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Community Development – A Guide for Fostering Better Outcomes Through Good Process from the The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

Expert says leaders must work together

The need for collaboration among Richland County’s key community leaders emerged as the fundamental building block in bringing the communities together under one united community development effort.

David Beurle, founder of Innovative Leadership Australia, returned to Sidney Thursday to follow up on the community’s progress with moving the Sidney area vision forward.

The three components, he said, needed to create forward movement with the vision include: commitment, noted as locally strong in the area; capacity, which was also noted as strong; and structure, which was noted as weak.

Ellen Robinson | Sidney Herald

Full Story: http://sidneyherald.com/articles/2005/11/21/news/news03.txt

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“As anyone who has observed a successful community development initiative knows, it is not a solo act,” emphasizes a new report from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. In addition to pointing to the importance of collaboration, the report identifies several other elements of a good community development process.

It notes that a good process:

1) requires advocacy;

2) meaningfully engages residents and links participatory processes together;

3) is supported by many;

4) is not imposed on people;

5) addresses underlying issues such as race, class, culture, and power; and

6) anticipates conflict and works to identify common ground.

The report suggests resources to improve community skills in each of these areas. See Community Development: A Guide for Grantmakers on Fostering Better Outcomes Through Good Process at http://www.hewlett.org/NR/rdonlyres/7DC1D659-2BED-467F-9A13-5F39CFF70AFF/0/CommunityDevelopment.pdf.

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SOUTHERN GROWTH POLICIES BOARD is a non-partisan public policy think tank based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Formed by the region’s governors in 1971, Southern Growth Policies Board develops and advances visionary economic development policies by providing a forum for collaboration among a diverse cross-section of the region’s governors, legislators, business and academic leaders and the economic- and community-development sectors. Supported by the governments of 13 Southern states and Puerto Rico, Southern Growth provides its members, and the region, with authoritative research, discussion forums and pilot projects in the areas of technology and innovation, globalization, workforce development, community development, civic engagement and leadership. To learn more about Southern Growth Policies Board, visit http://www.southern.org.

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