Lessons in Leadership and Sustainability from Greensburg KS 7 13-10

Lessons in Leadership and Sustainability from Greensburg Kansas Laura Brown Community Development Educator Crawford County UW Extension July 13, 2010

Wisconsin leadership Academy trip to Greensburg June 6-11, 2010

Kiowa County Extension Office

Public Square

Leadership in Public Square Process
“ Training our next generation of leaders is key”
“ We need to build a passion for our community that becomes instilled in the people here.” “ We already have a community of 850 leaders- because they invested in staying here. Leadership is about enabling people to perform difficult tasks. We’ve enabled each other. We’ve worked through this because we’ve had the passion.”

GREENSBURG VISION 2017
Blessed with a unique opportunity to create a strong community Devoted to family Fostering business Working together for future generations

Goals
Partnerships for Development Create a County Development Board with representation from all four sectors which will work to foster growth
Community Conversations Utilize the Public Square Steering Committee to actively engaged sector activities and coordinate community events
New Parks & Recreation Create a facility incorporating an indoor pool, fitness center, meeting rooms and office space for staff to implement a comprehensive cultural events program
“ Can Do” Attitude Use organizations from the four sectors to reinforce a “sense of community” and a “can do attitude”...
Youth Leadership Develop a program of youth & adults working together on leadership awareness & involvement, and have a visible youth presence in all planning sectors engaging as many youth as possible

The Sustainability Decision Only a crisis—actual or perceived—produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around . That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes politically inevitable . – Milton Friedman

What Does Sustainability Mean in Greensburg? “ We have learned that sustainability does not just mean green building. It is time and energy, lifestyle changes, and education, building relationships. This means we are focused not on right now or two years from now, but 20 years from now. We are planning for our grandchildren.”

Evolving Views of the Community People, Planet, Profit Unconnected or silos view Interconnected or linkages view Interdependent, nested, or systems view Environment Economy Society Environment Economy Society Environment Society Economy

LEED Certified Buildings

Greensburg City Hall

Leadership Notes from the City Administrator
“ Patience, persistence, vision, and communication were essential. True leadership happens when the critics are loud and you are still making progress.”
“ Our biggest challenge was not the short term disaster relief but the longer term work that we are doing now that will affect the community for many years to come.”

Kiowa County Hospital “ Planning is about decision making and learning how to make good decisions”

Greensburg Greentown

Economic Development Scott Brown Kiowa County United

Greensburg Sunchips Business Incubator

On Rebuilding Green
“ We said, if the city and the county are going to do it, let’s be a leader in the business community and rebuild LEED certified.”
“ This really helped to rebuild relationships in the community that had been shattered before..It is critical that we did what we did and that we continue what we’re doing.”
-Mike Estes, BTI John Deere Greensburg

Future Site of Kiowa County Commons

Challenges
Housing- ongoing big issue
Housing and services for seniors
Attracting and keeping essential services- eye care, pharmacy, dental
Community health- food access?

Lessons on Rebuilding After a Disaster
How do we generate “community without tragedy?” Tornado caused a mental shift
“ You plan to plan so you know how to make decisions.”
“ Positive conversation changes the world.”

http://fyi.uwex.edu/crawfordcommunity

Questions?
Thank you!
Laura Brown
Crawford County University of Wisconsin Extension
608-326-0223
[email_address]

Lessons in Leadership and Sustainability from Greensburg KS 7 13-10

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