5 Tips: How to Start a Regular Community Conversation That Works

Photo by Allagash.

The remarkable citizen-driven revitalization of the city of Buckhannon in Upshur County is one of the great community development success stories in West Virginia.

And the engine behind much of that energy is a simple gathering of locals that occurs every Thursday in an upstairs room of a main street restaurant.

Since 2009, this regular Thursday meeting of Create Buckhannon has brought together a diverse crowd of Buckhannon-ites to break bread, talk, and share ideas about things they can do to make their city a better place to live. Projects are proposed, ideas change and take new shape, some fade away and others gain momentum. Support groups are formed, opportunities for collaboration arise, action is taken.

The great thing about a regular community conversation is that it doesn’t have to be the same people week in week out. If certain people can’t make it one week, that’s okay. The meeting will carry on and new ideas will come to the table.

Many of Buckhannon’s signature achievements of the past few years were born of these informal gatherings, including the creation of Jawbone Park and its weekly market, placement of LED lighting in the main street, a summer music series, and local biking and walking routes.

So successful has Create Buckhannon’s regular community conversation been that others are starting to adopt the model in their city or town.

And we think that’s a great idea. A regular community conversation is easy to organize, creates a mechanism for collaboration and reporting, and opens the door to all kinds of people to get involved in the development of their community.

So, to help your neck of the woods start its own regular community conversation, here’s 5 Tips from Create Buckhannon.

5 Tips on How to Start a Regular Community Conversation That Works

    1. Make it a Priority.
      Weekly meetings allow you to build momentum. If you find an excuse to skip a week here and there, energy can start to wane. The same happens if you have the meetings too infrequently. The great thing about a regular community conversation is that it doesn’t have to be the same people week in week out. If certain people can’t make it one week, that’s okay. The meeting will carry on and new ideas will come to the table.
    2. Everyone’s ideas are important, they all need to be listened to.
      It’s important to publicize that meetings open to anyone, and to encourage the ideas of others at the table. You never know where a new idea will take you, even if it seems strange at first.
    3. Have a good facilitator to guide the conversation.
      Like at every public meeting, there are always some people who will do most of the talking. While all input is good, it’s important to not let “bullies” dominate the discussion as this will discourage new people from attending. A respected person to act as facilitator is crucial to ensuring the meetings don’t just become a soapbox for a small group of the most vocal folks.
    4. People need to get up from the table and go do something.
      Identify concrete action steps, and report back on them at the next meeting. These only need to be small tasks (“ask the city manager whether she knows who owns that building…”), but by creating and ticking off action steps you keep momentum going, and you let everyone see that the weekly conversation does actually result in movement.
    5. Start with small, visible projects and keep on moving forward.
      It’s not how great the effort, it’s how long you keep at it. Particularly when your community conversation is still in its infancy, find concrete things you can achieve relatively easily. This does wonders for morale, and it’s amazing how many new people you’ll attract to the table once they see change happening in the community.

      Extra Tip Number 6 is: Food! Nothing encourages socialization more than sharing a meal. Plus, by making it a lunchtime meeting, people who are at work can kill two birds with one stone. (And, your local restaurants will appreciate the business!)

 

A few other golden insights that drive the Create Buckhannon effort:

  • “A healthy community is one that can take risks when things are going well.”
  • “Everyone is important – it’s not just about whose idea it was.”
  • “Create opportunities for individuals to behave in a collaborative manner.”
  • “Be inclusive, not exclusive.”
  • “Keep it positive.”
  • “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”


Sounds like great advice to me. What are you waiting for?

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Partner Feature:

Our work is made possible thanks to incredible partnerships with other community development organizations across the state. From local economic development authorities (EDAs) to state level nonprofits working to uplift communities, all of our partners are crucial in making West Virginia the best it can possibly be by working together.One partner that made our work truly profound this year is Coalfield Development. For years, Coalfield Development has worked to rebuild Appalachian communities by inspiring the courage to grow, activating the creativity to innovate, and cultivating communities of opportunity in central Appalachia.We are proud to be part of Coalfield Development’s ACT Now Coalition, a broad network of organizations working hand-in-hand to uplift communities throughout Southern West Virginia. The ACT Now Coalition is infusing more than $63 million into programs to help communities using business development, building revitalization, and so much more.The Hub is leading the Community and Business Resilience Initiative as part of the larger ACT Now Coalition to bring other partners with us to build up community and business resilience in the Coalition’s footprint.“For decades, we’ve known the economy of southern West Virginia needs diversification. Some progress has been made on this goal, but not nearly enough,” Brandon Dennison, CEO of Coalfield Development, said about the ACT Now Coalition. “ACT Now constitutes a tangible opportunity to take a major leap forward in this generational challenge to become a vibrant, growing, diversified economy. In the wake of continued coal-job losses, nothing could be more important for our region.”Our partnership with Coalfield Development is giving us a chance to take our work to new communities and to build upon our years of experience. Working alongside Coalfield Development in this large undertaking to bring $63.8 million to communities in Southern West Virginia is validation that the work happening to uplift West Virginia communities continues to grow.

Community Feature:

The Hub works alongside communities across West Virginia coaching community teams as they come together to make transformative changes in their towns. In 2022, one town stands out for its continued work and unwavering commitment to making its community a place where people want to live, work, play, and visit.Petersburg, located in Grant County at the northernmost point of the Mon Forest, is filled with community members who want to make their town a destination. Not only have businesses opened, and stayed open, the town has transformed the way they present to the world through rebranding and outdoor recreational development.As part of the HubCAP IV program, Petersburg utilized its technical assistance to push forward with projects to bring transformative change to its community. Part of the work Petersburg worked towards was creating plans to pave a hike and bike trail that runs along the Petersburg dike. The proposed trail will run approximately three miles along the Petersburg dike and will include multiple entrances for walkers and bikers. The group secured a $25,000 grant from Senator Hamilton, which was matched locally by the City of Petersburg, the County Commission, and the Board of Education, each adding an equal share to bring the total to $50,000.This year, Petersburg witnessed a major upgrade to one of the town’s most iconic and historic structures: The Hermitage Inn. The hotel, which dates back to 1841, has been renovated and once again welcomes guests to stay the night and have a nice dinner in the restaurant.The Hermitage Inn is the first project initiated and completed as part of the Downtown Appalachia: Revitalizing Recreational Economies (DARRE) program. Seeing the old hotel returned to its majesty has been an incredible development for Petersburg adding another jewel to the downtown area.Seeing Hub communities come together to create transformative change thrills us. Community members are the subject matter experts on what their towns need. Our commitment to accompaniment and walking alongside communities as they do the hard work guides us in our work. Celebrating their victories with them gives us a moment to uplift those making the work happen.

DEI Journey:

Since 2018, The Hub has been working diligently to bring Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion into our work. For years, the organization has been working internally to expand on one of our core values: “We believe diversity creates strength.”We believe that now is a time when we must work from the ground up to commit to long-term efforts to build power through leadership development, programmatic strategies, and partnerships that commit to building power and advancing racial equity.Looking back at our organizational history, we acknowledge that our work in rural communities with populations of less than 15,000 has not reached a diverse cross-section of people in West Virginia. Because of this, we began to ask, “Who isn’t here?” when examining our involvement in communities. The social unrest in 2020 led us to examine our role in white supremacy, ableism, classism, and gender discrimination, and the ways we have perpetuated unjust systems in our communities and across West Virginia.Since 2020, our equity journey has included a staff racial equity learning series, making internal commitments to increasing our hiring and retainment of diverse staff including creating full-time Racial Equity Fellowship and VISTA positions, committing to increased coaching for rural communities of color across the state, and tackling the inherent challenges of advancing equity across the community development field within a highly rural, majority white state where Black and brown leadership has been historically marginalized and under-invested.Our belief in the power of local people to see the value and the potential of their place, and of each other, is at the core of our belief in the potential we have to build power in West Virginia to advance racial equity, inclusion, and accessibility while disrupting systems that have historically excluded some communities.We are committed to engaging in conversations to uplift communities and leaders of color to move from talk to action on why race matters in West Virginia as we work to disrupt these systems. We will support investment in Black-led organizations and rural Black leadership. And we are committed to driving public and private investments into these spaces, both organizational and geographic.

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Huntington

Core teams led by Thundercloud, Inc. and the City of Huntington participated in Opportunity Appalachia, receiving technical assistance to support community development projects located in Opportunity Zones.

Charleston

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White Sulphur Springs

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Petersburg

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Marlinton

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Monticello Neighborhood of Clarksburg

Residents participated in the Blueprint Communities* program to engage their neighbors and co-create strategic plans for their future. Watch their community documentary.

Meadow River Valley Region

Residents participated in the Blueprint Communities* program to engage their neighbors and co-create strategic plans for their future. Read their community case study.

Lewis County

Residents participated in the Blueprint Communities* program to engage their neighbors and co-create strategic plans for their future.

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Residents participated in the Cultivate WV program to kickstart community and economy building. Read their community case study.

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Message from our Executive Leadership Team

It has been a year of abundant opportunities and partnerships across the state, and a year that has pushed all of us to work harder, faster, and smarter – together.At The Hub, we say that “the work works when you put in the work.” This means that our approach to community-based development, and individual leadership development, really does transform local communities, especially when we all work together for the same goal, and stay committed to working together for the long haul.In 2023, we continued to be amazed at the local leadership, drive and innovation we saw in communities throughout the state that are building locally-driven development from the ground up. Our network of community leaders, partners and opportunities keeps growing and shows no signs of slowing in 2024!

We extend our deepest gratitude to everyone for being part of the larger Hub community as we reflect on this year’s deep impact in West Virginia communities through our work. We are thrilled to have champions who believe in our mission that every community in West Virginia can achieve economic growth when they are supported with the tools and training they need to lead and spark positive change.

We believe strongly in the fact that putting in the work yourself to improve your neighborhood, your town, and our state is where true transformational change happens. With strategic partners and thought leaders like you in the work with us, we continue to be able to walk alongside community teams as they do the work to uplift their communities.Thank you to all of the community teams and leaders who are brave enough to keep showing up every day, and putting in thousands of hours of volunteer time to support your communities and the entire state. Your determination in the face of difficult work and far-off successes is something to applaud yourself for – and to celebrate.Whether you’re volunteering on the ground in your community, sharing our stories of hope with your friends and neighbors, or attending a virtual event with The Hub, your participation in our work is what keeps it going. Thank you for all your work and support this past year, and we are excited to continue in the work with you in 2024!In Continued Accompaniment,

– WV Community Development Hub
Executive Leadership Team

Stephanie Tyree

Executive Director

Amanda Workman Scott

Director of Community Engagement

Katie Loudin

Director of Strategic Development