Question: What makes a successful community-based planning initiative even better?

Answer: Sustaining its success over time.

This is something the Orton Family Foundation calls stewardship of community planning, and we think it’s critical to the future of Heart & Soul-style planning. Accordingly, our new Craig Byrne Fellow, Steven Ames, is conducting research for us on this topic. His findings will be made available at the end of 2011.

Many of us may know a small city or town that has had great success with its local planning. But how many of these efforts have lasted over time? Without a conscious effort, even the best-laid plans can founder or fade away.

Stewardship helps ensure that doesn’t happen. But exactly how does a community steward its values and vision over time? What are the best ways to keep citizens engaged, leaders accountable and the community’s plan alive? We hope to find out.

Central to Orton’s stewardship research is identifying examples of best practice stewardship in small cities and towns. These stories will provide us a pool of potential case studies from which we will select five communities for further study of how they have promoted stewardship. We’ll be looking for best approaches, tools, and even a clever trick or two. Results of our study will be presented in a white paper, as well as a “set of instructions” to be incorporated into a new Heart & Soul Community Planning Handbook.

Do you know of a community that’s had outstanding success in keeping citizens engaged and leaders accountable after their plans are done? We’d like to know, whether it is your own city or town or one you've heard about or visited. Please fill out a simple nomination form and submit for our consideration. We will investigate your nominated community to see if it should be among our final list of case studies. (In that regard, we may be back in touch if we have questions about your nomination, so your contact information is requested.) Nominations must be received no later than Monday, August 15^th. Click on the link below to complete your nomination.

A good story is always better told. Tell us about your community planning stewardship story, and help us spread the word!

Stewardship Study Nomination Form >>