Community Heart & Soul Stories

Like many small communities, Cambridge, Illinois suffers from Same Ten People Syndrome. When there’s a project to undertake in the village of 2,100, or a board position to fill, the…

The wake-up call for Winchendon, Massachusetts, came in 2017, when its only grocery store shut its doors. Farm land surrounds the former factory town, and yet Winchendon (population 10,900) qualified…

Community Heart & Soul brought residents together, then helped them take action On a balmy, blue-sky August night in 2019, a thousand residents of Thomaston, Georgia, crowded into downtown’s Courthouse…

This article first appeared on the Our Towns Civic Foundation website on August 18, 2021, which you can see here. If you’re in Maine, heading Downeast from Portland on coastal Route 1, you’ll…

When an old auto parts store was torn down in downtown Akron, Iowa (population 1,588) a few years ago, it left an eyesore of a vacant lot across from the…

In the next Heart & Soul Minutes video, hear from Star Poole, Community Heart & Soul Volunteer and School Board member in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Star has been a resident of…

In the next Heart & Soul Minutes video, Susan Lessard, Town Manager of Bucksport, Maine shares how Community Heart & Soul guides town decision making. Susan Lessard was born and…

In the next Heart & Soul Minutes video, hear from Sheila Tjaden, Jones Regional Medical Center and Heart & Soul Champion in Monticello, Iowa shares how communities can use Heart…

In the next Heart & Soul Minutes video, hear from Gary Wilson, Board Chair for The Findlay-Hancock County Community Foundation in Findlay, Ohio and Community Heart & Soul Champion, on…

This is the first video in our Community Heart & Soul Minutes series. Hear from Alice Trowbridge, former Community Heart & Soul Project Coordinator for Heart of Williamsport, Williamsport, Pennsylvania…