Connecting or reconnecting with People

Rich Harwood just published his regular weekly blog and he is talking about four ideas for President Obama's State of of the Union speech that will be Wednesday night. Rich talks about the importance of real people in real communities who are right now are wanting to feel authentic Hope. He is talking about how the President might be able to ignite some of that hope.

Right here in Hartsville, SC, we are looking for that same Hope that Rich refers to when he references places like Detroit and Lansing, places he has held recent Public Innovator workshops. There are many community builders in Hartsville who know how important hope is to our community. One thing we have been able to preserve in our community is some authentic hope.
1) We have had a recent city election and a new, young Mayor has been elected and he has a goal of pulling Hartsville together. When you talk to Mayor Pennington he will tell you that his campaign changed him. When he announced his candidacy it was because he wanted to be mayor of this small city. While running for office he learned on a daily basis how much people in this small community both need help and need focus for their community concerns. He is working to connect the people to the way things are done so that things will get accomplished.
2) Early last week the Chamber of Commerce held a meeting with a great many real estate agents in Hartsville as part of their effort for carrying forward the Selling Hartsville campaign. To have that many people taking time to learn even more about the community than they already know shows the resources we have available for change.
3) Last Thursday the Chamber held their annual dinner and again it was evident the support in this small city for moving forward. The banquet was well attended. Gordon McBride, a person who has been working for decades to help make Hartsville an ever better city, was named Rotary Citizen of the Year. Gordon has worked with all areas to continue improving the community and he is an outstanding example of why we can and do have hope for continuing to make Hartsville an even greater place to live.

People are working with people in Hartsville. Is there more that we can do? Is there more that we must do to bring this community together? The answer there is a resounding YES. Can we bring about the changes needed? We have people who know about the importance of planning and putting forth stretch goals. We have people who have worked the plans they have developed who have experience in making good things happen. We can make positive change come alive. We also understand that this will only happen with people connecting with people.