Foundation Announces Stewardship Case Study Communities

October 26, 2011

Summer is a time for bikes, baseball and barbeques—and if you’re part of the Orton Family Foundation—thinking about small towns and local communities, and what makes them thrive.

Steven Ames, Orton’s Craig Byrne Fellow for 2011, spent part of his summer ramping up the Foundation’s new Community Planning Stewardship Study, an analysis of what makes communities succeed in stewarding their values, visions and community plans over time. It’s a hot topic for Orton, which is seeking new ideas for extending the lifespan and effectiveness of local planning in the communities where it works.

< Unfurling economic revitalization in West Duluth, MN.

Starting with the simple premise “What works?,” Steven launched this abbreviated but intensive study by searching for the most successful stewardship stories out there—smaller towns and cities that have developed the best approaches and tools for implementing their community plans, keeping their citizens engaged and their leaders accountable. The idea is to discover core information that can be shared with and replicated by communities everywhere.

In seeking nominations for the study, Steven interviewed noted planning and community development practitioners, spoke with members of Orton’s network of active collaborators, and solicited online suggestions from the wider Orton community. From a final list of 20 nominees, the Foundation staff worked with Steven to narrow the field down to 10 and then five final case study communities.

< Volunteers working to make Hastings, MI more food secure.

The nomination effort itself pushed the envelop for Orton, expanding on the areas of the country where the Foundation currently concentrates (New England, Rocky Mountain West), as well as the types of communities with whom it works (smaller rural towns and cities).

The case study selection process covered those bases but went further, investigating different types of local communities across the country. The final case study list includes a medium-sized suburban city, a rural county and two of its local communities, and an older, formerly industrial urban neighborhood.

^ Rolling out the 2050 Plan for a more sustainable Newton County, GA.

William Roper, Orton President and CEO, affirms this direction: “In our Community Matters conferences, we have seen the growing interest of all kinds of communities in our work and the evolving Heart & Soul planning model. While united by a deep connection to place, these communities come in a diversity of sizes, shapes and socioeconomic profiles. The Stewardship Study is, in part, an acknowledgement of that fact.”

^ Citizens air their sustainability ideas on a community clothesline in Portsmouth, NH.

The five final case studies include:

• Duluth (West Duluth neighborhood), Minnesota
• Hastings, Michigan
• Hillsboro, Oregon
• Covington/Oxford, Newton County, Georgia
• Portsmouth, New Hampshire

The Stewardship Study will be looking for best practice approaches, unique tools, and even a clever trick or two. Results will be presented in a white paper to be published early in 2012, as well as a “set of instructions” to be incorporated into a new Heart & Soul Community Planning Handbook.

Stayed tuned for further updates and some exciting stewardship stories!

< Hillsboro, OR engaging citizens through its annual Vision Town Hall.