This chapter in the Heart & Soul Community Planning Handbook describes why and how storytelling can provide a town with valuable insight into its own character and unique values.
Stories are a powerful tools for towns to unearth their common values, unique character, and individuality. This chapter, Discovering Community Values Through Stories in Heart & Soul Community Planning, provides towns with the steps necessary to use this invaluable resource. By making the connection between storytelling and community planning, this chapter explains how stories can bring a town together and help reveal underyling values. Thirteen steps describe how a town can successfully use storytelling to help with community planning, from understanding your community to unearthing themes and messages within the stories. This chapter also provides ideas for storytelling activities from past Heart & Soul communities and how these tools have been used to inform the planning process.
In 2008, the Orton Family Foundation pioneered Heart & Soul Community Planning, a process that has so far been piloted in selected communities in New England and the Rocky Mountains. The Foundation is currently in the process of developing a H&S Handbook that describes the entire process, first explaining the reasoning behind Heart & Soul Community Planning, then walking through the steps to achieve an inclusive, enduring, long-term community plan. With detailed descriptions of new tools and methods and examples from on the ground, this handbook is a resource for planners and citizens alike.
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