Team Building and Problem Solving a New Way in Meadville, PA

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 and what they’d change. Heart & Soul Statements evolved from the shared wisdom and aspirations of everyone in town. And those statements were embraced by the community.

In the My Meadville 2017 Year End Report, Project Coordinator Autumn Vogel reflected on the changes that are already happening as the project heads into its final phases.

“A process such as Heart & Soul involves constant problem-solving. Finding answers and charting a proper course involves all hands on deck, new and old. I’m proud to say we’ve started assembling such a crew.

We have new faces in the mix with fresh ideas who have yet to hold leadership roles in our town. We have folks deeply entrenched in the power structures of our town with decades of knowledge about the social and political dynamics at play.

What keeps me going through the toughest of problems is the fact that so many people from so many corners of our town are working together to solve them. We’re doing this as part of the My Meadville Heart & Soul process, but if there’s anything that I hope will continue beyond the duration of the project, it’s this ethos of collaborative problem-solving- that we all have something to contribute in solving the problems that face our community and that we can do so when we all have a seat at the table and are recognized as experts of our own lived experiences.”

Read about the My Meadville project here:
2017 Year End Report