Successful community building requires:

Public Dialogue and Involvement
Effective community programs provide a forum for people to discuss and deliberate on issues that shape their common future. People must come together and commit to maintaining a constructive dialogue so that the ideas and issues are brought to life. To transform the community, it is critical to connect with other programs and projects that address shared concerns, and to motivate and engage many people. Civic participation is most powerful when it is intergenerational.

Collaborative Partnerships
Collaboration – working together, rather than alone – produces beneficial results for everyone concerned. With collaborative partnerships, people of all ages work together, sharing information, ideas, perspectives, skills and other resources — as well as responsibility — in order to remove obstacles and achieve common goals. In doing so, they reduce individual expenses in planning, research and training. Even more importantly, they share the rewards that come from their partnership.

Extension of the Leadership Pool
The community must constantly find ways to broaden the pool of leaders and develop new leaders in the future. Programs and communities that continually rely on the decisions of the same few key people fall short of their maximum potential. Access to leadership opportunities for many citizens who have little previous engagement is an important element in building strong communities.

Focus on the Next Generation
Effective communities are less interested in quick fixes and more concerned about long-term well-being and the future of their children. For example, they seek to attract growing industries to the community, knowing that their young people will stay in the region only if they can look forward to good jobs and a superior quality of life. Forward-looking communities focus on the future and take actions that help pave the road to the vision they have developed together.