Following is a summary of the Rosendale Heart & Soul program that will take place over the next two years.

• Phase 1 – Involve Everyone
• ongoing development of the knowledge of who lives, works and plays in Rosendale grounded in census data, and including civic groups, activity groups, school groups, religious groups, sports groups, special interest groups, popular hangouts, both formal and informal. (Our Interest Form helps collect this information – please check it out to add anybody we might overlook.)
• development of our messaging and marketing strategies
• loop in local government
• team development (ongoing)
• public launch! celebrate!
• Phase 2 – What Matter Most
• Story Gathering begins, with trainings for both gatherers and listeners to ensure that unbiased and fulsome knowledge is sought and recorded.
• development of archives of the stories
• our story collection is shared with the community
• a trained Listening Team gleans Heart and Soul Statements and Action Ideas from the stories, creating a list of What Matters Most to the community.
• the Statements and Ideas are shared and validated by the community.
• celebrate!
• Phase 3 – Play the Long Game
• the Action Ideas are analyzed and prioritized and presented to the community for approval
• the Action Ideas are used to create Action Plans
• public agencies and businesses are looped in (ongoing)
• celebrate!
• Phase 4 focuses on implementation of the Action Plans
• the Heart and Soul Statements are publicly acknowledged
• a Stewardship Team is formed to monitor the implementation of the Action Plans
• a system of reporting progress back to the community is created
• celebrate!

Everyone is looking forward to beginning Story Gathering, we have a bit more organizing to do first.