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This report was prepared for the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
by The Harwood Group:
The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, established in 1926, is a private philanthropy committed
to supporting projects that promote a just, equitable and sustainable society. It supports non-
profit programs throughout the United States and, on a limited geographic basis, internationally.
Grantmaking is focused in the areas of civil society; environment; Flint, Michigan (its home
community); poverty and education. In 1998, the Foundation made 550 grants totaling $88
million.
The Harwood Group is a public issues research and innovations firm that is a catalyst for
charting a different course for America’s public life and politics. The Harwood Group works in
four major platform areas: improving politics and public life; restriking social covenants;
reconnecting the news media and society; and growing community strength. Some of The
Harwood Group’s noted reports in the area of growing community strength include: A Work in
Progress: Creating New Possibilities for Chattanooga (1999); Waiting for the Future: Creating New
Possibilities for Youngstown (1999); Back to Basics: Creating New Possibilities for Flint (1997); and
Public Capital: The Dynamic System that Makes Public Life Work (1996). Other noted reports by
The Harwood Group include: The Harwood Barometer for Political Conduct (1998);
Money+Politics: People Change the Equation (1997); America’s Struggle Within: Citizens Talk about
the State of the Union (1996) and Citizens and Politics: A View From Main Street America (1991).
©1999 The Harwood Group and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. All Rights Reserved.
Table of Contents
3
it back for just a moment approaches, strategies and timing best fit for
things are not working right but cannot quite But to make strides forward, communities in
put their finger on exactly what it is or what the Waiting Place must begin the process of
“We find in our to do about it; it is a kind of “felt unknown.” growing their internal strength — the
The situation has not reached an impasse, a fundamental structures, relationships, leaders,
work repeatedly breakpoint, at which people say, “enough is networks and norms essential for a
enough!” community to work effectively. Growing
that most people public capital takes time and nurturing. And
operate as if their Here in the Waiting Place, people in a
community typically feel disconnected from
while a community in the Waiting Place must
grow its public capital, it must also move into
community is in who and how decisions are made on public
concerns. The community finds itself
some form of the Impasse stage.
The result: a community that feels stuck, and In Impasse, people fear for their economic
one in which people often tell you that they livelihood; feel isolated from others; mistrust
are waiting for someone or something to runs deep; organizations are in an endless
make things right, to save them and their battle over money and who gets credit for
community. doing anything. When we go to Impasse
communities, it is difficult for people to aspirations for their community and that they
identify leaders throughout the community, can, in small ways, start to make a difference.
especially ones with much credibility and
trust. Often there is a profound feeling that The group of catalysts that develops act as a
ordinary people, and even trusted leaders, community’s Centers of StrengthTM, sparking
lack the power to make change. action in the community. The size of their
actions, for the most part, is not the vital
A community in Impasse is at a decision gauge for progress; rather, it is that their
point. The old way of doing public business actions produce some semblance of results
is now in direct conflict with a yearning that give people a sense of faith and hope
among people to move in a different that progress is possible and that the
direction. One option is to continue down community indeed has the capacity to act.
the well-worn path of least resistance. It is a
path that will probably lead to even deeper Many people in the community may not even
and wider gaps in a community already recognize the emerging action at first. But
divided, where the usual routine spells when they do, they may mistake it for “more
gridlock, turf battles and people acting to of the same” — reflexively reminding them of
further their own, not the community’s, best previous attempts, many of which may have
interests. As a result, the community may failed, in years past; they will need to see
find itself facing the future with the same — much more activity before gaining
probably with even more serious — confidence. Other people will declare that
challenges. the community is on the verge of fully
turning itself around, and assume a false
The other path is much more difficult, but sense that their work is done and their future
potentially much more rewarding to the is set; at that point people tend to revert back
community. It is a path where people declare to their old norms of doing public business.
that they want to break with the status quo: Progress is killed; the Catalytic stage peters
to move beyond Impasse and, in doing so, out.
create a community where people build new
ways to work together to address issues of As the Catalytic stage unfolds, it is essential
common concern. This process of self- that the Centers of Strength gain depth and
discovery in a community takes time. But purpose and that the number of them grow,
when it does eventually occur, when a but slowly. What is more, links and networks
community is ready to move beyond Impasse, must be built between and among the
that the building of public capital can truly Centers of Strength; for it is through these
begin. Then it will become time for the networks that new norms for how work gets
Catalytic stage. done spread in the community; that there is
the diffusing and linking of ideas and public
action; and that new leaders throughout the
community are identified and nurtured.
Catalytic
During this stage, a small group of people
and organizations emerge to take risks and
Growth
experiment in ways that challenge existing
norms of how the community works. In Over the course of this stage, Centers of
addition, people within their community Strength will be expanding; networks
begin to discover that they share common growing and spreading; a sense of common
8 A N O T H E R H A R W O O D F R A M E W O R K R E P O R T
But wait. Society has a rhythm of its own. Our lives have a rhythm of their own. Yet
we keep being told by funders, by ourselves, by the colleges and graduate schools at
which we are educated, that we as professionals should make communities fit our time
lines, our grant schedules, our pronouncements of promised change that often serve
only to create outlandish expectations and dashed hopes.
You cannot change society like you can switch stations on your television. It is not as
if there is a remote control that we can click effortlessly to alter the rhythms of society.
We need to come to understand the rhythms of society so that our programs and
initiatives work with those rhythms, take advantage of them, even accelerate them.
For instance, when trying to develop a community’s public capital — how people talk,
how they are connected to one another through informal networks, how different
layers of community leadership form — we cannot expect significant change simply by
creating a program and then declaring our work done some handful of months later,
because we have declared it is time to do something new.
The evolution of a community takes times. The question I believe we must ask
ourselves is this: Are we going to use a stopwatch to govern our work in society, or
will we come to understand society’s natural rhythms and what they mean for our
work? To be effective, we must catch these natural rhythms and understand them.
—Richard C. Harwood
Excerpt from a speech, Moving from a Flat World
to a Round World in Public Life.
purpose and direction taking deep root. community to make good decisions and,
People within the community now see clear importantly, to take risks; it is as if the
and unmistakable signs of how the community in the Growth stage has given
community is moving forward and can see itself permission to fail, expressing a strong
and feel and experience much greater faith that such “failing” will lead to insights
leadership at all levels of the community — into better ways to move forward. The
from the official level, to neighborhoods, community has much greater confidence and
within civic organizations and non-profits. has generated a new story about itself.
What is more, people also feel a different But as the Growth stage nears its end, people
spirit in the community; and they talk about will start to tire; networks will not have fully
it. More people are working together, formed across and throughout the entire
something people cherish. People’s community and those that have may be
confidence grows in themselves and in their fraying a bit; new groups will begin to form
C O M M U N I T Y R H Y T H M S : F I V E S T A G E S O F C O M M U N I T Y L I F E 9
to ensure their particular view is heard, When a community does make the
possibly leading to a new round of transformation into the Sustain and Renew
fragmentation. After years of enormous work stage, it begins to take on especially deeply- “Communities
and vigilance, many people’s energy and rooted issues. It is not that these issues were
participation will begin to flag. unimportant before, but they may not have have rhythms to
been a community’s primary focus through
The challenge is how a community at this the first four stages, or the community simply them that we must
point in its development can move into its may not have been ready to deal with them.
next stage of community life. Also, by now, new challenges are on the
come to
horizon that need attention. understand so that
What’s more, in this stage, a community finds our approaches,
that despite all its efforts, people and areas
within the community may have been left programs and
Sustain and Renew behind. New emphasis on growing networks
and links throughout the entire community, initiatives — and
A community in the Sustain and Renew stage especially into poorer or “disconnected” or
must find ways to bring along new Centers of surrounding regional areas. The same can be the building of
Strength, new leaders and a new cadre of true for developing and linking up leaders in
citizens to be the spark plugs. Without them, these areas too.
public capital —
the community will stagnate and possibly
enter a new stage of decline.
And in the Sustain and Renew stage, a
community seeks to ensure that the gains of a
work with those
community’s growth is shared by all; that the rhythms, take
advantage of
them, even
accelerate them.”
About Our Research
In Community Rhythms, five communities are profiled, each one serving as a case
study for a particular stage of Community Life. Each profile illuminates what that stage
looks and feels like. Our research captures a particular moment in time in the life of
each community. By now, for the most part, some of these communities have changed.
Over a ten year period, The Harwood Group studied and explored the public capital
(and refined our own frameworks) in a variety of communities. Community Rhythms
looks at five of those communities: Greenwood, Mississippi (1996); Youngstown, Ohio
(1999); Flint, Michigan (1997); Tupelo, Mississippi (1996); and Chattanooga,
Tennessee (1999). The Harwood Group will conduct a progress study in Flint,
Michigan in January, 2000.
In each of these communities, The Harwood Group, using its public capital framework,
conducted telephone interviews with a range of leaders and through living room
conversations with citizens to learn about how public life works in their community.
We also conducted one to two mapping workshops in each community with leaders
and citizens to ask them if the story we captured rang true and to fill any gaps. To
learn more about the Harwood Public Capital Framework, see the last section of this
report.
10 A N O T H E R H A R W O O D F R A M E W O R K R E P O R T
gains are not simply economic, but that the big splash and the concentric circles that
community is tending to its soul. emerge, which ultimately disappear, with a
“A community’s process of continually dropping pebbles in
the lake and seeing the ripples start to
progress is based Rhythms of connect and then overlap; indeed they
on this foundation Community Life envelop one another.
II.
The Harwood Index
The Har
F I V E S T A G E S
The Harwood Index The Waiting Place Impasse
Flint, MI - 1997
measure a community’s success
— instead, it is designed to be a
touchstone for communities as
they make decisions about how
to move forward.
Chattanooga, TN
Flint, MI - 1999
Tupelo, MS
III.
Five
Community Stories
Greenwood,
Mississippi
In Decline
affection for the community that we hear in groups dig in their heels and declare, “Our
the other communities. way or no way.” And decline continues.
The Waiting
Place
“We’re stuck.”
C O M M U N I T Y R H Y T H M S : F I V E S T A G E S O F C O M M U N I T Y L I F E 19
There is also deep fragmentation along different congregations have started prayer
ethnic, economic and racial lines. People use meetings to get to know one another and
the word “parochialism” over and over to form connections. Block watches are
describe the situation. “We have no history scattered across the city and each side of
of looking for similarities,” said one man, “we town has a neighborhood association.
play up the differences.”
But this small group of folks quickly say that
As in Greenwood and Flint, people in this feeling is not, as one said, “recognized
Youngstown carve out a sense of community generally yet ... people think there is nothing
for themselves from a small circle of family they can do about the way things are done.”
and friends. They identify closely with their
neighborhood or ethnic group and say they And leaders say that they have a difficult time
are more likely to describe themselves as a motivating their neighbors to participate in
“northsider” or “from the south side” than as community life — they say they are afraid to
someone from Youngstown. While this is a go out at night, others do not want to get
sign of neighborhood pride, it also can be a near anything that involves politics and many
barrier to creating networks — formal and simply do not think they can make a
informal — that span the community. People difference. So despite efforts to create new
feel that they have little in common with ways for people to get involved in
folks from different groups or neighborhoods. community life, many folks are still reluctant
One block watch captain talked about the to pursue them.
difficulties in getting his neighbors to attend
block watch meetings in other parts of the But it is this core group of people, whose
city: “People from different sides of town optimism could almost be described as wildly
don’t want to meet — I don’t know why,” he out of sync with the general mood of the
said. city’s residents, that start to move
communities through the stages of
This parochialism extends to government community life. You will hear more about
agencies, non-profits and civic groups. There the role of core groups in the Flint “Extra”
is a reluctance to working together, with story and especially in Chattanooga’s story.
many groups duplicating the actions of
others. People interviewed had very little Youngstown’s Future
awareness of actions or leaders outside of
their immediate neighborhood or professional While a city in decline like Greenwood can
circle. only focus on the here and now — and
largely the past — people in Youngstown talk
But there are some isolated efforts to engage about the need to address concerns that will
people in public life in Youngstown and some impact the future of their community.
links are starting to emerge among
organizations. There is an identifiable, small But they do not know how to get there.
group of people who are more hopeful about “We’re waiting for a knight in shining armor”
the community, sensing that things are to come and solve the city’s problems,
starting to turn around and that “Youngstown declared one man. Indeed, Youngstown
is a city that can be worked with.” seems to be waiting for an intervention of
some sort to help pull everyone together and
Churches, block watch groups and push ahead. People define intervention
neighborhood associations engage people on differently — an infusion of government
a limited basis. The two most prominent money, a community plan, a strong leader.
community efforts on housing are the result But there is a sense that the city is just
of several churches coming together. waiting.
Ministers and church members from the
19
97
Flint,
Michigan
Impasse
“Enough is enough!”
22 A N O T H E R H A R W O O D F R A M E W O R K R E P O R T
community to create and sustain the public from the equation. They say that fear and
capital it needs to address its challenges. As frustration are keeping them from engaging
one woman pointed out, “If you don’t feel in public life. They bemoan the failure of But one thing that
like you belong in your own little individuals to take responsibility to act. And
neighborhood, how on earth can you feel like they feel that their lack of participation is The Harwood
you can go to a town meeting and feel contributing to the area’s overall challenges.
comfortable?”
Group heard loud
When asked to name leaders in their
Flint’s Future and clear is that
community, at any level, people found it Flint is at a decision point. One option is to
continue down the well-worn path of least
despite their
difficult to do so. “There’s very few people
trying to make Flint a better place,” one man resistance. A path that might lead to even feelings of
concluded. Throughout our conversations, deeper and wider gaps in a community
people were skeptical of leaders’ motives and already divided, where the usual routine isolation and
say that most — especially elected leaders — spells gridlock, competitiveness and people
do not act in the community’s best interests. acting to further their own, not the disconnection,
The divisiveness of Flint’s leaders, who we community’s, best interests. As a result, Flint
heard rarely join forces to work together on may find itself facing in the future the same residents of Flint
— and even more serious — challenges than
community issues, further fuels people’s
mistrust and skepticism. it does today.
do not excuse
The other path will be much more difficult,
themselves from
In fact, we heard that not only do leaders act
in isolation from one another, so too do but potentially much more rewarding. Many the equation.
Flint’s various civic, non-profit and other people say the status quo is not working and
community organizations. People say that they are ready to break the impasse: to create
too many Flint area organizations and a community where people build new ways
institutions preoccupy themselves with their to work together to address issues of
own agendas and interests. They rarely reach common concern. In choosing this direction,
out to try to learn what is important to those the Flint community has a genuine
in the community. Instead of combining opportunity to move forward.
their strengths to respond to challenges,
organizations are viewed as working against Like Youngstown, people in Flint want to
each other. tackle issues and concerns that will help
them build a better quality of life and a future
One man described it this way: “It would be for their community. In addition to job
like if you unwind the rope, each strand is creation, they talk passionately about
not all that strong. That’s basically what you children and youth-related problems. “I like
have when you have a bunch of different helping the youth, because that’s going to be
organizations all trying to do the same thing. our future,” pointed out one woman. And
But they end up coming down to all trying to while people in Greenwood lament that their
do it their own way.” The result is continued political leaders are not creating the changes
gridlock, which further splinters the they want to see, people in the Flint area are
community. People suggest that too many talking about what each individual needs to
civic groups and institutions have not do to move the community forward.
“changed with the times.”
“Flint’s not dead yet … the lights are still on,”
But one thing that The Harwood Group claimed one young man. And there are small
heard loud and clear is that despite their changes starting to happen across the
feelings of isolation and disconnection, community as individuals strive to do public
residents of Flint do not excuse themselves business in a new way.
99 A
19 X T R
E
Flint,
Michigan
Catalytic
“I am more active.”
C O M M U N I T Y R H Y T H M S : F I V E S T A G E S O F C O M M U N I T Y L I F E 25
they can stay at the table and keep moving Challenges still exist in Flint. Many residents
forward. still have little hope for the future and see the
city as continuing to decline. The recent
Institutional and agency leaders are closure of General Motor’s Buick City has left
showing more interest in working with some wondering if this is the final nail in the
other groups and tapping into the city’s coffin. The public schools and crime in
community. There are more requests to some neighborhoods continue to be a great
participate in The Place for Public Ideas than challenge.
there are available spaces. Leaders from
different cultural organizations are trying to But as The Harwood Group has heard from
organize a unified millennium celebration. citizens across the country, people do not
Leaders are showing more interest in learning expect change to happen overnight. If it took
from citizens to help them in their decision years to go into decline, people say, it is going
making. Many are organizing “focus groups” to take time to get out of it. We have found
on their own or requesting access to that a community’s Catalytic stage depends
community conversations led by The on the small steps taken by a small group of
Harwood Institute for Public Innovation. people that start a ripple effect into the
community.
Flint’s Civic Brigade
The different people and organizations
starting to take action are the beginning of,
what we call, a Civic BrigadeTM for Flint that
will grow over time. As more and more
people start to see and hear what is
happening, they will become engaged and
start to create new connections across the
community.
Tupelo,
Mississippi
Growth
Today, Tupelo is in the Growth stage. Tupelo People and organizations in Tupelo bring a
residents express a sense of optimism and positive and proactive attitude to community
energy that we do not hear in cities in earlier challenges. It is expected, people explained,
stages of community life. that everyone will find a way to play a role in
community life. And it is also expected that
When we asked people in Tupelo to describe the “positive will win out.” As a community,
their community, they were quick to say that people say, Tupelo strives to be inclusive and
it is “welcoming,” “inclusive” and put family and children first. The focus is on
“progressive.” They talk with pride about all finding solutions that benefit the community
that the city has to offer — both business and as a whole, not fighting turf wars.
cultural opportunities. Their enthusiasm is
infectious. Newcomers told us that they have But we also heard a growing sense of concern
never received such a warm welcome as they among people about whether (and how)
did upon moving to Tupelo. They talk about Tupelo will be able to sustain its “community
churches and civic groups extending spirit” as the town grows and new people and
invitations to new members, asking “Will you new leaders come into the community.
become part of our community?” People talk about the community becoming
increasingly diverse and new people “with
There is a buzz of talk and action across the ideas of their own” moving into town. Some
community. Soccer games, organized pot- describe Tupelo as experiencing “growing
lucks and festivals are just some of the places pains” as it struggles to deepen its public
that bring people together from across capital and engage new people in community
Tupelo. People take advantage of these life.
opportunities to meet new folks and
introduce people to one another. And talk
“A Work Together Attitude”
often turns to community concerns. People
told us that they feel free to express their Strong norms for engaging in public life and
opinions in these conversations. The town’s wide-ranging community networks that
numerous luncheon and civic clubs and spread and reinforce these norms are at the
church groups are also places where people core of Tupelo’s strong public capital. People
C O M M U N I T Y R H Y T H M S : F I V E S T A G E S O F C O M M U N I T Y L I F E 29
describe a “peer pressure” from all sides that say that the paper has gone a long way to
does not just encourage but sets an helping establish strong, positive norms in
expectation for people and groups to find Tupelo — emphasizing that “what’s good for People in Tupelo
ways to be engaged in community life. These the community is good for you.” The Journal
norms have developed over a long period of also helps highlight important issues or told us that they
time. Said one man who grew up in Tupelo, concerns in the community, spurring
“As someone who spent my formative discussion on them. “If a [community issue]
want to go deeper
years here, I can’t fathom not being
involved.”
is in the newspaper,” one woman explained,
“people know it’s important.”
— both in terms
of the challenges
We also heard about a growing number of Tupelo’s Future
individuals who have connections to people they focus on and
and groups across the community. These But as Tupelo looks to the immediate future,
Connective LeadersTM help create links people expressed concern about how to the levels of the
between organizations and spread news and maintain and strengthen the community’s
ideas across the community. These folks are public capital. “As we grow as a city, we need community they
also role models for others, reinforcing the to grow as a community,” observed one
expectation of community involvement. resident. engage.
They talk about feeling a responsibility to
“teach by example.” People in Tupelo told us that they want to go
deeper — both in terms of the challenges
People told us repeatedly that “a work- they focus on and the levels of the
together attitude” was key to moving Tupelo community they engage. Tupelo has worked
to where it is today. They point not only to on economic development and social issues
individuals working together, but that focused on a more narrow aspect of
organizations and leaders putting aside community life. Now, they say they want to
personal concerns to think about the turn their attention to challenges that affect
community as a whole. the community’s overall health, such as
housing and single-parent families.
Tupelo has a strong network of catalytic
organizations. People point to CDF, the local We discovered the same challenges in
economic development foundation, CREATE, Chattanooga in the Growth stage. And as in
the community foundation, and the Chattanooga, people in Tupelo are starting to
newspaper, The Northeast Mississippi Daily see in this stage of community life that while
Journal as encouraging engagement in public they have strong norms and a large number
life and promoting the efforts of other groups. of engaged citizens, there are still those that
CDF and CREATE not only play a vital role feel left behind, not listened to, or truly a
in the community by providing seed money part of the community’s progress. Residents
for initiatives, but also by working, along of Tupelo are also starting to sense that they
with the newspaper, to bring together diverse will need to develop new tools and strategies
groups of community leaders to take action for achieving these goals. They told us they
on challenges. People told us that these want to see the informal networks and
catalytic organizations have credibility in leadership push deeper into the community
their eyes, in large part, by seeking to engage and bring more diverse voices to the table.
a broad range of folks; then following
through and helping the community succeed; But people in Tupelo are hopeful that if the
and finally, promoting the community’s can tackle these tough issues, “we’ll be leaps
successes. and bounds ahead of other communities.”
Growth
“A work in progress.”
C O M M U N I T Y R H Y T H M S : F I V E S T A G E S O F C O M M U N I T Y L I F E 31