Do you want your community to become more sustainable, but don’t know where to start?
Are you and your neighbors looking for good-paying jobs, but feel like the odds are stacked against you?
Do you support long-lasting, positive change for your community, but don’t have the support to move forward?
The ReImagine Your Community Visioning Session Project is an initiative that brings together community leaders from across the region for a series of collaborative monthly meetings with the collective goal of implementing the toolkit in their own communities. The project will support participants to create a bottom-up, collective visioning process for a sustainable, equitable economy in each of the community leader’s communities, neighborhoods, or regions. Each participant receives a modest stipend to support the implementation of the ReImagine Your Community Toolkit and the privilege of being part of a small cohort of Appalachian changemakers from a diverse spectrum of communities.
In order to successfully access the numerous governmental, business, and nonprofit programs and funding opportunities available in Appalachia right now, applicants need an engaged coalition and shared vision from broad and diverse stakeholder groups. Our work in the ReImagine Your Community Visioning Session Project focuses on equipping communities with the necessary tools to help prepare them to identify stakeholders, build these vital coalitions, and begin to engage in the next level of technical assistance programs. This can prepare a group to present their vision for the next stage in sustainable development and give them a leg up to receiving grants and funding.
The collective visioning required of participants in this project can help serve as a guide, a source of ideas, and galvanizing collective force for securing competitive federal climate infrastructure grants.
We are coming together to protect public health, create jobs, reduce poverty, and enhance the overall quality of life for all community members, turning our communities’ vibrant visions into reality.
While our 2023-2024 application is now closed, we invite you to stay up-to-date with the growing movement of individuals and community-based organizations by signing up for our newsletter.
Octavia has spent the last decade of her career working in education, early intervention, and community outreach. Coming from a big city like New York, her goal was to bring her family to a new environment that would offer a safer alternative to what she experienced in NYC. West Virginia offered a slower pace her family was looking for to raise her babies at the time.
Since moving to West Virginia, Octavia has volunteered in many spaces as well as served on many boards including KCS Pre-K. She has obtained her Regents Bachelor of Arts degree from WVSU, Master’s in organizational management from Ashford University and Doctorate in Education, Specialization in Curriculum & Instruction from Capella University.
Before coming to the Community Foundation, Sarah served as Northeast Ohio Regional Representative for U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown. She received a master’s degree in American Studies with certificates in TSOL and Professional & Technical writing and bachelor’s in English literature and linguistics, both from Youngstown State University. She recently became a Ohio Certified Volunteer Naturalist and often volunteers at Mill Creek MetroParks. She also proudly serves on the boards of the Raymond John Wean Foundation, Policy Matters Ohio, the League of Women Voters of Greater Youngstown, and Friends of Fellows Riverside Gardens. To balance work and play, Sarah enjoys biking, birding, hiking, and picture-taking—any excuse to be outside.
She also founded the Bowmanstown Area Action Committee to fight for local rights against a trash transfer station in her borough, along the Lehigh River.
Kara is certified by iPEC for both Professional Coaching and ELI – MP (Energy Leadership Index Master Practitioner) and has degrees in psychology, communication, and recreation, but it is through decades of service and volunteering that she acquired the skills to organize and fundraise for her community.
In July 2024 we held a virtual showcase for our RYC cohort participants to share about the remarkable projects they’ve been leading in their communities. Read more about this inspiring event and their projects here.
Check out our introductory video, The Toolkit, and examples of The Toolkit in action below!
Want to see what the “ReImagine Your Community” model of community organizing and visioning is all about? Click on this video and see how residents of Beaver County, Pennsylvania spearheaded this fun and engaging process.
Check out this video for another example of the ReImagine Your Community Toolkit in action!
The ReImagine Your Community Toolkit is a tool that shows you how to reimagine and, in time, implement projects that make your neighborhood, town, county, or region more sustainable. This may range from putting solar panels on places of worship to having electric car charging stations on the main street; a regenerative hemp farm that creates jobs, or support for finding new uses for old coal plants.
We know that sustainable development is about more than just renewable energy. That’s why the ReImagine Your Community Toolkit looks at the bigger picture. By looking at the sustainable development sector holistically, the Toolkit can build a new economy designed for everyone.
The ReImagine Your Community Toolkit prioritizes hearing from everyone, making sure that the ideas and actions created through the Toolkit reflect the unique needs of your community. By inviting everyone to the table, we can work together, build trust, and create an inclusive environment where all voices are heard.
Together, we can reimagine your community to not only meet your community’s present needs, but also ensure a brighter future for generations to come. To learn more about how the ReImagine Your Community Toolkit can empower your community in future cohorts, contact us at [email protected].
(A big thank you to the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania and ReImagine Beaver County for leading the way in developing this process.)
(The West Virginia Council of Churches and the Evangelical Environmental Network have adapted a version for our Christian Communities:)
Are you interested in adapting our ReImagine Your Community toolkit for you and your group’s preferred language, beliefs and/or objectives? If you would like to work with us to adapt this text to your group, please contact us at [email protected]. Your creativity and inspiration is welcome.