WAEM Town Tango Takes First Step

WAEM Town Tango Takes First Step

Many small towns in West Alabama and East Mississippi face uncertain futures.  Building better futures for these towns is no quick or easy chore.  It takes a plan…at least that is what “Your Town Alabama” emphasizes.

“A community with a plan is more competitive,” says Cheryl Morgan, one of the principals in Your Town and director of Auburn’s Urban Studio in Birmingham, AL. 

Your Town Alabama has been working with small towns for nearly 10 years.  The West Alabama – East Mississippi (WAEM) Regional Initiative is seeking ways to help its small towns be more competitive.  As a result, WAEM and Your Town are partnering to bring a new program to the WAEM Region.  It is called “WAEM Town.”

“WAEM Town will greatly resemble Your Town,” explained Bill Crawford, director of the WAEM Regional Initiative.  “But while it embodies the best of Your Town, WAEM Town will also add steps from Mississippi’s Main Street Program and from recent initiatives by the Appalachian Regional Commission.”

To begin this new tango between West Alabama and East Mississippi, WAEM sent staff from all of its regional partners to the 2008 rendition of Your Town Alabama.  WAEM staffers learned how to cultivate community spirit and participation to create common visions based on the assets of each individual town. 

 “I found the ‘Your Town Alabama’ training to be very inspiring and thought provoking,” said Joey Kenna, a WAEM team member from Mississippi’s East Central Community College. “If I had the opportunity to go back every year, I would definitely take advantage of it!”

Your Town Alabama is a three-day, participatory leadership retreat for citizen leaders, local political leaders, and professionals that focuses on the importance of asset-based planning and design for small towns.  It is based on the national Your Town Leadership Initiative program developed by the National Endowment for the Arts.

“Your Town teaches participants how to view their communities in a different way,” said Patrick Scoggin from Jones County Junior College in Ellisville, MS.  “Many times, we only see the opportunities in our community, not the assets that are already there.  Your Town teaches people how to see the assets their communities have and how to better use those assets to build towns into vibrant, sustainable communities.”

This fall, Your Town Alabama program facilitators will cross the state line to provide expertise and assistance in the creation of a new regional “WAEM Town” training program.  The first “WAEM Town” retreat is tentatively set for October 22-24 at Lake Tiak O’Khata in Louisville, MS.  For more information, contact Ken Dupre’ at 601-483-2661 or tmiken@bellsouth.net.