We leaned about new member Milan Wall's amazing career, including his non-profit, Heartland Center for Leadership Development. Milan Wall has a wealth of knowledge and experience helping communities identify their strengths while building goals for the future.
Mr. Wall led rural communities using the “Appreciative Inquiry Method." “It starts out asking ‘What’s been working?’ and ‘What’s behind that success?” said Milan Wall, co-director of the Heartland Center for Leadership Development and contact for Leadership Schuyler. “The negatives don’t get ignored, but they get transformed into opportunities.” https://ruralprosperityne.unl.edu/news/leading-locally-program-helps-create-leaders-rural-communities/
The small town of Pilger, Nebraska, worked together to rebuild after they experienced the devastating effects of a 2014 tornado. https://norfolkdailynews.com/news/participants-reinvent-pilger-at-town-hall-meeting/article_4a6c7bda-4586-11e4-b3ff-001a4bcf6878.html
The success of his work led to an invitation to Washington, D.C, working with inner city neighborhoods and empowering neighborhood leaders. These communities were followed up 5 years later to find that the previous work continued to make a difference.
Read more to learn about the 20 CLUES TO RURAL COMMUNITY SURVIVAL, which have the possibility to be applied to many community situations.
Heartland Center for Leadership Development
20 CLUES TO RURAL COMMUNITY SURVIVAL
- Evidence of Community Pride
- Emphasis on Quality in Business and Community Life
- Willingness to Invest in the Future
- Participatory Approach to Community Decision Making
- Cooperative Community Spirit
- Realistic Appraisal of Future Opportunities
- Awareness of Competitive Positioning
- Knowledge of the Physical Environment
- Active Economic Development Program
- Deliberate Transition of Power to a Younger Generation of Leaders
- Celebration of Diversity in Leadership
- Strong Belief in and Support for Education
- Problem Solving Approach to Providing Health Care
- Strong Multi-Generational Family Orientation
- Strong Presence of Traditional Institutions that are Integral to Community
- Sounds and Well Maintained Infrastructure
- Careful Use of Fiscal Resources
- Sophisticated Use of Technology Resources
- Willingness to Seek Help from the Outside
- Conviction that, in the Long Run, You Have to Do it Yourself
"The 20 clues are taken from the Heartland Centers Clues to Rural Community Survival, a landmark study profiling thriving small towns and reservations. The list of vital characteristics provides an “ideal” benchmark against which people can measure their own community. It moves people naturally from theory, to stratgey, to action."