Vision Building and the Rural Community College:
Ingredients for Successful Rural Community Development
“Visioning is like painting a picture of the ideal way a community
should be.” (Ayers, 1996)
Visioning and Community Colleges
Often Leads to Successful Community Development
Community Needs
Policy Focus
Organizational Direction
Barriers to Visioning
Issues
Definition of Community (in/of)
Power/Powerless
Participation/Limits of Involvement
Extent of Conflict
Rural Mobilization
Community Capacity (characteristics)
Community Agency (ability)
Disaffection
Structures and Systems
Institutionalized Solutions
Termination of Obsolete Activities
Planning Around Existing Systems
No Evaluation Plan
Substitutes for Leadership
Maintaining Attention of Key People
Not Allocating Resources
Stefani Gray Hicswa
stefani@pobox.com
Page 1
Bridges to Visioning
Foundation
Adaptation to Change
Acceptance of Controversy
Mobilization of Resources
Community Assessment
Community Capacity
Visioning Champion or “Sparkplug”
Training
Orientation Meetings
Share Vision with Stakeholders and Investors
Identify Key Players
Involvement in Decision Making
Implementation
Identify Team
Identify Methods
Monitor Progress
Congruent Strategies
Supportive Structures and Systems
Evaluation
Conclusion
Not all communities are candidates for visioning.
Not all community colleges are suited to provide visioning leadership.
“Although the task appears enormous, [visioning] is a worthy
challenge for those concerned with rural community development.”
(Summers, 1986)
Stefani Gray Hicswa
stefani@pobox.com
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