community issues. We are committed to engaging citizens in thoughtful, deliberative dialogue which fosters understanding and moves communities toward shared solutions for common problems.
The Arts as an Economic Engine
Art literally puts the heart and soul in a community, and, if leveraged strategically, can serve as a powerful economic engine. When promoted and designed intentionally, Downtown Artwalks, annual art festivals, public art installations and outdoor concerts place small towns in the limelight, attracting thousands of visitors from far and wide. Through targeted tours and stakeholder interviews, our team will analyze your community canvas and identify areas where the arts can have a powerful impact.
Elevating your Educational Assets
Every thriving community has as its core a solid educational foundation. Traditionally, education is thought of as formal and structured, communities of all sizes have many undiscovered educational assets. Our team works with you to analyze your community’s educational assets, strengths and areas for growth, charting a course for educational elevation, integration and promotion.
Engaging your Diverse Citizenry
Just as the strongest concrete is comprised of a rich and balanced mixture of materials, strength in communities lies in the diversity of their citizenry. Diversity can be found through different political backgrounds, races, ages, genders and religious affiliations. Unfortunately communities share a common problem of bringing those diverse citizens to a shared table. Through our years of community engagement, we’ve learned citizens will become engaged when issues are relevant to them and when they feel truly welcome. Our coaches share their experiences and tools to help you integrate your strongest assets – your people.
Perpetuating Powerful Partnerships
Regardless of how significant a community feels, no community can truly achieve greatness by relying only on internal resources. Conversely, regardless of how defeated a community may feel, through effective and strategic partnerships, there are infinite possibilities to realize their true promise. Partnerships range from formal (contractual) to informal (voluntary) or from internal to external. Every community has potential partners within their reach. The key is identifying the right partnerships for the right purposes. Our team will work with you to identify and ultimately secure those partnerships for the purposes you prioritize.
Maximizing your Main Street
Downtown districts, which often prominently feature a Main Street, serve as the social and economic crossroads in many towns across the state. They are places where communities congregate and celebrate, and where residents find unique local goods and services. Unfortunately, they are also spaces that are deteriorating due to absentee landlords, loosely defined property maintenance codes and generic shopping centers being built on city outskirts. If this description resonates with your community, our team will share our experiences, successes, challenges and resources to help you redesign your downtown into one that has the capacity to truly thrive.
Sustainability in the South
Sustainable development has been defined as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” In short, sustainable communities focus on preservation of local resources in an effort to support overall community health and vitality. Sustainable community practices can range from something as isolated as passing a Complete Streets Ordinance to something as complex as a city-wide walkability or public transportation plan. Our coaches will guide your community to define their goals for a more sustainable community and forge the keys to turn those goals into action items.
