Initiative seeks to get community talking, working together
The Greater Owensboro Leadership Institute and the Harwood Institute are partnering for a months-long intiaitve to catalyze community-led change within Owensboro-Daviess County.
Richard Harwood, president and founder of the Harwood Institute, said his visit to Owensboro next week has several goals.
“We want to introduce the work we’re launching with the leadership institute and to learn more about the community by talking to a cross-section of community leaders and residents,” he said.
The Harwood Institute will be working with the Greater Owensboro Leadership Institute into 2024.
“We are about to embark on a multi-month effort to see what matters most to people within the community, the civic strength of residents and how to work together moving forward,” Harwood said.
Stacy Edds-Ellis, executive director of the Greater Owensboro Leadership Institute, said Owensboro-Daviess County “thrives and prospers” when it works together.
“This initiative is focused on getting our community talking,” she said. “Not only do we have the keynote presentation next week to kick off this project, we also have over a dozen leader roundtables so Rich can get to know our community and we can get to know Rich.”
The Harwood Institute will conduct 36 in-depth interviews with local leaders and 16 focused, in-depth conversations with community leaders, all of which will result in a report that the organization will release in 2024.
Once the report is published, the Harwood Institute and the Greater Owensboro Leadership Institute will convene a series of roundtables with local leaders, organizations and residents to discuss implications for the community, explore next steps and provide opportunities for people to step forward and begin working together, according to a release about the efforts.
“The big picture is how a community that is experiencing division can move forward and make it work for everyone,” Harwood said.
Edds-Ellis said she hopes to engage residents and community leaders across Owensboro-Daviess County to understand the key issues and underlying conditions that make up the community.
“In all communities where Harwood has done this, the report serves as a catalyst for action,” she said. “The Harwood Institute will not tell us what to do; their focus is to help us catalyze actions, build local capacity and work together better.”
Harwood will support the community in multiple ways, Edds-Ellis said.
“Ultimately, we will work with local community partners, residents and leaders to catalyze action based on the community’s shared aspirations and strengthen our civic culture so we can work better together,” she said.
Harwood, who started in this line of work 35 years ago, said he has partnered in similar initiatives in Lexington and Clark County.
“This is something we do regularly and it’s important because all across America, communities have solutions imposed from the outside and the people in the community don’t get heard about what matters most to them,” he said.
Harwood said that leads to a lack of trust in communities.
“This is a different way to do business,” he said. “This path is more rooted in what matters and what makes sense to the community.”
A keynote presentation by Harwood will be held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Neblett Center. The event is free and open to the public but reservations are required and can be made at https://shorturl.at/uHKVZ.
“The keynote presentation is far more than a speech,” Edds-Ellis said. “The keynote focuses on Richard’s more than 30 years of working with communities to bridge divides and build civic culture.”
By Karah Wilson Messenger-Inquirer