Welcome to spring and our latest issue of Scenarios. After a winter of some strange, even unexpected weather, it is a welcome relief to begin feeling warmth in the sun and seeing sparks of green in the landscape. They bring life and energy at a time when we need them the most—as do the inspiring and surprising stories in this issue, focused on people reaching out to their neighbors, finding common ground, and taking control of their futures.

In both Rick Bass’s Speaking of Place essay and Nathan Sayre’s piece on the Malpai Borderlands, we see unexpected partnerships forming to build grassroots coalitions powerful enough to affect national policy and change behavior. We at the Foundation often talk about building new coalitions and what it really means to find common ground. Our Heart & Soul Community Planning work emphasizes the vital importance of engagement that builds bridges among people who ordinarily don’t think they have anything in common. Time and time again, we’ve seen disparate groups uncover deeply shared values, which lead to powerful examples of collective action. In the stories of the Malpai Borderlands in the Southwest and the Yaak Valley in northwestern Montana, we see examples of individual people, and then whole communities, taking brave, often difficult steps to combine forces, work together and achieve remarkable results.

Something else strikes me about these stories. In each, I see people’s willingness and courage to say “NO” to ill-conceived notions, policies and practices; however, in saying no, the same people are also emphatically saying “YES” to new directions the community (and its resources) can support. Recently, Ed McMahon, a Senior Resident Fellow at the Urban Land Institute and a member of our Board, pointed out a stark choice: citizens can make sure the character of their community defines new development, or they can let new development define the character of their community. This is another way of saying that one of the most potent options available to communities is the ability to say yes to collaborative, proactive community planning and organizing while also saying no to the alternative (inaction, the status quo, more schlock). Discovering broad agreement within a community and then using these shared values to drive decisions defines the positive—the “radical center” as Nathan Sayre so aptly describes the coalition in the Malpai Borderlands. Such a center holds extraordinary promise and power; communities are stronger when they forge bonds rooted in common ground.

What’s truly remarkable to us is that these hopeful stories seem to be popping up just as quickly and persistently as the shoots of green outside my window. Paul Hawken calls attention to so many distinct efforts and groups, and the alignment between them, in Blessed Unrest, the subject of our book review in this issue. The common ground that Hawken identifies in his research and supports through the WiserEarth network—and that we find in communities across the country—gives us the confidence that we can radically improve the way citizens steer the change in their communities.

Please send us your stories and join us at our COMMUNITYMATTERS^® conference this October in Denver. Good luck with your important work, and know that there are others who share your commitment.

Bill Roper
President and CEO