“Jobs follow people. People do not follow jobs,” said Michael Fortunato, CFO and founding partner of Texas based CCGCIC to a room full of county leaders convened by the Community Foundation of Wabash County and Grow Wabash County. Fortunato was one of five presenters at a three-day Community Development Course funded by a grant to the Community Foundation from Lilly Endowment, Inc. who is challenging all Indiana community foundations to take a larger leadership role to address the challenges and opportunities of the counties in which they serve. The Community Foundation and Grow Wabash County are partnering to study the County’s population, which has declined 5% since 2010. The community development course, led by Ball State University’s Indiana Communities Institute, was one of the steps taken to begin work toward reversing the decline.
Over the three-day, Community Development Course, topics ranged from how to build networks and community trust to stimulating economic development. “The Community is the Special Interest” was the first concept presented by Dr. Fortunato, which was about connecting silos and changing the way individuals view their communities and interest groups. In lecture, Dr. Fortunato mentioned individuals often segment their work and the people around them in silos, with limited connections. For example, an individual may have his or her faith-based community, work community, and child’s school community with little or no interaction between the groups. Therefore, Dr. Fortunato encouraged the participants to instead view the Wabash County community as their special and primary interest, with all interest groups interrelated. Thinking of interest groups being connected, facilitates thinking of how groups could partner, collaborate, and cross sectors. Examples could include programs and collaboration between children in childcare with people living in retirement homes, or it could be a growth in partnerships between schools and the local businesses in Wabash County to provide more opportunities for high school and college students.
A second key concept for participants was learning the difference between community growth and community development, since the terms are often used interchangeably. However, through lecture and conversation, the participants learned the terms are actually quite different. Growth is defined as a quantitative increase in something, whether that be in population, number of businesses, or number of students in a classroom. Development, on the other hand, is defined as an increase in the quality of life and on social outcomes. Therefore, while growth may look good initially, the growth may not be sustainable or of quality. Perhaps there is growth in the number of students, but there is no growth in the programs and opportunities for students. Growth may also mean there is a higher number of jobs in Wabash County, but it does not necessarily mean more people will choose to live in Wabash County, if there are no desirable amenities.
Next, Dr. Ferguson, the assistant dean at Ball State University’s College of Architecture and Planning and who has 25 years of experience as an architect, engaged the community members with ways on how to and how not to create communities of place. He said in order to have effective placemaking, “the building or place needs to represent the social, cultural, and physical characteristics of the community, because a place often has different meanings from individual to individual.” Dr. Ferguson provided examples of other community projects gone awry, since they did not include all three placemaking characteristics and did not represent the community’s character or identity. He said, in order to capture the community’s values when beginning a project, the planners need to “obtain feedback and input from the public through accessible public meetings, informal events, and surveys” in order to create awareness and gather feedback from the community before proceeding.
In regards to community development and engagement, Dr. Fortunato and Dr. Alter drove the point that in order to best engage all members in the community and keep them engaged is “to always value the knowledge, expertise, and experience of others”. They further urged participants to be open to all ideas and not be close-minded in order to “encourage civic and community engagement, entrepreneurship, and a proactive approach to community participation, decision making, and problem solving.” Lisa Ford, a participant in the course, also alluded to community development implying both time and relationships. She said, “The necessity, here, is to extend a hand to those on the fringes of conversations and decision-making and gently pull them in.” Thus, by listening and fostering conversation and new ideas, an inviting and welcome tone can be set by the community.
The last day of the course ended with the group’s favorite activity. The exercise was learning integrated storytelling and how to brand Wabash County. For the activity, participants were provided with a blank letter and were given ten minutes to write to someone, inviting him or her to move to Wabash County. Once letters were written, participants were able to read their letters to the rest of the group. At first, members of the group were shy to read, but as soon as people began to read why they love living in Wabash County, participants were eager to share their stories.
Mike Keffaber, the Superintendent of MSD, wrote in his letter, “Wabash is an awesome place to create lasting memories! First Fridays have been fun with so much to offer. Also, do you know that we have a spectacular gorge with waterfalls, reef fossils, and vertical cliffs as high as 75 feet at Acres Land Trust here in Wabash County?” Dean Gogolewski, the CEO of the Wabash County YMCA and new to the County, wrote to his family saying that he “can’t wait for you toexperience the festivals all over Wabash County and to see the development of the trail along the Wabash River. I can’t wait to show you the wonderful amenities in Wabash County and I can’t wait to Hawkins Family Farm in North Manchester for pizza on Friday evenings. This is such a great area to live and work, and I appreciate the investment the community makes in the County.”
The presenters of the course included David Terrell, the Executive Director of the Indiana Communities Institute, Dr. Ted Alter, Dr. Justin Ferguson, Dr. Michael Fortunato, and Dr. Emily J. Wornell. All presenters have many years of experience in development of rural counties and were eager to share information, concepts, and community development strategies with the participants. At the end of the course, participants walked away with new ideas and a renewed focus on how to engage the community and begin taking steps to reverse Wabash County’s declining population. Mark Hobbs, the director of Heartland Career Center, said, “I was encouraged that so many community, business and education leaders came together for the common cause of helping our community grow.” His sentiment did indeed, resemble the feelings of many other participants in the course.