Lessons in Leadership and Sustainability from Greensburg KS 7 13-10

Lessons in Leadership and Sustainability from Greensburg Kansas

Laura BrownCommunity Development Educator

Crawford County UW ExtensionJuly 13, 2010

Wisconsin leadership Academy trip to Greensburg June 6-11, 2010

Kiowa County Extension Office

Public Square

Leadership in Public Square Process

“Training our next generation of

leaders is key”

“We need to build a passion for our community that becomes instilled in the

people here.”

“We already have a community of 850 leaders- because they invested in staying here.  Leadership is about enabling people to perform difficult tasks.  We’ve enabled each other.  We’ve worked through

this because we’ve had the passion.”

GREENSBURG VISION 2017

Blessed with a unique opportunity to create a strong community

Devoted to familyFostering business

Working together for future generations

Goals• Partnerships for Development

Create a County Development Board with representation from all four sectors which will work to foster growth

• Community ConversationsUtilize the Public Square Steering Committee to actively engaged sector activities and coordinate community events

• New Parks & Recreation Create a facility incorporating an indoor pool, fitness center, meeting rooms and office space for staff to implement a comprehensive cultural events program

• “Can Do” AttitudeUse organizations from the four sectors to reinforce a “sense of community” and a “can do attitude”... 

• Youth Leadership Develop a program of youth & adults working together on leadership awareness & involvement, and have a visible youth presence in all planning sectors engaging as many youth as possible

The Sustainability Decision

Only a crisis—actual or perceived—produces real change. When that crisis

occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep

them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes politically

inevitable. – Milton Friedman

What Does Sustainability Mean in Greensburg?

“We have learned that sustainability does not just mean green

building.  It is time and energy, lifestyle changes, and education,

building relationships.  This means we are focused not on right now or two years from now, but 20 years

from now.  We are planning for our grandchildren.”

Evolving Views of the CommunityPeople, Planet, Profit

Unconnected or silos view Interconnected or linkages view

Interdependent, nested, or systems view

EnvironmentEconomy

Society

EnvironmentEconomy

Society

Environment

Society

Economy

LEED Certified Buildings

Greensburg City Hall

Leadership Notes from the City Administrator

“Patience, persistence, vision, and communication were essential.  True

leadership happens when the critics are loud and you are still making progress.” 

“Our biggest challenge was not the short term disaster relief but the longer term work that

we are doing now that will affect the community for many years to come.”

Kiowa County Hospital

“Planning is about decision making and learning how to make good decisions” 

Greensburg Greentown

Economic Development

Scott BrownKiowa County

United

Greensburg Sunchips Business Incubator

On Rebuilding Green

“We said, if the city and the county are going to do it, let’s be a leader in the business

community and rebuild LEED certified.”

“This really helped to rebuild relationships in the community that had been shattered

before..It is critical that we did what we did and that we continue what we’re doing.”

-Mike Estes, BTI John Deere Greensburg

Future Site of Kiowa County Commons

Challenges• Housing- ongoing big issue• Housing and services for seniors• Attracting and keeping essential

services- eye care, pharmacy, dental• Community health- food access?

Lessons on Rebuilding After a Disaster

• How do we generate “community without tragedy?” Tornado caused a mental shift

• “You plan to plan so you know how to make decisions.” 

• “Positive conversation changes the world.”

http://fyi.uwex.edu/crawfordcommunity

Questions?

Thank you!Laura Brown

Crawford County University of Wisconsin Extension

608-326-0223Laura.brown@ces.uwex.edu