Out of the Box: What we have learned about how to develop strong partnerships with communities.

We are on a constant quest to learn how we can enter communities in a more respectful manner.  The first thing you should know is that we by no means have this all figured out but we would love to share with you a few lessons we have learned along the way as to how to enter communities in a healthy and honoring way.

We have learned the importance of listening.

At first glance, this seems really obvious but when I say we have the learned the importance of listening I mean we have gleaned how complex listening can really be. Listening is not just asking a list of questions and waiting for the answers being a good listener means going into a community with the posture that you really want to hear individual’s hearts, their excitement and their concerns.  For example, when I go spend a week with community friends and ask them how YouthWorks can improve, at first, they immediately exclaim, “YouthWorks is great, everything was fine.” I would agree YouthWorks is great but just because an organization is great doesn’t mean they don’t have room to improve. I then say, “We really want your honest feedback because we can’t improve next year if we don’t have real feedback.” Then we get into a conversation where they feel heard and known. This is how good listening is demonstrated.

We have also learned the importance of thinking outside of the box.

When you practice the art of good listening then you receive feedback oftentimes that causes you to think outside of the box. Yes, thinking outside of the box can be scary and involves risk but can come with great rewards; in this case, developing a stronger partnership with a community. For example, in Cairo, Illinois this summer we are helping plant a pumpkin patch. Seems odd, huh? I thought so too at first until our community friend explained how there really isn’t anywhere close in the fall to buy pumpkins and there isn’t really a great place to have a fall festival. This way the students in the community can help harvest the pumpkins and sell them for a school fundraiser. This is what partnering with the community is all about.

Leah Samples is an Area Director for YouthWorks in the Southeast region where she builds partnerships in communities in that area of the country. She is slightly (okay thoroughly) addicted to diet coke and coffee and often finds herself asking the question, “What would Rory Gilmore do in this situation.” This question has prompted her life long quest for good books, trivia games and interesting coffee shops.