What is Community Heart & Soul?
Community Heart & Soul is a resident-driven process that engages the entire population of a town in identifying what they love most about their community, what future they want for it, and how to achieve it.
Developed and field-tested over a decade in partnership with over 100 small cities and towns across America, Community Heart & Soul is a proven process for engaging a community in shaping its future.
Learn our history and mission from Community Heart & Soul founder, Lyman Orton, proprietor of The Vermont Country Store.
Latest News
Community Heart & Soul Announces Grant Awards
Read our latest press release announcing awards of Community Heart & Soul Seed Grants.
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Bucksport Maine Finds Its Heart & Soul
James and Deborah Fallows, authors of the national best seller Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey into the Heart of America, just wrote about their visit to the Heart & Soul community of Bucksport, Maine.
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Announcing our New Seed Grant Program!
Learn more and apply for $10,000 to help revitalize small cities and towns across America.
Apply Now!
Galesburg, a small city in northwest central Illinois is a three-hour drive from Chicago, 50 miles northwest of Peoria. The town’s biggest employer was Maytag until more than a decade ago, when the manufacturer closed its Galesburg facility. In 2015, the Galesburg city council appropriated $50,000 and, with the Galesburg Community Foundation, which also funded the project, committed to Community Heart & Soul. Galesburg is avoiding the typical strategic planning approach where consultants come in, hold “stakeholder” meetings, leave, and write a report. Instead, Galesburg on Track, the name of the Community Heart & Soul project there, was focused on listening to the stories of the people who live here. To know where Galesburg wanted to go, residents needed to appreciate their past and understand what they cherish about where they live.
Galesburg, IllinoisLocal groups came together
to develop a volunteer hub where individuals and organizations can match needs.
Community and city worked
collaboratively to clean up a minimum of one park per year.
“We are seeing lots of movement towards solutions and a different way of thinking, and reinventing ourselves,” Moreno said. “We have to stay on the path. We can’t just say, ‘oh, we did this for a couple of years.’ We’re playing the long game.”
— Deborah Moreno, Project Coordinator of Galesburg on Track
Community Heart & Soul Towns
From Downeast Maine to the Heartlands to the Pacific Northwest, towns and residents are making change in their communities. Click on the map to see where it’s happening and hear their stories. Let us give you a guided tour through the transformation with Community Heart & Soul.
