I moved back to my hometown last year because I inherited the family farm. Returning to a small, rustbelt community after being away for literally decades was a bit of a culture shock. In some ways it was good and in some ways, not so good. But mostly I’ve discovered that things aren’t necessarily better or worse here, they’re just different.
Big cities, small towns, and rural communities all struggle with the same challenges – poverty, economic instability, homelessness, mental health, drug issues, and more, these problems are literally everywhere. In some places some of us can shield ourselves from it — by avoiding certain neighborhoods, steering clear of public transportation, or frequenting only certain establishments, for example — but it’s still there, even if the community has found a way to hide it.
In the past though, living in any number of cities and suburbs across the midwest, US, and beyond, I somehow felt like I couldn’t impact change where I lived. Like I wasn’t enough a part of the community to make a difference, like my efforts would be wasted, ignored, or undervalued. Like my chances of helping others reach heights they only ever imaged were better in the corporate world, where there was more distance between me and the problems.
I’ve always been a helper, though, someone who wants to make things better, help those around me reach their potential, and generally leave things better than I found them. And the combination of the collapse of the white collar job market, being back home, and maybe also a new midlife perspective on the world has unlocked a newfound sense of urgency and passion in me in the space of community development, one that I’ve always been attracted to, but was previously harder to access somehow.
Maybe it just wasn’t the right time or place for me before. But here, where I can feel the highs and lows of this place in my bones, where my genes have been shaped by literally generations of experiences, where I can see the systems that have been at work since my childhood and the new ones that have sprung up in recent years, I feel a spark, a calling, a directive to make a difference where I’m planted.
So I’ve begun to explore how my skills in facilitation, coaching, systems thinking, building relationships, and growing trust can help communities and their members prosper. Maybe, just maybe, the work I’ve been doing inside corporations for decades is equally applicable in our communities, where the benefits can be reaped by all of us instead of by the fly-by-night CEOs, and the faceless shareholders.
In the past year, I learned to let go of the old me who was tightly coupled to her identity as a tech/agile/enterprise coach and allow the new me to explore new opportunities. And while the year was hard, it was also so very rewarding. I interviewed owners of small businesses, had coffee with elected officials, and met with teachers, corrections officers, hairdressers, farmers, administrators, executive directors and more. I learned about all sorts of varied and interesting roles in my community and how they each do their part to improve outcomes for me and my neighbors.
I had the opportunity to run some of the most rewarding workshops and activities I’ve ever organized. From conflict resolution and entrepreneurship through acquisition, to leading with moral authority, servant leadership, economic mobility, career nirvana, and more, I’ve helped any number of people in my community and beyond do better for themselves, their neighbors, and their communities.
Exploring these new concepts also reignited by passion for learning. According to my GoodReads account, I read (listened to) 56 books this year, including everything from middle grade and young adult fiction to women’s lit, biographies on Jim Henson. John D Rockefeller, J. Edgar Hoover, and Kelly Bishop, to non-fiction on farming, eviction, therapy, sales prospecting, and more. I even joined a banned book club at the local tea shop!
So where does this all leave me? I can’t say for certain where I’ll end up, but what I do know is that in the coming year I hope to find more work in the community changemaking space. I want to help my community and others like it be better, stronger, more prosperous, more connected, more real. I want to help neighbors reconnect with each other, find their common cause and go after it together. I want to help local governments, small businesses, non-profits and and public service organizations develop strategies and models that encourage a clear and strong community identity, one that attracts positive energy, and provides opportunities for all members to not just survive but to thrive, to grow, to prosper, and to dream about a future where their children can do even better than they did.
This might be a tough time to transition into this space given all that’s happening on the national and international front, but it’s also probably the most important time for us to do it. There’s a small group of wealthy people who seem hellbent on extracting all that’s valuable in our world and leaving the planet (and the rest of us humans) for dead. But there are more of us then there are of them. We just need to step up and step in. Because if we don’t, who will?
So I’m giving it a go. This year, I’m going to be vulnerable, strive to remain curious and try new things, even if they scare me, even when they result in backlash. I’m going to do what I can for my community and for others like it. I’m going to attempt to make space for difficult, charged even, conversations where people can build the social capital necessary to rekindle lost relationships and rebuild failing communities. Because recovery only happens in “the messy middle” where we take off our armor, lay down our swords, and open our hearts and minds to each other. I hope you’ll join me.
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