Community By Design Rather than Default

1. Community By Design Rather than Default Dan Clark MSU Local Government Center

3. What makes a thriving community? Why a Local Community Foundation?

4. Need for Leadership • Processionary Caterpillars • They were following • Instinct • Habit • Custom • Tradition • Precedent • Past experience • Standard practice • They mistook activity for accomplishment. • They meant well–but got no place.

5. Transparent InclusiveDiverse

6. What does your community look like? Senior Citizens New Comers School/Educators LongTimeResidents Faith Community ServiceGroups Business Elected Officials Youth

8. VISION marathon

9. Investment Follows Vision “If you want to move people, it has to be toward a vision that’s positive for them, that taps important values, that gets them something they desire, and it has to be presented in a way that they feel compelled to follow.” • Martin Luther King, Jr.

10. Secrets of Successful Communities • Develop a vision for the future. • Inventory local assets and resources. • Build plans around the enhancement of assets. • Use education, incentives, partnerships and voluntary initiatives – not just regulation. • Pick and choose among plausible futures. • Cooperate with neighbors for mutual benefit. • Protect community character as well as ecology and economics. • Develop strong leaders and committed citizens. -Ed McMahon

11. 20 Attributes of Successful Communities • Based on research from the Heartland Center for Leadership Development

12. COMMUNITY CULTURE

13. Finding the Bright Spots • Communities change in the direction in they inquire • Inquire into problems = keep finding problems • Discover that which is good • Discoveries - build a new future where the best becomes more common! • Engage the entire community: What is working well?

14. Theory of Change • Complex problems call for many kinds of solutions • When all kinds of people develop relationships, new ideas emerge • When people consider an issue from different points of view, they uncover common ground and find better solutions • When people have a voice they are more likely to participate in carrying out ideas for change (food pantry) • Change is more likely to last when individual and collective actions are tied together

15. Levels of Change New relationships and networks Small-group action efforts Changes made by organizations Policy changes (community service , community development board) Structural change

16. Principles • Make inclusive participation a top priority • Frame issues in ways that are relevant to a wide variety of people (fitness center) • Use a process with neutral facilitation, ground rules, and balanced discussion • Use a process that engages and empowers people to act (crusty old men) • Connect talk with action and change (medical clinic) • Tell the story throughout the process

17. Lone Ranger Myth • A romantic idea that great things are usually accomplished by a larger-than-life individual working alone.

18. Ant Colony • Ant colonies are built by many individual ants that have a common goal and recognize their interdependence on each other for survival. • There is a complex social structure where everyone’s needs are met through the accomplishment of individual tasks.

19. Contact Info: Dan Clark Director Local Government Center Montana State University P.O. Box 172240 Bozeman, MT 59717 Office:  406-994-6694 Cell: 406-570-4259 FAX:  406-994-1905 email: daniel.clark@montana.edu Website:  msulocalgov.org