Improve Your Neighborhood & Community

Transform Your Town: Building a Brighter Future Together

Ever dream of making your community even better? It's possible! The key is getting folks together who share your vision. That's where champions come in – passionate people want to see your town thrive. They could be your neighbors, business owners, teachers, students, or anyone who loves where they live.

Make a list of those potential “champions” and try to identify people from different walks of life.  Educators and church groups can be critical for bringing people together.  They can be helpful in identifying potential champions who want to see positive change, or they might be champions themselves!

Let's Talk! Coffee & Conversation for a Better Town

Once you have identified your potential champions, it's time to chat. Forget stuffy meetings – we're talking coffee and doughnuts, a relaxed environment where everyone feels comfortable sharing their ideas. The first gathering is all about allowing voices to be heard.  It is critical that you draw out a broad spectrum of ideas, and nothing should be off the table!

The Bigger the Bunch, the Brighter the Future

The more people involved, the better! Try to hear from everyone, including farmers and folks who work the land. Sharing success stories from other towns can also spark great ideas.

The Big Question: What Does Our Future Look Like?

Here's the most important part: What kind of town do we want to be in 10 years? Let's talk about it! Is there something missing? Something we dream of having? This meeting is all about brainstorming and getting everyone's ideas on the table and creating a positive attitude by getting everyone on the same page.

By working together, we can create a thriving community everyone loves to call home!

Recognize Needs, Strategic Planning

This is crucial in building a revitalization foundation. It’s essential to have a large group of engaged stakeholders involved, and by now, your group should have expanded significantly. Every segment of your community should have representation during this strategic planning phase. You can seek assistance from support organizations like the Illinois Institute of Rural Affairs (or an equivalent organization in your state), Main Street America, or Community Heart and Soul. These organizations use proven methods to facilitate the strategic planning process, each with its unique approach. They can be invaluable partners in creating sustainable community development. At this point, consider collaborating with a professional organization to develop a plan or proceed independently. If you opt to work independently, we recommend utilizing the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, & Threats) analysis method for strategic planning because it can be easy to understand and effective when all stakeholders are at the table.

The S.W.O.T. analysis should be conversational and interactive, aiming to extract as much information from participants as possible. After listing all Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, you’ll need to prioritize the issues to be addressed and the opportunities that can be harnessed. Before the SWOT analysis, ask critical questions to facilitate a broad conversation, such as: Where have we been? Where are we now? Where do we want to be? What history can we build upon? What are we known for? Upon completing the SWOT analysis, you’ll have prioritized each area: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Now, you can create action items needed to address each area.

Research Current Capacity, Infrastructure, Building Inventories, & Financing

Now that you’ve gathered a group of volunteers to help with this initiative, it’s crucial to understand what each Champion contributes. What individual skills do they possess? Are there any attorneys, engineers, accountants, or project managers within your group? Knowing these skills will help you deploy volunteers where they’re most effective and could save money in the long run. It’s also essential to identify the resources at your disposal. Can a local community foundation or economic development corporation assist with fundraising or grants? What’s the level of volunteerism in your community? For downtown revitalization, creating an inventory of available properties or storefronts for sale or rent is important. This information can give entrepreneurs and potential investors an idea of the opportunities available in your community.

Prioritize Objectives, Build Teams

With your list of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) items in hand, you can now develop a set of goals for each area. Consider the potential impacts of each strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat, and create a goal
to address them.

Once you’ve established and prioritized your goals, you can split into teams to tackle each area, provided you have enough volunteers. If your volunteer numbers are limited, ensure your goals are manageable and focus on achievable ones. Your volunteer group will likely grow as your projects succeed, as people often want to be part of a successful, positive initiative. Divide your Champions and Volunteers into groups based on their interests. For example, if someone is passionate about downtown revitalization, use their enthusiasm in that redevelopment area. Remember that many projects may take several years to complete, so people need to work on what they’re passionate about or what matters most to them. After evaluating your group and identifying goals, it’s time to break into teams and focus on the top goals. The number of goals will depend entirely on your number of Champions and volunteers. In one community we recently helped with comprehensive planning, over 30 goals were established and prioritized. Even if they achieve the top three or four goals, they will have made significant progress.

Utilize Resources & Human Capital

Now that you’ve split into teams and prioritized the goals, each group needs to select a team leader. Having strong team leaders is essential for progress. You should only form as many groups as you have leaders available to manage. After establishing your team leaders and groups, refer to our library of good ideas. There’s a good chance that another community has faced the same challenge you’re about to take on, so there’s no need to reinvent the wheel.

Our library contains many successful, tested ideas. Before trying random solutions, see what you can use or learn from what other communities have done.

Each team leader must effectively communicate with the group organizers. It’s also useful to bring the teams together periodically to discuss their progress on each goal. Regularly updating the community on the progress of each goal could attract more volunteers, making these updates crucial.

Entrepreneurship & Leadership Programs, Youth Engagement

For sustained success in your town, it’s crucial to involve the youth in your community early and often.  Creating a Youth Advisory group of high school and college students can be wildly successful in bringing out new ideas.  In addition, our library of good ideas offers numerous programs and examples, so you don’t have to start from scratch. Two crucial areas for building new champions, particularly in relation to small-town revitalization, are Entrepreneurship & Leadership Programs. Each area has a distinct purpose and can yield beneficial outcomes.

Regarding small towns and rural economic development, most new businesses are established by local entrepreneurs. Not only do these risk-takers start new businesses, but they often step into existing businesses when older owners are looking for successors. A prime example of a Leadership/Entrepreneurship program is the CEO program, listed in the Resource Bank Good Ideas library, currently utilized in dozens of small towns throughout Illinois and the midwest.

When it comes to volunteerism, imagine having a group of volunteers ready to help with events or projects on any weekend.   Outside of Dixon, Illinois, Sauk Valley College has created an earned tuition program that has created thousands of volunteer hours throughout the college district.  Mattoon, Illinois, is a town that thrives from their volunteer assistance, and they have 30 to 40 volunteers ready to assist them every week. This allows them to handle multiple events or activities simultaneously. Mattoon has achieved this success by involving all stakeholders since the beginning of its renewal process. They also host regular social events to unite their community, which builds more enthusiasm and enjoyment for their volunteers and speaks to the importance of creating social spaces.

Evaluate Successes and Failures, Repeat the Process

The village of Dieterich, Illinois, serves as an excellent example of a community that has developed a successful approach, or what we call their “playbook,” for economic development. Since the early ‘90s, Dieterich has repeatedly implemented the MAPPING process, designed by the Illinois Institute of Rural Affairs, achieving good results each time.

Once you’ve developed a process, it’s crucial to keep following the “playbook,” as it will continue to generate new ideas and opportunities. Remember, this is a continuous journey, not a one-time process. As each generation becomes involved, new entrepreneurs and leaders will arise, bringing innovative ideas and goals to your small town. It’s essential to prepare them for this time, be ready to step aside, and let them take the lead when that time comes.

Every small town has the potential to flourish. All it takes is the dedication of a few like-minded individuals to begin making the change they want to see. Every journey begins with a first step, no matter how small.