Community Heart & Soul Stories

Storytelling is an important aspect of any Community Heart & Soul® project. When residents share stories they can feel renewed pride of place and more valued in the community. Stories…

The start of 2018 marked a milestone for three Community Heart & Soul® towns. City councils in Bellevue, Iowa, Bucksport, Maine, and Galesburg, Illinois, adopted Heart & Soul Statements. Heart…

Harriet Gumby turned a spotlight on a forgotten piece of African-American history in her Pennsylvania town when, as part of the Greater Carlisle Heart & Soul project, she told the…

This post first appeared on National Research Center Inc. Survey Research Revolution Part V Give Me Your Scared, Your Unempowered, Your Indifferent. What is the number one question local leaders…

2017 was a busy year for My Meadville, the Community Heart & Soul project in Meadville, Pennsylvania. Stories were shared, collected, and analyzed about what residents cherish about their town…

After nearly a year spent gathering input about what matters most to them, residents of Galesburg, Illinois, came together to brainstorm ways to turn aspirations into actions. More than 200…

San Elizario, Texas, (pop. 9,000) is on the southwestern border with Mexico. The city has a rich history that dates to 1598 when the Spanish crossed the Rio Grande and…

This post first appeared on Yesmagazine.org. When Monica Palmquist moved to Cortez, Colorado, in 2010, she was shocked to find that the Hispanic population in a town with a Spanish…

We asked three planners how engaging residents through Community Heart & Soul® influenced or informed their town’s Comprehensive Plan. They drew a direct connection between the community engagement done during…

More than 50 years ago, four towns in western Maine formed a school district. The connections among them go beyond sharing a middle and high school, however, as they also…