February 2023 Newsletter: Communities Making the Invisible Visible
When you make visible the invisible progress that is happening in your community, you can start to shift your community from an ingrained negative narrative to a can-do narrative. You inspire more people to step forward, Turn Outward, take action, and transform your community together. In this newsletter, we take a look at public innovators, groups, and organizations that have gotten in motion to change the narrative and trajectory of their communities.
Public Innovator Spotlight: Ashley Coone
The Smith Brown Gym in DeSoto County, FL, has deep roots in the community. During segregation, it was the original gym in the Black-only school. For the community’s older generation, it still holds memories. Over the years, it fell into disrepair and, eventually, closed.
By 2013, a community need was surfacing: there were no afterschool programs for the community’s kids—and no place to house the programs. Ashley Coone, who was born and raised in DeSoto County, decided to step forward as a volunteer to spearhead an effort to renovate the gym.
Initially, renovating the gym felt like an overwhelming and impossible task. “There was no apparent funding,” Ashley said. “It was in an impoverished community.” And people were isolated, rarely coming together to share their aspirations and take action. But after connecting with The Patterson Foundation and going through a three-day Harwood Institute Public Innovators Lab, Ashley began to shift her mindset. Then, progress got unleashed.
Before and After: Smith Brown Gym Exterior
First, she Turned Outward, and used the Institute’s approach of community conversations around their shared aspirations. “The conversations brought us together,” she said, and catalyzed people to step forward and join in. “I slept really good at night,” she laughed, “because we had all this data and all these community conversations where people were saying, ‘This is what we want.’” The project was in tune with the community.
Then she started to “smallify,” or, as we say at The Institute, “start small to go big.” They began to engage the community in smaller efforts along the way, hosting Community Days, bringing people to the facility to show them the possibilities and get them excited. The community “really helped make this happen,” she said. “It was in a poorer community, but people believed in it so much that they were giving their dollars, their quarters. On one Community Day, we raised around $1600 [in this way], which may seem like nothing since it was a multi-million dollar project, but it showed just how much people living in poverty wanted this that they were willing to give what they had.”
Still, it’s easy to grow weary along the way, Ashley explained. The project took nearly eight years; people doubted if it would ever be finished. “You have to be in it for the long-haul.” But their small steps along the way kept the community motivated and strengthened their civic culture. A diverse group of people who had never gathered around a table together had begun talking. People who had never worked together stepped forward and worked side-by-side. “Before this, that didn’t happen very often around here,” Ashley said.
Before and After: Smith Brown Gym Interior
In the hardest moments of the renovation when they weren’t sure if they’d ever raise enough money to complete the facility, Ashley received loving guidance. “My aunt was my mentor and a champion behind this effort. She got cancer and, on her deathbed, she said to me, ‘Even if you don’t ever get that gym done, just look at what you’ve done for the community. People are working together. They’re communicating. They have hopes and aspirations outside this building.’” They were not waiting for someone else to save them; they were stepping forward. They were not buying into the narrative that their kids couldn’t learn or have opportunities.
Today, the gym is complete and, within it, they’ve established the very first Boys & Girls Club in DeSoto County, FL. There’s a playground and Ashley Coone Pavilion, named in honor of her efforts to bring this project to fruition. “A lot is happening now…Today, there are foundations wanting to invest in our community.” Before, other groups and foundations would “stick to their own communities.”
And more people are stepping outside and engaging in their community. “One thing I’ve learned about finding people to step forward,” Ashley shared, “is that, many times, we rely on the same people and we don’t hear the voices of those that are not senior level–those that are not the CEOs. They’re the everyday workers or the parents and they’re often overlooked. What I’ve learned is they just need to be asked.”
Everyone has something to offer. All it takes is an entreaty.
Ashley Coone is the CEO of Ashley Coone Consulting and the co-founder and Executive Director of Links2Success, a nonprofit organization in DeSoto County that provides free college and career readiness programs to middle and high school students.
Reading, PA: Unleashing Impact Lab
The latest step on Reading, PA’s public learning journey was the completion of the Unleashing Impact Lab. Sixty community members came together to take stock of the public knowledge they collected through community conversations, to learn how to accelerate the work they have been doing, and to use it to unleash a chain reaction of actions that shift the underlying conditions of Reading.
Leroy Cruz, for whom the Lab was his first Harwood training, said it left him with a sense of possibility and hope: “For years, issues that matter to people have been let go and nobody’s been addressing them. The Lab opened my eyes because here people were, already working on these issues.”
He insisted that this is a change from the status quo: “Do you know how many meetings and trainings I’ve gone to in the past where people have come up with thoughts and the thought always remains at the first meeting because no one ever took action to do anything?” This time, Reading is already in motion on their shared educational agenda, which doesn’t focus on highly charged issues but instead on practical concerns like mental health support and mentoring; English as a second language; early childhood education; and after- and out-of-school activities.
Change is already being made visible. Leroy added, “When I left on the last day of the Lab, I walked out of the building in tears because I was like, ‘Wow, I’m amongst people who are listening.’ And that felt really good to know you’ve been asked to be part of something bigger than yourself.”
Javar Colon, a first-time Lab participant, agreed. He said, “The world has a lot of complexities at the moment. It can get you down. It can make you think there aren’t enough good people out there. The Lab was a reminder: there are a lot of good people out here doing good work. If we come together, we can figure our way out of this stuckness. There’s a lot of positivity going on in our community.”
From here, the teams will build on the public knowledge they’ve collected and the skills they learned in the Lab to start taking action.
Alamance County: Getting Started Lab
There are a lot of great things happening in Alamance County, NC. At the same time, the county is divided: about law enforcement, old versus new, race and ethnicity, about how fast their community can grow. How can they come together to bridge divides, build on the good, and create a culture of shared responsibility? We just held the county’s Getting Started Lab with our partner, Impact Alamance, and 50 people who want to find ways to bring people together and create a community where everyone can thrive.
Cheryl Wilder, a writer and poet, said, “I’m leaving this Lab with more energy than when I came in, which is unusual for sitting in a [training] for two days. I’ve been in Alamance for five years and now I feel more connected to this community than I ever have before.”
Now it’s time to harness this excitement and hope and take small, doable steps to move Alamance forward. The participants formed core action teams, including Narrative, Schools, Arts, Faith, and Youth Wellness teams. In their teams, they will continue to gather public knowledge to take meaningful action based on the community’s aspirations.
In fact, many Lab participants have already begun weaving the Harwood approach into their work. Anderson Rathbun, the General Manager of the Burlington Sock Puppets collegiate baseball team, said: “We’re not just a baseball team. What the Lab showed me is that everybody can be a community asset if they have the right mindset.” He’s already started rewriting his organization’s business model with a Turned Outward focus.
Tami Kress, the Executive Director of Studio 1, a local theater, has also gotten in motion. “I’ve been fired up ever since the Lab,” she said. “Everything I’ve done since I left there has Harwood stamped on it.” Tami has brought the Turning Outward approach to her church youth group, her Diversity Board for BIPOC kids, and her Executive Board. Anderson Rathbun brought it to his church youth group, too, and shared: “I’ve never had as productive a group with the kids as I did this past weekend.”
Teresa Wiley, who works at Community Care of North Carolina, is committed to keeping the Harwood mantras front and center. She’s already printed out multiple copies of our key mantras poster to keep in her office and her car.
“We are a community. We are here. We have to make the best of it,” one Lab participant shared. Most especially when our community or our country isn’t going in the direction we want it to, we need to step forward and be part of the solution.
A Note on Black History Month
It’s Black History Month. This is important and must be acknowledged. We believe we should be paying attention to this not just one month a year, but every day.
Brian Rubin, a former Harwood Studio Associate, reflected on the connection between the Harwood approach and Black History Month:
When considering Black History Month in connection to the Harwood approach, one must recognize that both are grounded in hope. Hope not only ensures the possibility of achieving American democracy, but is the substance that undergirds the pursuit. This philosophy is articulated clearly in Harwood’s approach and embodied in the experience of African Americans who have held to the promise of America despite many reasons to reject it.
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