After spending a week in Owensboro and hearing from people representing all areas of the community, Rich Harwood — president and founder of the Harwood Institute for Public Innovation — said the throughline for Owensboroans is they all love living here and value learning about its past and future.
The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization with a mission of equipping people, organizations, communities, and networks with the tools to bridge divides, create a culture of shared responsibility, and build their community’s civic capacities.
The Greater Owensboro Leadership Institute partnered with Harwood for an initiative they hope will guide Owensboro’s next community-led transformation. In addition to a public forum, the Harwood Institute is hosting more than 30 in-depth interviews with local leaders and more than a dozen focused conversations with community residents.
Harwood said across the board, the people he spoke to have expressed great pride in the community even while facing the challenges inside of it.
“I met a lot of folks who are working incredibly hard to solve challenges or to meet challenges that different parts of the community face,” Harwood said.
He said challenges noted include the retention of young people, drug addiction and recovery, affordable housing, homelessness, and the number of students who are reading below grade level.
While these measurable challenges are important, Harwood said the conversations pointed out there is a “siloed” atmosphere throughout the community, an issue he feels must be addressed to solve the challenges ahead.
Harwood said when people feel fragmented and like their voices are not heard, it often results in them finding difficulty bringing hard issues to the table and limits moving forward in a unified fashion.
He noted that the challenges Owensboro faces are not unique and are seen nationwide.
“The ways in which these issues combine in any given community together with a community’s history, heritage, culture, and way of life is unique,” Harwood said. “So, in that sense, these communities are all different.”
Harwood said tough discussions cannot be “wished away” and that people can’t “put our heads in the sand.” What is needed, he thinks, is focusing on the shared aspirations for Owensboro rather than lingering on national-level issues.
“(We have to) really focus on what people’s shared aspirations are in this community, what really matters to people in this community, and what are the things that we can do in this committee to take action on those things that matter to us. When we do that, then we’ve countered the negativity in the national scene overtaking us. In a sense, we claim our own ability to make a difference,” Harwood said.
That sentiment is something he has often heard in all of his conversations so far in Owensboro.
“I heard a lot of people say, ‘Let’s get going. Let’s let’s do it.’ Some people asked, ‘How do we get started?’” Harwood said.
For now, the Harwood Institute will continue gathering feedback through February. After that, the Institute will publish a comprehensive report, tentatively in the spring. Following that, phase two will begin with informed conversations based on the reports.
Harwood said, “Those will be all about how do we take action together on what matters to people and do so in a way that strengthens the civic culture and capabilities of the community.”
