Greater Owensboro, KY
People in Greater Owensboro take enormous pride in this community. Many cherish that it is family-oriented, faith-based, and built on strong personal relationships. It is a community of helpers where people care for one another and ensure that those in need receive help.
Yet amid the pride and goodness, people see the community struggling to work together productively. Indeed, there is growing restlessness about the community’s future. Many fear the community is in danger of stagnating. They ask: Will Greater Owensboro honor its past while adjusting to changing realities? Will the community make room for more voices and people and fresh ideas? Will people overcome divisiveness to work together to tackle pressing issues holding the community back?
Greater Owensboro is facing a fundamental choice: Will it adhere to the status quo and risk stagnation, or will the community seize opportunities to come together and build a better Owensboro?
In June 2024, The Harwood Institute, in partnership with Greater Owensboro Leadership Institute, released the report, Building a Better Owensboro: A New Path Forward for Owensboro-Daviess County to help the community better understand how people across the county see and experience life here and how the community can strengthen its civic culture.
The action phase kicked off in Greater Owensboro in summer 2024. Following the Getting Started Lab, the community formed four teams to take action and unleash a chain reaction of change on critical issues identified in the report—Arts, Housing/Homelessness, Youth, and Health. A second lab, Unleashing Impact, will be held in 2025. Ongoing coaching and workspaces will take place throughout 2025 and 2026.
