Don’t forget to vote on how our community is doing

by Patrice Johnson

Stress tests are designed to check on a body’s health, whether human or institutional. National Book Award Winner James Fallows and his wife undertook a 54,000 mile journey around the country in their single-engine plane in order to identify key benchmarks for measuring healthy cities. Fallows’ findings, “Eleven Signs a City Will Succeed,” appeared in the Mar. 16 edition of The Atlantic. 

So, what are the signs of a healthy city that the Fallows couple found on their tour of our country, and how does our local community measure up to those benchmarks? Granted, our local community enjoys few economies of scale available to highly populated cities or towns. Our school district encompasses a sizable 125 square miles, stretching through portions of Henrietta, Ingham, Leroy, Leslie, Unadilla, Washtenaw, Waterloo, and White Oak townships. 

Yet we residents have long considered ourselves part of a united community. Our unique rural characteristics and school district, combined with myriad churches and organizations, pull Fitchburg, Gregory, Munith, Pleasant Lake and Stockbridge together into a close-knit local community. In fact, one purpose for starting this news publication was to help maintain and enhance the bond our residents share through local information exchange. 

So, are there lessons we might glean from an examination of Fallows’ 11 benchmarks?

Below, SCN invites readers to assign a score to each measurement and thereby rate our community’s health. To participate, simply complete the survey at the bottom of this article. Circle a score from 0 to 9, with 0 representing a complete failure to demonstrate that sign, and 9 a complete success in implementation or accomplishment of that sign. Readers are invited to share their reasons for choosing their scores. SCN will compile results into a final report.

Benchmarks

1: Divisive national politics seem a distant concern.

Fallows wrote, “…overwhelmingly the focus in successful towns was not on national divisions but on practical problems that a community could address. The more often national politics came into local discussions, the worse shape the town was in.” To quote Thomas Jefferson, “I never consider a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, or philosphy, as a cause for withdrawing from a friend.” 

As food for thought in scoring, readers might ask: Does anyone care whether a volunteer is a Republican or a Democrat? Do I vote in local elections based on party preference or on the caliber of the candidate? 

2: You can pick out the local patriots.

“Who makes this town go?” Hint: Answers may vary widely. 

3: Public-private partnerships are real.

“…in successful towns, people can point to something specific and say: This is what a partnership means.”

4: People know the civic story.

Are you able to describe how this community works? Would you say it has a lifestyle? How has our local community morphed and changed over the years?  

5: They have a downtown.

The downtown is vital to holding a community together. Do you know where to go for Halloween celebrations? Memorial Day parades? Festivals? Open Market? Prom Promenades?

 6: They are near a research facility.

“Research universities have become the modern counterparts to a natural harbor or river confluence. In the short term, they lift the economy by bringing in a student population. Over the longer term, they transform a town through the researchers and professors they attract.” 

7: They have and care about a community college.

8: They have unusual schools.

Can you describe special aspects and points of pride in our school system?

9: They make themselves open.

Is the community trying to attract and include new people? Every small town in America has thought about how to offset the natural brain drain that has historically sent its brightest young people elsewhere. The same emphasis on inclusion that makes a town attractive to talented outsiders increases its draw to its own natives.

10: They have big plans.

“If I see a national politician with a blueprint for how things will be better 20 years from now, I think, ‘Good luck!’” But when a Township Supervisor or Village Council President shows a map of future trails, or a healthy town, or civic project, people think they’d like to come back. Communities make plans because they can do things. Do you see big plans in this community?

11: They have craft breweries.

“One final marker, perhaps the most reliable: A city on the way back will have one or more craft breweries, and probably some small distilleries, too. A town that has craft breweries also has a certain kind of entrepreneur and a critical mass of mainly young (except for me) customers. You may think I’m joking, but just try to find an exception.” 

Source: The Story of Kennett: Shaping our Future One Child at a Time by Joan Holliday and Bob George, 2017. 

Click here to take the survey online!

Or please complete the survey below and mail or email to Stockbridge Community News

Stress Test Vote

Please select one.

0 = a complete failure to demonstrate, 9 = a completely successful implementation or accomplishment.

1. Divisive national politics seem a distant concern.

0  1  2  3 4  5  6 7  8  9

Care to share an example?

2. You can pick out the local patriots.

0 1  2  3 4  5  6 7  8  9

Care to share an example?

3. Public-private partnerships are real.

0 1  2  3 4  5  6 7  8  9

Care to share an example?

4. People know the civic story.

0 1  2  3 4  5  6 7  8  9

Care to share an example?

5. They have a downtown.

0 1  2  3 4  5  6 7  8  9

Care to share an example?

6. They are near a research facility.

0 1  2  3 4  5  6 7  8  9

Care to share an example?

7. They have and care about a community college.

0 1  2  3 4  5  6 7  8  9

Care to share an example?

8. They have unusual schools.

0 1  2  3 4  5  6 7  8  9

Care to share an example?

9. They make themselves open.

0 1  2  3 4  5  6 7  8  9

Care to share an example?

10. They have big plans.

0 1  2  3 4  5  6 7  8  9

Care to share an example?

11. They have craft breweries.

0 1  2  3 4  5  6 7  8  9

Care to share an example?

Name and email (optional):

Please complete and email this form to Stockbridgecommunitynews@gmail.com or snail mail to SCN, P.O. Box 83, Gregory, MI 48137

Thank you for your input.