Alumnus
returns for 10th anniversary of
Helping
Small Towns Succeed
 Rick
Patterson was the new mayor of Firestone, Colorado, when he attended
the very first Helping Small Towns Survive (now Succeed)
institute in October of 1992. “Ten years ago I was one of
those young guys who had no clue,” he said while attending
the 2001 version of the program. “I sat there and went, ‘wow!
I just took it in and learned.”
Rick
said he decided to come back for a variety of reasons, including
a thought that “it was time to go back and revisit” the
subject matter of this five-day institute for small town leaders
and community developers. Beyond that, he said, he had noted the
name change (from Survive to Succeed) several years ago, and he
said the new name was relevant to where Firestone is today. Then
he took a look at the curriculum outline that appeared in Heartland
Center brochures and on the Web and concluded that the program had
grown to match the name change.
“A
lot of what I learned in Helping Small Towns Survive gave me the
tools to do everything I envisioned doing as mayor. It taught
me how to think strategically and succeed—to set goals, visions,
work plans, and then to circle back and keep on track.”
Rick Patterson, Mayor of Firestone, Colorado
This past October,
Mayor Patterson was one of 40 people from 20 states, the District
of Columbia and Canada to attend this popular institute, held every
year for the last decade in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Some participants,
like Rick, come from municipal governments. Others represent state,
regional and federal agencies, nonprofits, community foundations
and the private sector. Since 1992, more than 400 have attended
the program in Jackson Hole, and another 200 have attended when
the program was taken to another location with sponsorship of a
regional or federal agency.
The name change
was instituted several years ago when economic and social conditions
suggested that, for many small towns, success was the driving
theme, not just survival, according to Heartland Center Co-Director
Milan Wall. A co-founder of the Heartland Center, Wall was one
of this year’s trainers, along with Heartland Center Senior
Associate Leon Sharpe of St. Louis.
For Mayor Patterson,
this year was also an opportunity to attend with some different
conditions back home. The town of Firestone, located about 20 miles
north of Denver, has grown from 1200 to 3500 population in the 12
years that he has been its chief elected official. “The park
budget for 2001 is greater than the entire municipal budget was
ten years ago.”
Mayor
Patterson had noted the name change, from Survive to Succeed,
several years ago, and said the new name was relevant to where
Firestone is today. Then he took a look at the curriculum outline
and concluded that the program had grown to match the name change.
The chance to
attend the program originally, he said, made him “one of the
luckiest guys” in a position such as his. “A lot of what
I learned in Helping Small Towns Survive gave me the tools
to do everything I envisioned doing as mayor,” he said. “It
taught me how to think strategically and succeed—to set goals,
visions, work plans, and then to circle back and keep on track.”
Patterson said
he was also thankful for scholarship support from the Heartland
Center’s own Community Leadership Initiative, which provides
partial tuition support for a small group of people annually whose
training budgets may not cover all the costs of attending.
A part-time
mayor, Patterson works full time as an operations analyst in the
private sector.
Helping
Small Towns Succeed is the first of three companion training
institutes held annually in Jackson Hole, one of America’s
most scenic mountain resort towns. Next year it will be held October
24-28. The other programs are Skill-Building for Stronger
Communities, scheduled for May 15-18, 2002, and the brand
new Strengthening the Rural-Urban Connection, scheduled
for May 20-21. All three will be held next year at Snow King Resort
in the town of Jackson.
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