Talking Together

Earlier this afternoon I had a phone conversation with a man named Scott London who is doing some consulting work with The Harwood Foundation that is involved with helping determine the elements involved in the dynamics of positive change in communities.

We were in a meeting in Alexandria, VA, that he was helping to facilitate that was discussing how people involved in community change go about this work. One of the things that he and I spoke of previously were the community conversations that were hosted by The Byerly Foundation in Hartsville over the period of about 13 months. In a very real way, these conversations led to the initiative that we are now calling Selling Hartsville that has resulted in the umbrella brand slogan of "Hartsville - The Art of Good Living." We covered a variety of issues in our phone conversation but he mentioned a couple of key points that continue to roll around in my thinking. How do you go from engagement to action? That is a key question and one we continue to wrestle with as we actively move to "launch" the Selling Hartsville campaign. One thing I hope I shared with him is that one key ingredient for moving from engagement to action is getting someone to commit to action. There are a good many people involved in the Selling Hartsville project and Johnna Shirley, whose full time position is with Mutual Savings and Loan of Hartsville, is chair of the marketing task force. Johnna is one of those who understands the importance of taking action and knows how to implement. Coincidentally, she came by the office just about as the phone call with Scott London was ending. We discussed some of the many things that need to be planned for the launch of Selling Hartsville. We also commiserated over the idea of how we continue to move from engagement to action. It takes a lot of people performing a lot of different roles who focus on a goal to make things happen.

And, that gets us into another major topic Scott and I discussed -- the question of where the focus needs to be -- one the process or on the outcome. He is doing a good deal of research on that question. But, as we discussed process, we got into how decisions might be made. The process of Selling Hartsville is currently what I would call a consensus process. We have three task forces that are working as part of the larger Selling Hartsville Task Force. All participants in the three task forces can also be on the major task force -- many are. Those involved are the ones working to make the right decisions.

As noted earlier, before all of this started, we began with community conversation dialogues. Scott mentioned he has a recent blog about dialogues and I am including one short paragraph of a very enlightening discussion of the role of dialogue.

"The process of dialogue is more important than ever today for a number of reasons. For one thing, the confrontation between different cultural traditions and worldviews requires some process by which people can communicate across differences. For another, the fragmentation of society into a myriad of subcultures based on profession, status, race, ethnicity, political loyalty, etc., make it necessary that people find a pathway to common ground. A third reason is that traditional authority structures are falling away."

This seemed a particularly appropriate topic for this blog because dialogue is one of the things that is helping us move forward in Hartsville and, in truth, the lack of dialogue is one of those things that is slowing the momentum. Hmmm

It takes a lot of people to nurture a community

There was a block party in Hartsville last night with a Rhythm and Blues theme. The Hartsville Downtown Development Association sponsored the event. The city provided the mobile stage for the event. Lots of people were on hand helping with selling the refreshments that were being used to help cover the expenses of the event. That was really great of these people to volunteer their time to things as unglamorous as pour drinks. But, if they did not do it, it would not have gotten done. There were a number of businesses on hand to sell food, refreshments, etc and they also had to call on volunteers to staff their booths. When I passed the Downtown Development awning I also saw several board members laughing, talking and staffing the information area. It may sound pretty obvious, but events like downtown block parties don't happen by themselves -- they happen because people are willing to invest of their time and talent and creative energies to make this community unique among small towns -- not only in South Carolina, but in the U.S. In Hartsville, we have a lot of people who give of their time to help nurture our community.

And, right now it is Sunday afternoon and as I passed the Center Theater, an 800+ seat community venue in downtown Hartsville, the lights were shining and the marquee boasted of the Butler Heritage Foundation Gospel Fest that is kicking off a week of activities for the Butler Heritage Foundation.

Have you looked around lately? There is a lot going on in this town.

Thinking about momentum

http://www.theharwoodinstitute.org/ht/display/ContentDetails/i/8383 (This is a web site from the Harwood Institute that should take you to Rich Harwood's discussion of the 3As of public life -- authority, accountability and authenticity. Those three As are critical to a change process.


Change is not something for which most people clamor. Most of us really like it when things stay pretty much the same and we don't have to put up with the dissonance brought on by change. Jeanne Robertson, a well-know professional public speaker from North Carolina, used to have a line she used in her talks, "People don't change until the pain of change is less than the pain of staying the same." When you think about community building you naturally have to think about change and how to make it happen for the public good.

In Hartsville we are thinking about some major change as we try to determine how to make the positive living in Hartsville experience more visible to potential residents before they make the resident-location decision. To recap, we lose a lot of people who work in Hartsville to another nearby area that is perceived as a larger city with more "to do." We are working on Selling Hartsville with the change proposition -- Hartsville -- The Art of Good Living. Just a few minutes ago I heard someone on NPR quoted as saying they wanted 'that guy in Portland to be quiet, we don't want to share the Portland secrets with the rest of you...' was the jist of the statement. We have some in Hartsville who probably feel that way but we also have a good many volunteers in Selling Hartsville who are enthused about finding ways to bring in new neighbors and friends to this dynamic, cosmopolitan small community.

And, that brings me the question of the 3As in Community Building. This effort at Selling Hartsville is a boundary spanning effort that encompasses just about any organization you can think of. We have a lot of action happening. We have a lot of momentum building. We are using authority for this effort from months of listening to community members saying this is something that needs to be done. The listening is paying off in the variety of people from all areas of the town who are helping build this program.

Accountability gets a little cloudier in the Selling Hartsville program. During one group meeting the facilitator suggested that those who wanted to make this happen start working to make it happen and the selling process would begin to happen. We are moving and we are holding ourselves accountable in the various task forces. We are hoping to be so transparent that in a short time the residents of the city begin to discuss accountability and begin to ensure this process takes off.

As a community project the question of authenticity is at every turn. But, again, with a commitment to be open, with a desire for as much involvement as possible and with so much to be gained on so many levels, the question of authenticity of motive and authenticity of action is open for the assessment of any who want to view or to join.

At the same time, it appears to me as we all think about community building and positive change to make Hartsville one of the best places in the world in which to live, we have to be certain that we are holding ourselves and others to the principles inherent in the 3As of authenticity, authority and accountability. Failing to establish those basic foundations will stall any real progress toward getting the world to recognize Hartsville as a town that understands and practices The art of good living.

Sometimes, I think it is how you frame a situation

Thinking about community and community building is, I think, deciding how to frame the opportunities and challenges and interesting events that are happening within a community.

Hartsville has a progressive, interested and active planning commission. This group took on the responsibility of updating the city's comprehensive plan to make it a living plan that the City Council could use as a roadmap for growth. Plan updates are required by law but the planning commission went beyond the requirements and invested this update with an opening vision for Hartsville in 2020 -- and this is the first vision anyone has laid out for the community in over a decade. City Council has accepted the plan and continues to search for ways to make the plan an integral part of the way they move the city forward.

There was a news article written about a recent meeting of city department heads with the city manager and head of the planning commission that was a sort of plan update. As everyone knows, the economy is in tough shape, prices for key commodities like fuel are out of sight and the city gets a great deal of its funding from taxes. So, there is a budget focus. The headlines from the meeting were that the comprehensive plan could be stalled because this is a tough budget year. So, I am thinking about framing. It is a tough budget year. My experience with government is that every year is a tough budget year. It seems to me that the most useful frame to put around an updated comprehensive plan is something to the effect -- We are in a tough budget year it is good we have this plan to help us sort out some of the priorities so can move forward even in a tough budget year. The way the story was reported (the reporter got it right) was that because this is a tough budget year it might not be all that possible to really work on implementing the plan at this time.

It seems to me that putting a frame around the plan that identifies the plan as an important tool for continued growth of the city despite budget woes would be more effective than applying brakes because it is a "Year of the budget."

Dynamic time to be living in Hartsville

This is just an observation. This is a dynamic time to be living in Hartsville! No, I am not a native (one of those transplanted Yankees) but I have been here since 1973. We have had interesting and exciting times and today's times may hold the most potential in all the years I have been here. There is a great deal going on and there is a great deal that might go on and when discussing the Selling Hartsville project with heads of the city's departments on Tuesday afternoon, it struck me as to how exciting things are.

By the way, one of the takes on that famed Chinese proverb is "May you live in interesting times."
What am I talking about?

• In downtown Hartsville today there is a major project to help alleviate the problem of the occasional flooding that takes place when we have HUGE downpours. That will strengthen perception of downtown.

• Within the city today will be hundreds of visitors coming for the Little Miss South Carolina pageant. Every day thousands of non-city residents visit the area to work, to shop, to attend special events, to attend college or for some other reason. We get lots of visitors even though Hartsville is not exactly on anyone's 'beaten path.' (http://www.hartsvillesc.com)
  
• Any trip out to Byerly Park will demonstrate the dynamism that is part of the city. There are new fields under construction as people walk to get in shape around the 1.2 mile track or run to get in shape around the quarter-mile competition track.
• Check the meeting schedules of those who help maintain this city and you will see a wide variety of meetings with packed agendas. The comprehensive plan, recently approved by city council, and constructed by more than 60 volunteer citizens in countless meetings, sets out a vision for the city that is requiring connections to be made that are ways of making things happen, but they are not business as usual. In fact, the message that Vern Myers, who is chair of the planning commission, carried to the city department heads on Tuesday was that there are groups of citizens looking for opportunities to help the city make things happen.
• Many downtown shops are becoming destinations for shoppers from around the Pee Dee. Yes, people are coming to Hartsville to shop.
  
• At the end of this month there is another downtown music event scheduled using the big, portable city stage. While not exactly on the heels of 'Rock the Block' this event is hoping to continue that momentum. And, within the next week will be on the largest Fourth of July fireworks events (http://www.hartsvillechamber.org) in the eastern part of South Carolina
• There are a couple of new neighborhoods under construction and those of us living in the city are really anxious for more real-city neighbors.
• The selling Hartsville project is exciting. Three major task forces are working on three crucial elements of this project -- Marketing -- City Legacy Entrances -- Recruiting and these volunteers are demonstrating the specifics of "Hartsville - The Art of Good Living."
• Speaking of the art of good living, we have a fund raiser, photo exhibit scheduled for Black Creek Arts Council and photographers can enter up to three photos @ $15 each for showing. There are a lot of photographers taking advantage of this opportunity to show their work.
• This list could be much longer but it is already too long for a blog.