Learned Approaches to Successful Community Change
Dave Ivan Michigan State University Norm Walzer, Northern Illinois University
Mark Peterson, University of Arkansas Paul Lachapelle, Montana State University
Mary Emery, Iowa State University
February 14, 2011
Learned Approaches to Successful Community Change
Agenda • Community change scholarship – Dave
• Our project findings – Norm
• First example: Breakthrough Solutions – Mark
• Second example: Horizons Program – Paul
• Stitching it together/Next Steps -- Mary
COMPLIMENTARY COMMUNITY CHANGE RESEARCH
Aspen Institute Voices in the Field III (2010)
http://www.aspeninstitute.org/sites/default/files/content/docs/pubs/VoicesIII_FINAL_0.pdf
Tamarack Institute for Community Engagement Approaches to measuring community change indicators (2010)
http://tamarackcommunity.ca/downloads/vc/Measuring_Community_Change.pdf
Voices in the Field III
Five Community Change Dimensions Associated with Success
1. Clarity about mission, desired outcomes and
operating principles; 2. Intentionality in action; 3. Assessing & building capacity; 4. Effective management of partnerships &
collaboration; 5. Learning and adapting along the way;
Approaches to measuring community change indicators
Vibrant Community measurement approaches reviewed contained the following common
themes:
• All included a variety of community indicators;
• All attempted to be holistic including both the needs of individuals and the needs of the community;
• Nearly all use standardized indicators rather than community specific or community chosen indicators;
Approaches to measuring community change indicators
A small number of the approaches identified used community specific data solely:
• Most used national statistical data and in some cases
augmented it with local community data;
• Less than half used subjective indicators (feelings, opinions, thoughts);
• Only a few approaches link across sectors for information;
• Only four approaches were grassroots;
Different approach to identifying learned approaches
• Group conversation of community change program organizers versus survey of programs;
• Results are “one slice” in identifying learned approaches;
• Inform further community change approaches;
Common Elements in Creative Strategies for Community Change
Norman Walzer
Presented to
Learned Approaches to Successful Community Change
February 14, 2011
Project Purposes and Design*
• Identify Innovative Practices Used in Community Change • Find Commonalities Among Successful Programs
– Strengths – Limitations
• Determine Transferability to Other Initiatives • Help Design New Initiatives for the Field • Experiment with Results in Alternative Settings • Foster Future Collaborate Research on Community Enhancement • Apply Knowledge Learned to Practice in the Field
* This project is funded by the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development and was administered by
participants from Michigan State, Purdue Center for Regional Development, Center for Governmental Studies (NIU), Iowa State University, and the Heartland Center for Leadership Development.
Programs Included in Discussions
• Community Visioning/Planning Initiatives – MAPPING the Future of Your Community (Illinois) – Breakthrough Solutions (Arkansas) – Strategic Doing (National Focus)
• Building Entrepreneurship – Community Progress Initiative (Wisconsin) – ExCEED (Missouri) – Kentucky Entrepreneurial Coaches Institute
• Community Capacity-Building – Montana Horizons – U-Lead (Minnesota)
– UWEC Center for Community/Econ Development (Wisconsin)
Major Program Phases
• Preparing Communities
• Program Content
• Delivery Approaches
• Follow-up and Continued Support
• Evaluation Efforts
Preparing Communities
• Educate Entire Community About Expectations
• Encourage Broad-based Participation
• Build Local Leadership Capacity Early
• Build & Encourage Networks Within Community
• Foster and Promote Local Buy-in and Investment
• Promote Ownership by Participants and Residents
• Support Leaders, Especially First-time Efforts
Program Content
• Offer High Quality Programs That Address Local Issues
• Know Differences Between Program, Process, and Product
• Include Theoretical Underpinnings for Credibility
• Base Program on Scholarship and Evidence
• Build on Successful Practices
• Incorporate New Paradigms and Thinking
• Use a “Break Through” Philosophy to Overcome Local Barriers
• Be Flexible and Adjust to Diverse Local Issues
• Make Program a Major Event in Community
Delivery Approaches
• Mobilize Community Assets Early in the Delivery
• Encourage and Reward Risk-Takers (Especially New Leaders)
• Provide Flexibility in Topics and Delivery Methods
• Build a Solid Identity for the Program
• Adhere to the Program Mission
• Use a Bold and Enjoyable Delivery Process
• Encourage Participants Not to Wait for “Permission to Act”
• Maintain an Effective Communication Process
Follow-Up and Continued Support
• Measure and Document Outcomes
• Provide Accountability Options
• Pick the Low-Hanging Fruit First
• Communicate Using Latest Technologies
• Deliver Persistent and Consistent Follow-Through
• Maintain a Focus on Longer-Term Issues
• Promote Sustainability and Resiliency
• Celebrate and Publicize Successes
Learning Points
• Community Readiness is Key
– Buy-in and Local Leaders Prepared
– Broad-based Participants
• Programs Must Incorporate Local Potential
• Have a Solid, Current, and Conceptual Basis
• Use a High Quality Innovative Delivery
– Challenge Participants to Find New Levels of Success
• Persistent Follow-Through Initiatives
Next Steps
• Presentation of Results – Call for Abstracts (> 50 Respondents)
– Special Issue of JCDS
– Webinars
– Possible Edited Book Length Manuscript
• Stimulate Discussion with Practitioners – Adjust Program Delivery
– Modify or Create New Program Based on Learning
• Expand Program Coverage – Include International Community
– Share Insights Gained in Program Delivery in New Settings
Program Contact Information
• MAPPING the Future: www.iira.org/outreach/mapping
• Breakthrough Solutions: www.vworks.org
• Strategic Doing: www.strategicdoing.net
• Community Progress Initiative: www.progressinitiative.com
• ExCEED: www.extension.missouri.edu/ceed
• Entrepreneurial Coaches Institute: www.uky.edu/Ag/CLD/KECI
• Montana Horizons: www.horizonsmt.org
• U-Lead: www.extension.umn.edu/u-lead
• UWEC Center for Comm/Econ Dev: www.uwex.edu/ces/cced
For Further Information, Contact
Norman Walzer
Senior Research Scholar
Center for Governmental Studies
Northern Illinois University 148 North Third Street
DeKalb, IL 60115 815-753-0933
Creating Vibrant, Sustainable Communities Through Breakthrough Solutions Learned Approaches to Successful
Community Change Webinar February 14, 2011
Dr. Mark Peterson, Professor
U of A Cooperative Extension Service
Three kinds of people
We Will Discuss….
• The nature of change
• Identify assets and how to leverage
them
• Present a model for creating
breakthroughs
• Share with you some incredible stories
How Does Change Happen?
• Incrementally or Major Changes – Breakthroughs?
• Thomas Kuhn – “The Structure of
Scientific Revolutions”
Creating Breakthroughs
Breakthrough – advance, discovery, innovation, a leap forward
Creating Breakthroughs
Breakthrough – advance, discovery, innovation, a leap forward
Breakthroughs:
- serve as catalysts
- change the rules for success
- do things that everyone knows cannot
be done
Breakthroughs: * Are all around us. * Have real and major impacts. * Almost always come from leveraging, connecting, or transforming assets.
Exercise Identify a breakthrough in your community, region, organization, or career Use the chat feature and send us all an e-mail with your breakthrough
Breakthroughs
• The four minute mile
• Turn low-income kids into academic stars – the Kipp School in Helena AR
• Rice in Arkansas - $898M annual revenue
• Revitalizing downtown Little Rock
• Private Sector - Dell, Amazon.com, Wal-Mart
Questions: What is working well in your community? What assets do you have and how can you leverage them? What would a breakthrough look like here?
Leveraging, Connecting, and Transforming Assets
• What can you do with: 1) Arts and Crafts 2) History and Stories 3) Solid Waste 4) Local Produce Growers 5) Streets, Sidewalks, Vacant Lots 6) A River 7) Watermelon
History and Stories
Solid Waste - Methane From a Landfill is Used for: * heating a community college * glass blowing * pottery kilns * tilapia ponds * greenhouses
Produce Growers - Local Foods * Fresher, often organic * Supports the local economy * Multiple channels – farmers’ markets, pick your own, community agriculture, fresh markets, community kitchens
Vacant Lot on N. Commerce
What It Could Look Like!
Hope Watermelon Festival
Breakthrough Solutions Model
Breakthroughs Require New Approaches
SWOT – half of your time is devoted
to the negative, and many community
leaders are SWOTTED out
SOAR – emphasizes the positive and
new opportunities; is fresh and
powerful
SOAR Results you can measure
Aspirations and visions
Opportunities for breakthroughs
Strengths and assets
Adapted from SOAR Thin Book
Key Drivers of Change
Forces or trends that are likely to directly impact your community’s
future
Eastern Downtown LR
Little Rock River Market
Little Rock River Market
Clinton Presidential Library
Little Rock River Market
“That’s essentially the process we went through, although we didn’t call it that.
One of our breakthroughs was taking
a diverse group to Portland, to see
their transit and light rail and other
developments.”
Jim Dailey, Former Mayor of Little Rock
Breakthrough News
Learned Approaches to Successful Community Change:
The Montana Horizons Program
Paul Lachapelle
Assistant Professor Extension Community Development Specialist Department of Political Science
• Northwest Area Foundation
• Seven-state program
• 2004 to present
• 260+ communities
• Focus on supporting small communities build
capacity to address poverty
Key question:
“How do we build a prosperous community where everyone
has a chance to thrive?”
Study Circles©
Session 1: How are we Connected to Community and to Poverty?
Session 2: What does Poverty look like Here? Session 3: Why is there Poverty in our
Community? Session 4: Reaching our Vision and Reducing
Poverty Session 5: Moving to Action
www.Everyday-Democracy.org
LeadershipPlenty©
1. Finding Leaders Within 2. Identifying Community Assets 3. Managing Groups for Results 4. Making Meetings Work Better 5. Managing Conflict 6. Building Strategic Partnerships 7. Moving from Talk to Action 8. Valuing Evaluation 9. Communicating for Change www.pew-partnership.org
Community Visioning
1.
Where are we now?
Community Profiling
• Descriptive Info
• Community Values
2.
Where are we going?
Trends Analysis
• Trend info
• Probable Scenarios
3.
Where do we want to be?
Vision Statement
• Possible / Preferred Scenarios
•Community Vision
4.
How do we get there?
Action
Plan
• Goals / Actions/ Strategies
5.
Are we getting there?
Implement and Monitor
• Plan Execution
• Community Indicators / Benchmarks
Source: Ames, S. 1998. A Guide to Community Visioning. Portland: Oregon Chapter of Amer. Planning Assoc.
Community Action
• Plan Implementation
• Track progress
• Network – partnerships formed and grow
Horizons Community Blogs
Anaconda
Anaconda Community Foundation, raised over $70,000
Medical Transportation Group: taking
patients to treatment in Missoula, Butte, Billings
Home Fix-it Group: helping with home
repairs, fix-it workshops
Clean-up Committee: expanding town cleanup and addressing Superfund
Street Tree Project
Forsyth
Nature Trail Preservation & Development along Yellowstone
River
Community Information Board
Yard of Week Program
Elements that Contributed to Success
• Use of Community Coaches
• Ownership
• Flexibility
• Examples of community actions
• Use of technologies
Paul Lachapelle
Local Government Center
Department of Political Science
Wilson Hall 1-156 P.O. Box 172240
Montana State University Bozeman, MT 59717
http://www.msuextension.org/cd/
Tel: (406) 994-6694
Summary
• Communities find themselves facing intractable problems
– Budget crunches
– Decline of infrastructure/need to additional capacity
– Losing a place in the global economy
– Decentralization – responsible for more with less
• Therefore the question of how do communities proactively undertake change initiatives is more urgent than ever before.
Current Research Efforts
• Community Change informal CoP
• Aspen Institute
• Tamarack Institute
• SRDC leadership impact
• Ford Family foundation program evaluation
• Others…
Key learning
• One size does not fit all.
• How does this finding fit into current funding streams (research and program) demanding evidence based practice?
• Can we begin to assemble data to support evidence based strategies?
• How can this information be more accessible to policy makers?
What’s Next?
• Please give us your thoughts on factors that contribute to successful community change:
• http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5BTXN26
• Upcoming Webinars:
– Three approaches to community change:
• sometime in March
– Strategies for measuring community change
• Late March or early April