Asking, reflecting, pulse taking all help in building

The past two days I have spent a couple of hours at the Downtown Development Offices in Hartsville. On Monday, I had the opportunity of facilitating a debriefing of the ROCK THE BLOCK event that was held a few weeks ago in Burry Park in downtown Hartsville. This is the second such debriefing I have had the opportunity to take part in. It is really great to be with people who have done so much to help make this community an even better place to live, work, play and raise a family. The debrief is to get a view of what people think worked, what they think might be redone and what concerns they might have going forward. The debriefs seem to me to be a crucial part of the community building process and HDDA seems to have them programmed into their process.

On Tuesday, Todd Shifflette of Care South South Carolina held a small focus group to assist with information gathering for the strategic plan his organization is undertaking. Care South serves the health care needs of under insured and others and they are a significant medical service provider in this area of the Pee Dee. Again, it was interesting to watch an organization gathering input and also to watch relationships continue to build. Often times, in a small community, people think relationships are just natural. There is nothing natural about working relationships and they need to be sown, watered, fostered for the good of the individuals, the organizations and ultimately the community.

In communities, good things don't just happen, good people work to make them happen.

Boundary-spanning organization

I am not sure how much most people think of an arts group as a boundary-spanning organization but there is little question in my mind that for Hartsville, SC, and the surrounding area Black Creek Arts Council is such and entity.

This past Thursday evening they had the monthly gallery opening and this one features three artists. If you are in the area you should really stop by to see this work -- both upstairs and downstairs. There was a large group of people attending the opening on Thursday, which was sponsored by Segars Prudential Realty. There were members of artitst's families, there were people who really like the arts, there were students and professors from Coker College, there were people from around Hartsville of a wide variety of backgrounds. Black Creek Arts works to attract people from these backgrounds and they are one of the organizations who are very successful at spanning the artificial boundaries that often keep people in both small and large communities.