Community Storybooks are powerful tools for community decision making, documenting in words and images what matters most to residents. They offer a snapshot of local character, values and sacred places, captured through a participatory process.
Natural landscapes, built features, cultures and traditions that make a place unique are among the most compelling reasons people choose to live where they do. In adjusting to change, communities may lose the very character of the places they cherish. Traditional planning practices rarely take into account what residents value most in their communities, thus putting at risk those attributes that make them unique.
Community Storybooks helps towns steer change in a way that accords with their values. A Community Storybook is a powerful tool for community decision making, documenting in words and images what matters most to residents. It enhances local planning and visioning processes by collecting diverse voices, offering a snapshot of local history, values, sacred places and cherished symbols. Such vital local knowledge is often lost in the drive to collect quantitative data but it is essential to the preservation of a community's “heart and soul.”
In early 2011, Community Storybooks co-founders Victoria Berkley and Darcy Varney created a Community Storybook with residents of Nederland, Colorado, a small town in the Rocky Mountains experiencing tensions caused by change. The approach built on residents’ participation in Envision Nederland 2020, a visioning process to guide the town’s future development. In identifying the “sacred structure” of the town, residents helped shape the Community Storybook as a guidebook to help enhance Nederland’s special character rather than let it get lost in future development. At the end of the process, residents had a concrete product to communicate their values and the uniqueness of their community.
In 2012, Community Storybooks became a project of the Center for Community Development (CCCD) at the University of Colorado Denver, increasing its capacity to work with communities in Colorado and around the region. Community Storybooks is now offering mapping and design services to help communities identify, protect and enhance their cherished structure.
Services offered:
1. Facilitate community focus groups
2. Conduct individual interviews
3. Make and collect high-quality photos (can also facilitate a youth photography workshop)
4. Present rough draft at a community summit
5. Present final draft at a book launch party
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