Lexington, KY - It’s not easy to make good things happen in a community. Those who do so often work under the radar, without a lot of assistance or recognition, and even the most effective community activists can sometimes feel like they spend most of their time paddling alone against the overpowering current of “business as usual.”
The Bluegrass Community Connectors Project is hoping to change that.
At a Tuesday luncheon held at the Griffin Gate Marriott, the group is bringing together 144 “key connectors” who have been identified by the community as people who are working in their own ways to promote positive change in central Kentucky. They are not necessarily the community’s well established and identified leaders, but instead are those individuals who have shown their peers a willingness to get involved and an ability to connect the dots between the resources and individuals needed to move new ideas forward.
The aim of the luncheon, and the project in general, which has been facilitated by the United Way of the Bluegrass, is not to promote any specific agenda, but simply to bring together these pivotal citizens with an opportunity to network and collaborate for the overall benefit of the region. The intent is to concentrate their ideas, energy and abilities in one place — and then watch what happens.
The strategy is one that has been employed in four other communities across the country by Karen Stephenson, a cultural anthropologist and president of NetForm, Inc., and a major contributor to the Bluegrass project. Stephenson specializes in identifying and developing human networks within both public and private organizations to help them solve problems, build trust and improve collaboration.
At the Tuesday luncheon, she will be presenting some of her organization’s preliminary findings in regard to the strengths and weaknesses of central Kentucky’s regional connections.
“We are recognizing the unsung heroes, or as I sometimes call them, the unusual suspects,” Stephenson said. “The experience when you bring them together for the first time is so cool. Some of them know each other, but many of them don’t. ... They have their fingers on the information and resources and connections with people; they know how to get things done.”
The result, Stephenson said, is a multiplier effect that can be difficult for individuals to recognize when they are working hard down in the trenches of their own social and professional circles.
“You are enlarging the community’s resources by recognizing these people, and every community can use more resources to help get things done,” she said.
Stephenson’s organization has helped to establish community connector projects in Louisville, Ky.; Philadelphia, Penn.; Tucson, Ariz.; and Portland, Ore. prior to launching the Bluegrass initiative, which began in August 2011.
To identify the community’s key connectors, both online and paper survey responses were collected over a five-month period from central Kentuckians, asking them to identify individuals who were both innovative and effective within their community. From those surveys, more than 5,000 nominations were identified from across the state, with the majority located in the 10-county region of central Kentucky, including Anderson, Bourbon, Clark, Fayette, Franklin, Jessamine, Madison, Montgomery, Scott and Woodford counties. The nominations spanned all economic sectors and walks of life, according to the project’s leadership team.
In addition to the logistical management provided by the United Way of the Bluegrass, the Bluegrass Community Connectors Project has received a variety of support from other companies and organizations, such as PNC, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky, AARP, Columbia Gas, Scott United, Commerce Lexington, WKYT and Insight Media.
The first gathering typically leads to further research and additional self-organizing events, Stephenson said, but the next steps in the process are difficult to predict because they are determined primarily through the interaction of the participants.
“I think we just have to be patient and wait and see what happens,” Stephenson said. “I don’t have a crystal ball, in the sense that it is different with different communities. .. but as they say in the last line of Casablanca, this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
The List of Connectors
Andrea James, Angela Baldridge, Anthony Wright, Becky Priest, Beverly Clemons, Bob Quick, Bonnie Clark, Brian Walton, Bruce T. Manley, Carmen Combs, Cathy Boone, Cay Lane, Chief David Charles, Dan Roller, Dan Wills, Darby Turner, David Kitchen, Dean C. Hammond Jr., Deborah Moore Knittel, Debra A. Hensley, Diana Wells Doggett, E. Joy Arnold, Ed Burtner, Eric Geary, Erin Michelle Howard, Fran Taylor, Gabe Uebel, Ginny Ramsey, Graham Pohl, Isabel Gereda Taylor, Jack Conner, Jacqueline L. Zeller, Janet Holloway, Jay McChord, Jim Embry, Jim Newberry, Jodie Koch, JoEllen Reed, John Rennels, Judy Crowe, Karen Anderson, Kenny Davis Jr., Kent S. Lewis, Kevin Weaver, Kim Menke, Kim Sweazy, LaFleesha Patton, Lauren Greathouse Burlile, Lisa Gilliam, Lori Rowland Houlihan, Lyle S. Hanna, Lynn Hisle, Maria F. Bush, Marilyn Daniel, Marion Gibson, Mark Johnson, Mike Hockensmith, Ms. Robbie Morgan , Ms. Terry Davidson, Nancy Stone, Pauline Shackleford, PG Peeples, Phil Holoubek, Rev. Dr. Keith Tyler, Robbi Barber, Robert Ryan, Rona Roberts, Sandra Noble Canon, Steve Austin, Stu Silberman, Tanya Torp, Teresa Barton, Theodore Ware, Jr., Therese Warrick, Tim Turner, Tom Harris, Tom Martin, Tracy Pearce, Van Meter Pettit, Woodford Webb, Denise Adams, Lisa Adkins, Ron Borkowski, Nancy Calix, Opal Clark, David Coomer, John Cooper, Kip Cornett, David Cozart, Luther Deaton, Jessica Dodgen, Richard Eads, Bill Farmer, James Ferrell, Tommy Floyd, Yvonne Giles, Emanuel Gilpin, Linda Gorton, Jim Gray, Christy Hiler, Liza Holland, Grant Horner, Jim Host, Carol Jones, Steve Kay, Kris Kimel, Greg Lakes, Bud Lane, Gina Lang, Bill Lear, Pearse Lyons, Sherry Maddock, Ronda May, Everett McCorvey, Griffin Van Meter, David Montgomery, Dianna Moore, Aaron Mosley, Knox Van Nagell, Laura Nagle, Rebecca Peck, Brian Privett, Ryan Quarles, Pam Rice, Harry Richart, Warren Rogers, Ben Self, Austin Simms, Mike Sparks, David Sperow, Alan Stein, Harold Tate, Pam Thomas, Randy Thomas, Lee Todd, Dudley Webb, Jon Weece and Lu Young.