1. Creative Placemaking, Comprehensive Rural Wealth, and Rural Collective Impact: The Importance of County Leadership
Presented to the
New Hampshire Association of Counties
2018 Annual Conference and Tradeshow
September 16-18, 2018
Sunapee Lodge at Mount Sunapee Resort
Newbury, New Hampshire
Melissa Levy
Principal and Owner
Community Roots LLC
&
Charles W. Fluharty
President & CEO
Rural Policy Research Institute

2. Systems Thinking Re: Rural Advantage

3. The Framework for Regional Rural Innovation
New
Narratives
& Networks
Quality of
Place
Collaborative
Leadership
Knowledge Networks & Workforce
E-ship & Innovation
Critical Internal Considerations
Wealth Creation, Intergenerational Wealth Retention, and Appropriate Wealth Distribution
Youth Engagement, Retention, and Leadership Development
Social Inclusion and Social Equity Considerations
Specific Attention to Social Mobility and Inequality

4. Three Questions: Innovating What? Diversifying How?
Transitioning Where?

5. Innovating What? How “We” Consider “Us” How We “See” Our Region
How We “Consider” Our Options
How We Support The “Connectors”

6. Diversifying How? In Our Vision of the Future
In Our Sense of Possibility
In Our Actions and Alignments
In Our New Collaborations

7. Transitioning Where?

9. Five Conditions for Collective Impact Success
Common Agenda
Shared vision for change
Mutually Reinforcing Activities
Differentiated, but still coordinated
Backbone Organization
Serves entire initiative, coordinating participating
organizations, firms and agencies

10. Five Conditions for Collective Impact Success (cont’d)
Continuous Communication
Consistent, open, unmediated
Rigorous and Shared Measurement
Collecting predictive indicators, regional data: then
measuring ongoing results consistently

11. Eight Forms of Comprehensive Rural Wealth/Distribution
Physical
Financial
Natural
Human
Intellectual
Social
Cultural
Political

12. Policy Implications
A superior basis for assessing economic performance
Considers benefits and costs of non-market effects
Considers the returns to investment in the environment, education, health, intellectual property and social capital
Clarifies the concept of sustainability
Sustainability is growth in comprehensive wealth
Recognizes the complementarity among types of capital
Environment and health, natural capital and intellectual capital, for example

13. GDP measures everything except that which makes life worthwhile.
- Robert F. Kennedy

16. White House Meeting on Energy Sector Transition
Presented to the
White House Meeting on Energy Sector Transition
October 23, 2014
Charles W. Fluharty President & CEO
Rural Policy Research Institute

18. SOAR History / Rationale
Context, Challenge, Opportunity
Framework for Action
Working Group Mandates
Necessity of a Collective Impact Approach

19. 2014 SOAR Program of Work Plan the Work:
I. SOAR Summit (December)
Goals:
Renew Hope and Commitment
Build Regional Identity and Collaboration
Surface Ideas and Innovations
II. SOAR Development (January-May)
Goals:
Build an Organization
Create a Leadership Commitment / Common Vision
Seek Resources
Frame a Program of Work

20. Plan the Work: SOAR Working Group Process (June-August) Goals:
III.
SOAR Working Group Process (June-August)
Goals:
Enhance Citizen Engagement/Dialogue
Craft Specific Recommendations
Present Collaborative Action Opportunities to the Region
IV. SOAR 2025 Futures Forum
Goals:
Use Working Group Report to Begin Long Term Visioning
Identify Ten Year SOAR Goals
Create Metrics to Assess Progress Yearly

21. Working Group Mandates
Dispersed Regional Dialogue
Identification of Regional Priorities
Alignment, Wherever Possible
Suggestions to Enhance Collective Impact
Recommendations Regarding the Future Course of SOAR

22. Work the Plan: Goals: Priorities Discussed/Aligned Where Possible
I Year One Priorities (September-November)
Goals:
Priorities Discussed/Aligned Where
Possible
Founding Executive Director Hired
Region’s Leaders, Organizations, Institutions and Governments Asked to Engage

23. Work the Plan:
II SOAR Summit and Action Teams (January- Ongoing)
Generate Regional Buy-In and Responsibility For Recommended Action
Leadership/Teams Established, Work Begins
Year One Priorities Now Being Addressed
Goals:

24. Next Steps: 2015 Year One Priorities
Today: Region Receives Report
September/October: Regional Input (Speakers Bureau?) November: Board/Working Group Chairs Retreat November/December: Board Announces Priorities
Invites Regional Engagement/Support
January: Summit – Action Team Formation

25. Five Conditions for Collective Impact Success
Common Agenda
Mutually Reinforcing Activities
Backbone Organization
Continuous Communication
Rigorous and Shared Measurement