OneDay, a project of OneHartsville
Donation protected
Introduction (full organizational goals and projects follow the introduction and funding levels; we have plans in progress and ready for implementation)
We are a grassroots organization in a small town in the South. We are seeking funding for a documentary and projects associated with it to build substantial unity in our town across racial, gender, and socioeconomic lines. We have developed what we call a therapeutic model for building relationships across traditional social boundaries. We have many projects planned that are aimed at bringing our community together across these societal lines. A documentary would explore the root causes of these divisions and follow our organization as we attempt to bridge the gap through relationship building in bold new ways. A documentary would allow us to engage a national audience in the process and help us to develop a model that other communities can use to overcome differences and build meaningful and authentic relationships across racial, gender, socioeconomic, and other societal boundaries. We hope to start a national movement so that our nation can begin to heal. We believe that in order to have meaningful discussions about these divisions, we must first develop trust. Trust is developed through relationships. Relationships are developed through meaningful, human interaction. We will be bold, intentional, and transparent about our purpose for our projects, no longer simply hoping that an event may attract people because of common interests. We intentionally bring people together for the purpose of building diverse relationships around common humanity. Our belief is that if we build trust and relationships exposing the common humanity and emotion in all of us, there will be no need to have an intellectual or political discussion about overcoming issues such as racism and resource distribution; trust and relationship will resolve the issues from the ground up, on an emotional level, a human level.
Want to help?
If you would like to volunteer, please contact us via FB, Twitter, or Gmail: Facebook.com/OneHartsville; Twitter.com/OneHartsville; [email redacted].
To support funding efforts:
Even just $1 matters and we will shout with thanks to the heavens for you supporting our work!
$10 - you will receive a Twitter and/or facebook shout out!
$25 - if we reach our goal, you will get a OneHartsville sticker!
$50 - if we reach our goal, individuals receive a thank you a listing on our website.
$100 - if we reach our goal, individuals receive name listing in credits of documentary.
$1000 - if we reach our goal, businesses receive bold listing on website under sponsors with hyperlink.
$5000 - if we reach our goal, businesses receive primary sponsor status and will be recognized with logo & hyperlink on landing page of website, a video thank you on our social media outlets with tag, and first listing in credits and a thank you!
$10000 - if we reach our goal, you will receive a thank you in opening credits of the film and all the benefits of the $5000 level.
$25000 - if we reach our goal, all benefits of 10000 and a OneHartsville member will come meet you in person.
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Detailed Organizational Structure, Concepts, Funding Goals, Projects, etc.
Our grassroots organization in small town in SC wants to fund a documentary to study the roots of race-based division (social and geographical) and ways that we can move forward building unity in our small town. We would like to document our organization, OneHartsville, implementing projects on a large scale designed to build relationships across traditional social boundaries such as race, gender, and socioeconomic status. We have devised a therapeutic model to approach division and have already seen it work small scale. The therapeutic model essentially views community divisions as relationship problems between individuals and applies principles you may see used in therapy on a community level in resolving it. Several principles we use in designing and implementing projects are communication, authenticity, transparency, compassion, intentionality, and safe spaces for sharing. A core belief of ours and possibly the most important driver is that communities are not “systems” or “networks.” These are terms applied to technology. People are not robots. People are complex, have desires, emotions, and are affected by all manner of experience and trauma. So, approaching issues in our society through solely logical solutions will not work on the whole. Neither can we measure success solely upon numbers, as though human outcomes could be printed out like a balance statement. The truth is, communities are essentially organisms, not organizations. They are made of heart, spirit, and emotion as well as logic. Our projects would hide no motives about the goal, which is to build relationships across these boundaries. We do not design projects around a common interest and hope that people will build relationships. We design projects around common humanity and appeal to ideals and morals that we all largely share such as those presented in faith based institutions regarding unity and love in order to build a diverse attendance. The projects are then moderated but community is allowed to form without intrusion; the moderator only ensures emotional safety and encourages open and honest discussions.
We believe that our projects implemented in a small town can be a microcosm for exploration. We are small enough that we can likely have an impact; we are large enough that positive changes are relevant. An unlikely small town in the deep south, we believe, is the ideal location for just such an initiative. A documentary will help us share what we learn openly with the nation. We hope to start a discussion here, removing taboos around typically difficult-to-discuss subjects such as race. Communication is the first step to building trust; trust is the first step to building relationships; relationships are required for overcoming differences. We believe that it is not maximally effective to discuss social issues on an intellectual or political level. If what brings us together is our differences then any forum designed around this will harden our stances in those differences. If we want to have a discussion about race-related issues, we have to first build relationships between people of different races. Relationships help us to see the common humanity we all share. Geographical isolation only serves to perpetuate misguided ideologies and stereotypes. Spending even a brief amount of time around others in a conversation about family, for example, exposes humanity and cultivates bonds between people. What we experience is that we all hurt when we lose a loved one, we all feel great love for our children, and we all are struggling towards a common goal of happiness. Once that humanity is exposed between “subsets” of people, perspectives change and progress can be made. This process may even have affects in the political process; however, we claim no ideal on this level and endorse no specific candidates or political parties. When humanity is exposed, decision makers cannot rely on grouping people together anymore and they cannot be viewed as numbers. These experiences add a feeling of deep responsibility towards others and decisions are weighed more heavily. After all, the distribution of resources affect actual people… with feelings… with kids… with families. Our only goal on this level would be to simply help elected officials widen their perspective.
We believe that our projects will be successful in building unity and relationships across social boundaries and that we can greatly impact the dynamic of our community. Some projects may work more than others. Some may not work at all. We are certain to face difficulty and backlash. In order to be successful we will need assurance that the world is watching. This added support will give us motivation and ensure transparency. We want to share our process with the world and get feedback from others as we attempt to create a model for other communities. There has never been a better time or more urgent need for such an initiative given what we face throughout cities in the U.S. Please help us. Support something authentic, something true to our human spirit, something larger than yourself. This is our time, our generation; we are not subservient to the past.
Funding Goal 1:
We want to raise enough to cover the cost of our crowdfund video featured here. LeftFoot Media filmed this video free of charge because the owner believes in our mission.
Funding Goal 2:
Set up non-profit status or social entrepreneur status so that our grassroots organization can raise funds and continue to legitimately raise funds and have an impact.
Funding Goal 3:
Set up a website so that we can have a better presence online.
Funding Goal 4:
Fund projects designed to build relationships between diverse groups and individuals. The majority of our projects require very little resources as we are all volunteer; however, given our limited resources (zero at this time) we do need some funding for permitting fees and other basic overhead costs for obtaining spaces to moderate relationship building activities. We also already work with other organizations to bring different entities together to accomplish goals together. The guiding requirement for our organization is that we must bring people together, who might not otherwise come together in a meaningful and authentic way. A description and sample of our initiatives are at the end of this section.
Funding Goal 5:
Create a full-length documentary to better understand and promote awareness of the root causes of division in our town, gather perspectives from diverse people on causes and ways forward, document our organization’s projects as we move forward.
Funding Goal 6:
Community consulting – eventually, our goal is to provide consulting to communities throughout the U.S. Meeting with stakeholders and helping others reach out to key leaders and emerging young leaders utilizing resources of local areas to build their own projects. We can already offer skilled guidance to communities on building their own One________ movement. We began with a small group of individuals in what we call a community incubator identifying issues and digging deep through open, honest conversations on a regular basis (see community incubator guidelines in Appendix). We identified core human components that are drivers of these issues and now are in the process of implementing the solutions we came up with. This model is necessarily localized and not a cookie-cutter model. Our consultation helps communities through these foundational phases ensuring integrity of the process. Interestingly, communities with stark divisions or current issues may be more likely candidates for this type of service as they are aware there is a problem and are seeking solutions.
OneHartsville Projects
Listening Tours
We will tour the community in forums that are comfortable for others: in their civic clubs, churches, homes, etc. The purpose of the tours is to get feedback from the community on how they view their relationships with other races as well as their own, gender, socioeconomic status, government, etc. During these forums, we will encourage diversity so that all can be exposed to others' feelings and thoughts on these subjects. These meetings are not about discussion but simply listening, not responding, and sharing. We will maintain a safe space and ensure emotional respect. Perhaps the most important part for our organization is to gather information ongoing so that we can understand where the community is and how/where we can creatively and effectively invest our time. The very fact that we are asking questions about taboo subjects dispels fear especially through consistently talking about the subjects. In turn, we project that productive conversations will begin in the community. It is important to note that we plan to address other social barriers but race is the most needed at this time due to national conversation; however, this may prove to be only partially true as we learn more about our community. In essence, in a our activities. We believe in providing a safe space and providing experiential learning on how to have a productive conversation. This is perhaps the most important component of all. The true growth happens outside of our events when citizens continue the conversation.
Humans of Hartsville
This concept is used in various locations most notably New York. People from the community will be highlighted on social media continually. They will share basic human responses to basic human questions, often sharing emotional content. The subjects often are people who live in the background, not necessarily leaders but just the everyday citizen that lives in the community-from homeless to banker.
Community Dinners – in this forum, we invite the entire community networked through existing institutions with a moral framework that supports overcoming prejudice and building relationships, i.e. the church. We host a potluck. With the diverse crowd, we split individuals up to ensure they sit at tables with people they do not already know well or who live in a different community. We use an existing “café” model from Be Strong Families that elicits relationship building. The model has the following agreements from the Parent Café model (http://www.bestrongfamilies.net): Speak from your own experiences (use “I” statements); Listen attentively (Do not interrupt); No judgments, positive or negative; Do not give advice; Confidentiality (What is talked about at the table stays at the table); Turn your cell phone off (or silence it). These agreements are moderated by a trained volunteer and participant. Open ended and discussion questions are asked of the group and discussed briefly. The moderator is a participant and not an authority figure. They are trained to protect the space to allow community and bonding to take place. All of these principles and concepts originate from the Parent Café model, which is designed for parents but is also helpful for community biuilding and is a great tool that we highly recommend.
Five Star Soup Kitchen – in this project, we get volunteers from the community, high schools, college, Governor’s school, churches, etc. (a diverse group belonging to no specific organization in particular). The group secretly prepares a gourmet meal in cooperation with a local restaurant to provide a 5 star experience for soup kitchen attendees. Attendees are surprised with menus, table setting, music, and wait staff. Additional volunteers also sit at various tables and build mutual relationships through conversations with those at the table. Questions are set up on cards for each person to share about themselves and the same guidelines are applied as from the Community Dinners. Another variation is adding gameday or simply coming to regular soup kitchen days, sitting and eating. The goal is to build relationship designed around common humanity.
Angela Gala – a once per year prom for children with disabilities – a regional prom that seeks to give children with disabilities their own special experience. The local high school participates by providing their theme from their prom and decorations. The students from the high school also assist with the prom by doing make-up, hair, and being wait-staff for a pre-prom dinner. This experience exposes two different subcultures of individuals to one another, breaking barriers of fear and exposing humanity. We have the first scheduled for this Spring 2015.
Open Forums for Community Leaders/Elected Officials – moderated team & relationship building among leaders; intentional building of relationships across race, gender, political parties, etc. Moderated discussions on race and other societal divisions with a focus on identifying root human based causes rather than arguing over how resources are distributed. A stage is set for there being no right or wrong answers or authoritative statements, a forum for sharing and practicing authenticity and transparency.
Community Tours – we will organize groups of individuals to walk through all areas of Hartsville, being guided by someone who lives in and is familiar with the community and its history. There are areas of Hartsville that some have never even been in. Walk through’s of different community’s show the needs and strengths of areas. It also adds a human element; there is an emotional component. The first time I walked through one of our lower income community’s, I was heartbroken. Seeing the condition of the neighborhood, kids playing in less than safe situations took my intellectual concepts about the situation and turned them into realities. It is important that we all have some awareness of all areas of our town. We hope to organize this through churches initially; however, if it is done well like we would like for it to be, we would work hard to persuade leadership groups, council members, business owners, civic groups that this is worth-while.
Low Income Community Clean-up – this takes place already in Hartsville. We would join with these groups to spread influence and awareness and recruit diverse groups so that individuals can be exposed to the conditions that some people live in. We would offer the OneHartsville consultation and resources to existing groups who do great work in the community already to increase attendance and maximize the learning and relationship-building aspects of these events through intentionality and our values.
MLK Day Marches – this is something that historically takes place in larger cities. We hope to recruit large diverse groups of individuals in the city to take part in a March through all areas of Hartsville. This would have the same result of the smaller community tours. It also brings people together under great ideals in celebration of a great American Hero, MLK Jr., who believed in equality and diversity.
Drum Circles – this is an ongoing activity of OneHartsville. Please see our facebook.com/OneHartsville for photos/videos from our events. Drum Circles are held regularly, inviting the entire community for an opportunity to bond through making music and art. Dancers, yoga enthusiasts, and artists of all types are invited to share their alternative & public art.
Community & Public Art – We are currently working with two separate organizations to bring them together for one common goal. Our local arts center has applied for a mural grant. We hope to be able to create a mural on our local Boys & Girls Club. We would include a diverse collective of artists in the leadership and making. We would also recruit diverse groups of children and adults from the community to make their mark on a previously defined section of the mural. We maintain a relationship with our local arts non-profit and hope to continue expanding what we can do in this area as sharing in art/music creation is its own category and is a wonderful tool for relationship building.
Community Basketball Tournament – this would close down our main street and create diverse teams intentionally. The teams would have a tournament throughout the day. We would work diligently to gain local sponsors for this activity. This has been done in other communities and works well if done with diligence. It can result in relationships being built outside of just the tournament. As this continues throughout the years, teams become serious and practice outside of the tournament. It is a good humored way to joke and brag throughout the year to one another. They develop a bond through sports. We would hold kids tournaments as well with the same principles.
Many of these projects will take place this year and there are more to come. The primary goal though is to build meaningful and diverse relationships. This strengthening in community, we predict, will result in an increase in compassion and togetherness. We believe this is the foundation of making progress in our society. We do believe that it will have an effect on how resources are distributed in communities but that is not why we do this. We do this because it is right. We do this because we care about the future and our children’s future. We do this because we know that relationships are the necessary foundation in solving any of our society’s ills. Finally, we do this because relationships are supportive and everyone needs support. We are wired for relationship and separation only breeds anger and discord for all of us. Anger builds walls and love tears them down. We choose love.
Appendix I
Community Incubator Model (this model gave rise to OneHartsville)
Mission:
We exist to cultivate a new environment for human development and interdependence, which allows for the emergence of a people centered model of community.
We accomplish this through deep exploration and application of the following within ourselves and others:
· Authenticity
· Dissolution of illusory/unspoken boundaries between people and groups of people
· Interdependence & interconnectedness
· Compassion
· Being welcoming, open, curious and accepting towards our neighbors and newcomers
· Critical thinking and open-mindedness
A sense of urgency as it relates to the above
The incubator consists of people who aspire to the above and hope to see the ideas manifest in their community. It operates under the assumption that community is more than a group of individuals who live in the same area; community is something to be aspired to, an interdependence by its people that is limitless in its level of attainment. It does not define or create community directly but promotes development by its people around shared humanity rather than self-interest or institutional goals; it encourages community to grow from the ground up, allowing for self-creation and evolving self-definition rather than being externally defined and ideologically bound.
In essence, the incubator hopes to balance the driving forces of community creation by empowering people to connect through a focus on commonality. A united community family can introduce humanity again into our culture, one built upon reason and emotion, the latter being imperative for connection but more often than not divorced from the equation.
The incubator acts:
-To thoroughly identify fundamental root problems that lead to surface issues in the community
-To develop and carry out bold plans to address these underlying issues specifically
-To promote the idea that a community is people centered first and foremost
-To advise members and others in the community in their ongoing and separate efforts in work, projects, relationships, etc. on how they might incorporate these values in their plans
-As a source of strength and motivation for members and the community in finding meaning and overcoming internal conflicts as it relates to institutionally sanctioned vs. personal actions
-As a safe place to develop and share new and existing ideas, a safe place to make mistakes in reasoning without judgment, a place that encourages creative thinking without boundaries and integration of emotion, as a source of confidence for members and others who need support in doing what is right and good.
Privacy & Commitment Guidelines
Commitment means meeting regularly and informally with the group. One should be actively engaged and respect other’s opinions and worldviews. All personal matters discussed within the group meetings must remain absolutely private. Privacy regarding personal matters and viewpoints is integral to such a group to allow for openness, honesty, and innovation. We want to cultivate a safe, open, trusting and authentic group.
Appendix II
Many influential community leaders throughout Hartsville graciously interviewed for the making of the promotional video
Featured in the video are (In order of appearane):
Casey Copeland, OneHartsville Founder
Curtis Lee, Chairman, Community Foundation for a Better Hartsville
Brandolyn Pinkston, Hartsville Native, Daughter of T.B. Thomas, Former Administrator of Dept. of Consumer Affairs
Stuart Pritchett, Pastor
Natalie Zeigler, City Manager, Hartsville
Dr. Alvin Heatley, Chairman, Butler Heritage Foundation
Dianne Montgomery, Director, Hartsville Boys & Girls Club
Given the short duration of a promotional video we were unable to include all of those interviewed; however, the following also graciously offered their time and thoughts (listed alphabetically):
James Hudson - Police Chief, City of Hartsville
Nancy McGee - Vice Chair, Community Foundation for a Better Hartsville & Office Manager, McGee Financial Group
Tameka Phillips - Certified Childcare Trainer & Owner - Della's Apron, LLC.
Clayton Richardson - People to People Hartsville
Appendix III
OneHartsville can be contacted:
Twitter: @OneHartsville
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/OneHartsville
All filming/editing for the promotional video was provided by local talent LeftFoot Media, LLC:
Twitter: @LeftFoot_Media
Youtube:
www.youtube.com/user/LeftFootMediaLFM
FB:
www.facebook.com/LeftFootMediaLLC
Instagram: leftfootmedia
OneHartsville's Logo was designed by local talent Waffle Studio LLC
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/pages/Waffle-Studio/114387855249269
Instagram: wafflestudio
Web:
https://squareup.com/market/waffle-studio
Appendix IV
Hartsville, SC Demographics:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartsville,_South_Carolina
Darlington County, SC Demographics:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darlington_County,_South_Carolina#Demographics
We are a grassroots organization in a small town in the South. We are seeking funding for a documentary and projects associated with it to build substantial unity in our town across racial, gender, and socioeconomic lines. We have developed what we call a therapeutic model for building relationships across traditional social boundaries. We have many projects planned that are aimed at bringing our community together across these societal lines. A documentary would explore the root causes of these divisions and follow our organization as we attempt to bridge the gap through relationship building in bold new ways. A documentary would allow us to engage a national audience in the process and help us to develop a model that other communities can use to overcome differences and build meaningful and authentic relationships across racial, gender, socioeconomic, and other societal boundaries. We hope to start a national movement so that our nation can begin to heal. We believe that in order to have meaningful discussions about these divisions, we must first develop trust. Trust is developed through relationships. Relationships are developed through meaningful, human interaction. We will be bold, intentional, and transparent about our purpose for our projects, no longer simply hoping that an event may attract people because of common interests. We intentionally bring people together for the purpose of building diverse relationships around common humanity. Our belief is that if we build trust and relationships exposing the common humanity and emotion in all of us, there will be no need to have an intellectual or political discussion about overcoming issues such as racism and resource distribution; trust and relationship will resolve the issues from the ground up, on an emotional level, a human level.
Want to help?
If you would like to volunteer, please contact us via FB, Twitter, or Gmail: Facebook.com/OneHartsville; Twitter.com/OneHartsville; [email redacted].
To support funding efforts:
Even just $1 matters and we will shout with thanks to the heavens for you supporting our work!
$10 - you will receive a Twitter and/or facebook shout out!
$25 - if we reach our goal, you will get a OneHartsville sticker!
$50 - if we reach our goal, individuals receive a thank you a listing on our website.
$100 - if we reach our goal, individuals receive name listing in credits of documentary.
$1000 - if we reach our goal, businesses receive bold listing on website under sponsors with hyperlink.
$5000 - if we reach our goal, businesses receive primary sponsor status and will be recognized with logo & hyperlink on landing page of website, a video thank you on our social media outlets with tag, and first listing in credits and a thank you!
$10000 - if we reach our goal, you will receive a thank you in opening credits of the film and all the benefits of the $5000 level.
$25000 - if we reach our goal, all benefits of 10000 and a OneHartsville member will come meet you in person.
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Detailed Organizational Structure, Concepts, Funding Goals, Projects, etc.
Our grassroots organization in small town in SC wants to fund a documentary to study the roots of race-based division (social and geographical) and ways that we can move forward building unity in our small town. We would like to document our organization, OneHartsville, implementing projects on a large scale designed to build relationships across traditional social boundaries such as race, gender, and socioeconomic status. We have devised a therapeutic model to approach division and have already seen it work small scale. The therapeutic model essentially views community divisions as relationship problems between individuals and applies principles you may see used in therapy on a community level in resolving it. Several principles we use in designing and implementing projects are communication, authenticity, transparency, compassion, intentionality, and safe spaces for sharing. A core belief of ours and possibly the most important driver is that communities are not “systems” or “networks.” These are terms applied to technology. People are not robots. People are complex, have desires, emotions, and are affected by all manner of experience and trauma. So, approaching issues in our society through solely logical solutions will not work on the whole. Neither can we measure success solely upon numbers, as though human outcomes could be printed out like a balance statement. The truth is, communities are essentially organisms, not organizations. They are made of heart, spirit, and emotion as well as logic. Our projects would hide no motives about the goal, which is to build relationships across these boundaries. We do not design projects around a common interest and hope that people will build relationships. We design projects around common humanity and appeal to ideals and morals that we all largely share such as those presented in faith based institutions regarding unity and love in order to build a diverse attendance. The projects are then moderated but community is allowed to form without intrusion; the moderator only ensures emotional safety and encourages open and honest discussions.
We believe that our projects implemented in a small town can be a microcosm for exploration. We are small enough that we can likely have an impact; we are large enough that positive changes are relevant. An unlikely small town in the deep south, we believe, is the ideal location for just such an initiative. A documentary will help us share what we learn openly with the nation. We hope to start a discussion here, removing taboos around typically difficult-to-discuss subjects such as race. Communication is the first step to building trust; trust is the first step to building relationships; relationships are required for overcoming differences. We believe that it is not maximally effective to discuss social issues on an intellectual or political level. If what brings us together is our differences then any forum designed around this will harden our stances in those differences. If we want to have a discussion about race-related issues, we have to first build relationships between people of different races. Relationships help us to see the common humanity we all share. Geographical isolation only serves to perpetuate misguided ideologies and stereotypes. Spending even a brief amount of time around others in a conversation about family, for example, exposes humanity and cultivates bonds between people. What we experience is that we all hurt when we lose a loved one, we all feel great love for our children, and we all are struggling towards a common goal of happiness. Once that humanity is exposed between “subsets” of people, perspectives change and progress can be made. This process may even have affects in the political process; however, we claim no ideal on this level and endorse no specific candidates or political parties. When humanity is exposed, decision makers cannot rely on grouping people together anymore and they cannot be viewed as numbers. These experiences add a feeling of deep responsibility towards others and decisions are weighed more heavily. After all, the distribution of resources affect actual people… with feelings… with kids… with families. Our only goal on this level would be to simply help elected officials widen their perspective.
We believe that our projects will be successful in building unity and relationships across social boundaries and that we can greatly impact the dynamic of our community. Some projects may work more than others. Some may not work at all. We are certain to face difficulty and backlash. In order to be successful we will need assurance that the world is watching. This added support will give us motivation and ensure transparency. We want to share our process with the world and get feedback from others as we attempt to create a model for other communities. There has never been a better time or more urgent need for such an initiative given what we face throughout cities in the U.S. Please help us. Support something authentic, something true to our human spirit, something larger than yourself. This is our time, our generation; we are not subservient to the past.
Funding Goal 1:
We want to raise enough to cover the cost of our crowdfund video featured here. LeftFoot Media filmed this video free of charge because the owner believes in our mission.
Funding Goal 2:
Set up non-profit status or social entrepreneur status so that our grassroots organization can raise funds and continue to legitimately raise funds and have an impact.
Funding Goal 3:
Set up a website so that we can have a better presence online.
Funding Goal 4:
Fund projects designed to build relationships between diverse groups and individuals. The majority of our projects require very little resources as we are all volunteer; however, given our limited resources (zero at this time) we do need some funding for permitting fees and other basic overhead costs for obtaining spaces to moderate relationship building activities. We also already work with other organizations to bring different entities together to accomplish goals together. The guiding requirement for our organization is that we must bring people together, who might not otherwise come together in a meaningful and authentic way. A description and sample of our initiatives are at the end of this section.
Funding Goal 5:
Create a full-length documentary to better understand and promote awareness of the root causes of division in our town, gather perspectives from diverse people on causes and ways forward, document our organization’s projects as we move forward.
Funding Goal 6:
Community consulting – eventually, our goal is to provide consulting to communities throughout the U.S. Meeting with stakeholders and helping others reach out to key leaders and emerging young leaders utilizing resources of local areas to build their own projects. We can already offer skilled guidance to communities on building their own One________ movement. We began with a small group of individuals in what we call a community incubator identifying issues and digging deep through open, honest conversations on a regular basis (see community incubator guidelines in Appendix). We identified core human components that are drivers of these issues and now are in the process of implementing the solutions we came up with. This model is necessarily localized and not a cookie-cutter model. Our consultation helps communities through these foundational phases ensuring integrity of the process. Interestingly, communities with stark divisions or current issues may be more likely candidates for this type of service as they are aware there is a problem and are seeking solutions.
OneHartsville Projects
Listening Tours
We will tour the community in forums that are comfortable for others: in their civic clubs, churches, homes, etc. The purpose of the tours is to get feedback from the community on how they view their relationships with other races as well as their own, gender, socioeconomic status, government, etc. During these forums, we will encourage diversity so that all can be exposed to others' feelings and thoughts on these subjects. These meetings are not about discussion but simply listening, not responding, and sharing. We will maintain a safe space and ensure emotional respect. Perhaps the most important part for our organization is to gather information ongoing so that we can understand where the community is and how/where we can creatively and effectively invest our time. The very fact that we are asking questions about taboo subjects dispels fear especially through consistently talking about the subjects. In turn, we project that productive conversations will begin in the community. It is important to note that we plan to address other social barriers but race is the most needed at this time due to national conversation; however, this may prove to be only partially true as we learn more about our community. In essence, in a our activities. We believe in providing a safe space and providing experiential learning on how to have a productive conversation. This is perhaps the most important component of all. The true growth happens outside of our events when citizens continue the conversation.
Humans of Hartsville
This concept is used in various locations most notably New York. People from the community will be highlighted on social media continually. They will share basic human responses to basic human questions, often sharing emotional content. The subjects often are people who live in the background, not necessarily leaders but just the everyday citizen that lives in the community-from homeless to banker.
Community Dinners – in this forum, we invite the entire community networked through existing institutions with a moral framework that supports overcoming prejudice and building relationships, i.e. the church. We host a potluck. With the diverse crowd, we split individuals up to ensure they sit at tables with people they do not already know well or who live in a different community. We use an existing “café” model from Be Strong Families that elicits relationship building. The model has the following agreements from the Parent Café model (http://www.bestrongfamilies.net): Speak from your own experiences (use “I” statements); Listen attentively (Do not interrupt); No judgments, positive or negative; Do not give advice; Confidentiality (What is talked about at the table stays at the table); Turn your cell phone off (or silence it). These agreements are moderated by a trained volunteer and participant. Open ended and discussion questions are asked of the group and discussed briefly. The moderator is a participant and not an authority figure. They are trained to protect the space to allow community and bonding to take place. All of these principles and concepts originate from the Parent Café model, which is designed for parents but is also helpful for community biuilding and is a great tool that we highly recommend.
Five Star Soup Kitchen – in this project, we get volunteers from the community, high schools, college, Governor’s school, churches, etc. (a diverse group belonging to no specific organization in particular). The group secretly prepares a gourmet meal in cooperation with a local restaurant to provide a 5 star experience for soup kitchen attendees. Attendees are surprised with menus, table setting, music, and wait staff. Additional volunteers also sit at various tables and build mutual relationships through conversations with those at the table. Questions are set up on cards for each person to share about themselves and the same guidelines are applied as from the Community Dinners. Another variation is adding gameday or simply coming to regular soup kitchen days, sitting and eating. The goal is to build relationship designed around common humanity.
Angela Gala – a once per year prom for children with disabilities – a regional prom that seeks to give children with disabilities their own special experience. The local high school participates by providing their theme from their prom and decorations. The students from the high school also assist with the prom by doing make-up, hair, and being wait-staff for a pre-prom dinner. This experience exposes two different subcultures of individuals to one another, breaking barriers of fear and exposing humanity. We have the first scheduled for this Spring 2015.
Open Forums for Community Leaders/Elected Officials – moderated team & relationship building among leaders; intentional building of relationships across race, gender, political parties, etc. Moderated discussions on race and other societal divisions with a focus on identifying root human based causes rather than arguing over how resources are distributed. A stage is set for there being no right or wrong answers or authoritative statements, a forum for sharing and practicing authenticity and transparency.
Community Tours – we will organize groups of individuals to walk through all areas of Hartsville, being guided by someone who lives in and is familiar with the community and its history. There are areas of Hartsville that some have never even been in. Walk through’s of different community’s show the needs and strengths of areas. It also adds a human element; there is an emotional component. The first time I walked through one of our lower income community’s, I was heartbroken. Seeing the condition of the neighborhood, kids playing in less than safe situations took my intellectual concepts about the situation and turned them into realities. It is important that we all have some awareness of all areas of our town. We hope to organize this through churches initially; however, if it is done well like we would like for it to be, we would work hard to persuade leadership groups, council members, business owners, civic groups that this is worth-while.
Low Income Community Clean-up – this takes place already in Hartsville. We would join with these groups to spread influence and awareness and recruit diverse groups so that individuals can be exposed to the conditions that some people live in. We would offer the OneHartsville consultation and resources to existing groups who do great work in the community already to increase attendance and maximize the learning and relationship-building aspects of these events through intentionality and our values.
MLK Day Marches – this is something that historically takes place in larger cities. We hope to recruit large diverse groups of individuals in the city to take part in a March through all areas of Hartsville. This would have the same result of the smaller community tours. It also brings people together under great ideals in celebration of a great American Hero, MLK Jr., who believed in equality and diversity.
Drum Circles – this is an ongoing activity of OneHartsville. Please see our facebook.com/OneHartsville for photos/videos from our events. Drum Circles are held regularly, inviting the entire community for an opportunity to bond through making music and art. Dancers, yoga enthusiasts, and artists of all types are invited to share their alternative & public art.
Community & Public Art – We are currently working with two separate organizations to bring them together for one common goal. Our local arts center has applied for a mural grant. We hope to be able to create a mural on our local Boys & Girls Club. We would include a diverse collective of artists in the leadership and making. We would also recruit diverse groups of children and adults from the community to make their mark on a previously defined section of the mural. We maintain a relationship with our local arts non-profit and hope to continue expanding what we can do in this area as sharing in art/music creation is its own category and is a wonderful tool for relationship building.
Community Basketball Tournament – this would close down our main street and create diverse teams intentionally. The teams would have a tournament throughout the day. We would work diligently to gain local sponsors for this activity. This has been done in other communities and works well if done with diligence. It can result in relationships being built outside of just the tournament. As this continues throughout the years, teams become serious and practice outside of the tournament. It is a good humored way to joke and brag throughout the year to one another. They develop a bond through sports. We would hold kids tournaments as well with the same principles.
Many of these projects will take place this year and there are more to come. The primary goal though is to build meaningful and diverse relationships. This strengthening in community, we predict, will result in an increase in compassion and togetherness. We believe this is the foundation of making progress in our society. We do believe that it will have an effect on how resources are distributed in communities but that is not why we do this. We do this because it is right. We do this because we care about the future and our children’s future. We do this because we know that relationships are the necessary foundation in solving any of our society’s ills. Finally, we do this because relationships are supportive and everyone needs support. We are wired for relationship and separation only breeds anger and discord for all of us. Anger builds walls and love tears them down. We choose love.
Appendix I
Community Incubator Model (this model gave rise to OneHartsville)
Mission:
We exist to cultivate a new environment for human development and interdependence, which allows for the emergence of a people centered model of community.
We accomplish this through deep exploration and application of the following within ourselves and others:
· Authenticity
· Dissolution of illusory/unspoken boundaries between people and groups of people
· Interdependence & interconnectedness
· Compassion
· Being welcoming, open, curious and accepting towards our neighbors and newcomers
· Critical thinking and open-mindedness
A sense of urgency as it relates to the above
The incubator consists of people who aspire to the above and hope to see the ideas manifest in their community. It operates under the assumption that community is more than a group of individuals who live in the same area; community is something to be aspired to, an interdependence by its people that is limitless in its level of attainment. It does not define or create community directly but promotes development by its people around shared humanity rather than self-interest or institutional goals; it encourages community to grow from the ground up, allowing for self-creation and evolving self-definition rather than being externally defined and ideologically bound.
In essence, the incubator hopes to balance the driving forces of community creation by empowering people to connect through a focus on commonality. A united community family can introduce humanity again into our culture, one built upon reason and emotion, the latter being imperative for connection but more often than not divorced from the equation.
The incubator acts:
-To thoroughly identify fundamental root problems that lead to surface issues in the community
-To develop and carry out bold plans to address these underlying issues specifically
-To promote the idea that a community is people centered first and foremost
-To advise members and others in the community in their ongoing and separate efforts in work, projects, relationships, etc. on how they might incorporate these values in their plans
-As a source of strength and motivation for members and the community in finding meaning and overcoming internal conflicts as it relates to institutionally sanctioned vs. personal actions
-As a safe place to develop and share new and existing ideas, a safe place to make mistakes in reasoning without judgment, a place that encourages creative thinking without boundaries and integration of emotion, as a source of confidence for members and others who need support in doing what is right and good.
Privacy & Commitment Guidelines
Commitment means meeting regularly and informally with the group. One should be actively engaged and respect other’s opinions and worldviews. All personal matters discussed within the group meetings must remain absolutely private. Privacy regarding personal matters and viewpoints is integral to such a group to allow for openness, honesty, and innovation. We want to cultivate a safe, open, trusting and authentic group.
Appendix II
Many influential community leaders throughout Hartsville graciously interviewed for the making of the promotional video
Featured in the video are (In order of appearane):
Casey Copeland, OneHartsville Founder
Curtis Lee, Chairman, Community Foundation for a Better Hartsville
Brandolyn Pinkston, Hartsville Native, Daughter of T.B. Thomas, Former Administrator of Dept. of Consumer Affairs
Stuart Pritchett, Pastor
Natalie Zeigler, City Manager, Hartsville
Dr. Alvin Heatley, Chairman, Butler Heritage Foundation
Dianne Montgomery, Director, Hartsville Boys & Girls Club
Given the short duration of a promotional video we were unable to include all of those interviewed; however, the following also graciously offered their time and thoughts (listed alphabetically):
James Hudson - Police Chief, City of Hartsville
Nancy McGee - Vice Chair, Community Foundation for a Better Hartsville & Office Manager, McGee Financial Group
Tameka Phillips - Certified Childcare Trainer & Owner - Della's Apron, LLC.
Clayton Richardson - People to People Hartsville
Appendix III
OneHartsville can be contacted:
Twitter: @OneHartsville
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/OneHartsville
All filming/editing for the promotional video was provided by local talent LeftFoot Media, LLC:
Twitter: @LeftFoot_Media
Youtube:
www.youtube.com/user/LeftFootMediaLFM
FB:
www.facebook.com/LeftFootMediaLLC
Instagram: leftfootmedia
OneHartsville's Logo was designed by local talent Waffle Studio LLC
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/pages/Waffle-Studio/114387855249269
Instagram: wafflestudio
Web:
https://squareup.com/market/waffle-studio
Appendix IV
Hartsville, SC Demographics:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartsville,_South_Carolina
Darlington County, SC Demographics:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darlington_County,_South_Carolina#Demographics
Organizer
Casey Copeland
Organizer
Hartsville, SC
