One of the common problems in any small community is to get the members of that community more involved. Involvement comes in many forms, from running for office, to becoming an active member of a community oriented group, to attending local events and shopping at local stores.
We currently live in an era of disconnection. We have access to the world via the web, and we have access to more places because of our great roads and vehicles. We are not afraid to travel, and most of us do so for work, shopping, and fun. Because we all are moving in different directions, it is often harder to connect with each other.
Instead of connecting based on geography, we tend to connect based on interest. I personally have friends all over the world who share an interest in entrepreneurship. Overall, having wide open ability to travel and connect online is a good thing. But does it hurt our small towns?
We do not have as strong a sense of place as we used to. That is a fact, so I will not bemoan it. But my question is this, how can all of us better connect with the place in which we live? In other words, how can we engender a sense of home that can be shared with other members of the community?
I believe a big part of connecting with a place, with making it home so to speak, is to get more involved with that place. It is a good goal to engender pride in the community in which you live. We have a lot of pride in our hometown, but we also can easily disconnect from it. Only a small portion of us experience an event at any one time, whether it be a high school football game, a carnival, or a village hall meeting.
Idealists would hope to increase numbers at these types of events. They would hope that through sheer force of will we could get more people to shop locally and to seek out local entertainment. But a lot of things have to work together to provide a swell in community involvement.
I think before we can increase involvement, we need to work on improving communication. Small towns don’t have papers anymore, but most of us have access to the internet. I think it would be nice if we could be better informed as a community about what is going on, politically, socially, with businesses and families. And I think it could all start with a few simple tools, perhaps a website and an email list.
Once more of us know what our village has to offer, more of us will get involved. It may be a trickle, but one more local shopper, one more family enjoying a pleasant day at the park, one more business learning about a new opportunity will help a community to grow.
What do you think?