President’s Letter—Community Heart & Soul in 2025

Dear Heart & Soul Friends,

One of the things I love most about my job is hearing stories from residents, town officials, Coaches, and partners about the different ways Community Heart & Soul is positively impacting their communities. Storytelling is an integral part of the Heart & Soul process so it’s fitting that we use stories to share how small cities and towns are creating lasting impact in their communities by focusing on what matters most to local residents. We love hearing and sharing your stories so please keep them coming!

2025 marked a significant milestone for Community Heart & Soul—ten years of impactful collaboration with three extraordinary partner organizations: the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque (Iowa), the Findlay-Hancock Community Foundation (Ohio) and PA Humanities (Pennsylvania). A great example of the power of storytelling took place in May when we celebrated with PA Humanities at a two-day event in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The event included a legislative presentation in the state capitol rotunda and a day-long learning summit that included residents and town officials from 17 PA Heart & Soul communities, along with Coaches and state partners. It was a powerful reminder of what is possible when communities come together to chart their collective future.

Last year, new Heart & Soul communities were formed across the US in Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, Montana, and Pennsylvania. And already in 2026, we’ve added two new Heart & Soul communities with many more in the pipeline!

Our Program Team was very busy in 2025, training two new Coach cohorts and hosting a national Coach gathering in Minneapolis where Heart & Soul Coaches from across the country were able to network with their peers and share best practices. Led by Sara Lightner, Senior Director of Programs, the Program team also provided field-based Coach mentoring services in dozens of Heart & Soul communities across the country.

Much of Community Heart & Soul’s growth has come via our partners, who provide financial support and coaching services to the communities they serve. Partners often have members of their staff participate in our Heart & Soul Coach Training Program so they can provide coaching to communities in their regions.

Leading the effort to expand the Heart & Soul partnership network is Al Getler, VP of Market Development. On the heels of our Coach gathering, Al welcomed partners from across the country to join our management team in Minneapolis to learn from one another and share ideas about how we can make Community Heart & Soul even more impactful for our partners. If your organization is interested in learning more about partnership opportunities with Community Heart & Soul, please visit the Partnership page on our website and Al and his staff will gladly follow up with you!

With interactive sessions designed by Justin Samuel, VP of Communications, Community Heart & Soul was featured at several national conferences in 2025 including the Council on Foundations’ annual conference in Minneapolis, where our partners conducted a well-attended, engaging session on civic engagement. We were also featured at the Annual National Conference for Growing Community Foundations in Wichita, Kansas, where Heart & Soul partners discussed how the program increased community-building in their regions. Whenever we present at conferences, we include an interactive component so audiences can experience firsthand how the Heart & Soul process works.

In May 2026, Community Heart & Soul partners will be featured at this year’s Council on Foundations annual conference in Seattle, Washington. In addition to national events, we will continue to participate in regional gatherings of municipal officials across the country.

In 2026, we expect many new small cities, towns, and partners to join our growing Heart & Soul network. The benefits of Community Heart & Soul are both tangible and intangible. Tangible benefits include things like improved access to community resources, building new bike trails and river walks, the addition of community gardens and farmers markets, public art installations, community concerts, and supporting local schools, libraries and businesses, to name but a few. Intangible benefits include increased community pride and trust among residents and town officials and an overall increase in the quality of life for current and future generations. To learn more about the many benefits communities experience as a result of the Heart & Soul process, please visit the “news and stories” page of our website.

On behalf of our staff and trustees, I would like to thank our 150 Heart & Soul communities (and growing!) and the many partners and Coaches who support our mission. Without you, none of this would be possible!

And for those of you who are thinking about becoming part of the Heart & Soul network, I encourage you to reach out to us to learn more about this wonderful program.

Kind regards,

Mark Sherman
President
Community Heart & Soul