Commentary; Posted: 1/8/03

New year resolutions to build communities

Don Heinzman

The start of a new year is a good time to make some resolutions about strengthening your communities. As the year begins, community strength and identity are slipping in mature suburbs where present leaders are wearing out and need to be replaced by a junior class of leaders. Growth is so explosive in new communities that time doesnít allow institutions to take root.

Leaders need to assess their communities, build on the strengths and shore up any weaknesses.

Here are some suggested resolutions to strengthen community:

ïLeaders should resolve to persist and never give up something worth fighting for. Communities fail when leadership falters.

ïResolve to identify and train future leaders and elect them to key positions in your community. Look especially for local graduates who choose to live and work in their hometowns.

ïResolve to support and encourage good communication systems. There cannot be unity in community without good communication of information. This ECM newspaper has in its mission statement, not only the need to inform a community but to make it better.

ïResolve to keep strong your service organizations by joining them and working on their projects. The Rotary, Lions, Kiwanis, Toastmasters, American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Eagles, the Masons are just a few of the organizations that are the backbone of community service.

ïResolve to get involved with your local government and pay attention to whatís going on in city hall. This means serving on the many boards and advisory commissions.

ïResolve to support and encourage members of the local police, ambulance and fire squads, and volunteer for them if you have the skills. These volunteers who respond to emergency calls have been energized by the new support theyíve received since the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

ïResolve to maintain a strong local Chamber of Commerce, one that will get involved with a communityís problems as well as support the needs of businesses.

ïResolve to find and support good administrators, particularly your school superintendents, city administrators and county administrators.

ïResolve to have a good system for identifying and placing volunteers. With more residents retiring, there is a need to use their experience, ability and leadership.

ïResolve to identify and help the needy, who just need a boost to keep going and get through a loss of a job, a loss of a spouse, medical bills from a serious illness. Most communities sponsor food shelves, but they need to be filled all year long. In some communities, churches are organizing to deliver services to those in need.

ïResolve to support your school system with dollars and involvement. While it may be fragmented, the school district has the most important duty of any community, providing an educational system that meets the need of every student. Support your community education programs that build community through good education.

ïResolve to use the talents of the aging population in your community, first by identifying them and getting them involved in meaningful community projects, next by providing help to the homebound and finally by insisting on care facilities that treat them with the dignity they deserve.

ïResolve to nurture and support your artists and give them a place to show their talents.

ïResolve to support and get involved with your local churches, which contribute so much to the spiritual and temporal welfare of their members.

ïResolve to have a good community festival where all organizations participate.

ïResolve to develop all the young people and do all possible to keep them from falling through the cracks.

ïResolve to solve some of your problems through regional solutions, if that means working more closely with the county, adjoining communities and even the Metropolitan Council.

ïResolve to rejuvenate local political party organizations, which can be the wellspring of good political candidates and political interest.

Pick just one of these resolutions and your community could have a better 2003, but above all, vote for good leaders with broad vision and give them the respect they deserve.

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