Services
Town Hall Meetings
New for 2006, the Heartland Center has developed an Appreciative Inquiry workshop template for Town Hall Meetings to assist rural communities to set priorities for economic development. American Town Hall meetings have an important place in our history as a country. They have been used to inform people of every rank and station about important issues of the day. In an effort to help communities reach their goals through collaboration and consensus building, the Heartland Center offers workshops in the form of Town Hall Meetings utilizing the Appreciative Inquiry process. Appreciative Inquiry is an approach to organizational and community change based on the study of communities when they function at their best. The Heartland Center’s approach helps communities identify promising opportunities for community collaboration, stakeholder involvement, and decision-making for community and economic development.
The four phases of Appreciative Inquiry include:
1. Discovery - Search for the best of what is and has been, finding the core strengths and values of the community, asking, "What worked in the past and why did it work?"
2. Dream - Participants are engaged in visioning for the future, answering, "What is the preferred future?"
3. Design - Participants go through a process to set priority goals that stem from the dream phase.
4. Delivery - After the priority goals are established, participants form task forces or committees to work on these goals.
To learn more about Town Hall Meetings, view our sample projects.