Helping towns rediscover their spark

Sims Foundation brings in partner with track record of helping communities

Mandy Catoe
mcatoe@thelancasternews.com

March 19, 2017

More than 150 local leaders gathered Wednesday at USC Lancaster to explore a new idea for bringing pride and growth back to the towns in Lancaster and Chester counties.
The J. Marion Sims Foundation announced a partnership with the Vermont-based Orton Family Foundation, which has created  Community Heart & Soul, a field-tested process for helping small, rural towns rediscover their spark.
"I see heart and soul at every table," said Susan DeVenny, president of the Sims Foundation, as she

Susan DeVenny

 scanned the audience of movers and shakers.
 Last year, the Sims Foundation began engaging the community in conversations and discovered that what mattered most to 1,400 respondents was the "small-town feel" and strong faith community here. Now it's time to begin turning those valued attributes into action, DeVenny said.
This process is a new strategic approach by the foundation, she said. Rather than only awarding individual, unrelated grants, the foundation will fund efforts that work together to create and support a strong, thriving community.
"We began working on unlocking the assets of the region with our survey last year," DeVenny said. "This takes us deeper….
We will be an embedded partner in the community and build things with the community."
Wednesday's workshop was an introduction to the Orton Family Foundation's community-building method.
The Orton Foundation was established in 1995 by Lyman Orton, owner of Vermont Country Store, and Noel Fritzinger, as a resource for small cities and towns struggling with change and looking for answers.
Over the past dozen years, Orton has developed a model that has helped 12 small towns in the Northeast and Midwest. This is their first venture in the Southeast.
"We passionately believe in the promise and the power of small-town America, and this is our way to help," said David Leckey, executive director of the Orton Family Foundation.

Up to 3 communities
The two foundations will support up to three communities in Lancaster and Chester counties to receive grants for a coordinator, community coaches, training and technical assistance to guide and support community engagement activities.
Orton also provides them with a network of Heart & Soul communities – linking them to leaders in similar towns.

Sally Sherrin and Mayor Howard

Leckey said the two foundations share "mutual optimism" and he has no doubt they can work together to help towns in our counties.
"The Lancaster area has strong people who have a sense of pride and place, and love where they live," Leckey said. "They have a strong work ethic and sense of community."
The two-year community development process reconnects residents with what they love about their hometown and turns that into the community's North Star or guiding principle.


Power of storytelling
Orton's theory is that data and statistics about poverty or crime fail to inspire change and involvement. Emotional sharing, on the other hand, delivers hard truths in gentle ways. When poverty has a face, people begin to care and apathy often turns into activism.
At Wednesday's workshop, Great Falls elementary teacher Alison Howe talked about why she loves teaching 3K children in rural Chester County.
"Everyone comes in and says how cute my kids are," she began. "I look at their lives every day, how they come in and are sometimes hungry and dirty and they are not looked after. It's not that their parents don't love them, because all parents love their children. They just don't know how."

Alison Howe

She went on to tell of the joy the children feel in the mornings when they tell her about going out for pizza or shopping at the Dollar General with their moms.
"Now to the playground," Howe said. "My playground is safe and they go out there and have the best time ever…. They run and play and scream with joy."
After a pause, she swallowed hard and continued.
"There are a lot of places in Great Falls where they can't do that. I want you to see these kids, their faces…. They are all in my heart every day…. I worry about these kids, and I want them to grow up like my kids grew up."
"I want you to see where I make a difference every day in their lives," she said. The room erupted in applause.

Off to good start
The group of 150 was one of the largest ever at an introductory Heart & Soul workshop, said Sara Lightner of the Orton Family Foundation.
"This is a great size group, and after just one storytelling episode, you could see the people coming together," she said.
The Community Heart & Soul method involves the participation of all interested citizens through accessible forums and town meetings that allow residents to tell their stories.
The sessions get people talking and listening to each other. People who normally don't talk to each other develop relationships and discover a common love for the place they call home.
The data from the storytelling informs and guides town leaders as they write or revise a comprehensive plan. It can help reel in haphazard growth and keep the community's focus on what matters most.
Leckey said the process unlocks "the deep emotional connection people have to where they live and the unique character of each place…."
"Community Heart & Soul creates a roadmap for towns based on what truly matters most to residents, and that leads to towns that are stronger, healthier and more economically vibrant,” he said.

Similar town
Leckey shared the success of a former mill town in Maine very similar to our area. Biddeford was struggling to redefine itself after its factories closed and the downtown dried up.
Biddeford, a mill town with a population of more than 21,000, is located on the coast in southeast Maine. It went through the Heart & Soul process from 2008-10 and has now turned its 35-acre mill district into a booming downtown. Its last mill closed in 2009.
Prior to Heart & Soul, only 400,000 square feet of 1.6 million square feet of mill space was being used. After going through the revitalization, only 400,000 square feet is vacant. The rest is filled with with restaurants, shops, retail stores, art studios and apartments. A hotel is being constructed now.  
Local high school students and retired millworkers came together to preserve history while making something new. They turned one of the factories into a museum.
In a Heart & Soul video, Daniel Stevenson, Biddeford's economic development director, said $78 million in new investments came about after going through the process.
For more information on Heart & Soul towns, visit www.orton.org. To watch videos of the individual towns, visit the youtube channel Community Heart & Soul.

What's next?
A one-hour informational webinar at 3 p.m. April 19 will explain eligibility criteria and the application process. After that, interested towns and cities in Chester and Lancaster counties will send a representative to a full-day workshop at USCL on May 16. You can sign up for the webinar at https://heartsoulwithjmarionsims.eventbrite.com.

Follow Reporter Mandy Catoe on Twitter @MandyCatoeTLN or
contact her at (803) 283-1152.