Our Communities of Northwest Stokes
Our Communities of Northwest Stokes is a rural development initiative dedicated to revitalizing our area and creating partnerships and programs that benefit the county. It is a community-built, community-driven, and all-volunteer effort. Our Communities of NW Stokes Foundation is a non-profit (501c3) organization created in 2015 to support this work and assist in funding projects in the region.
Current board member are Paul Blue, Texie Jessup, Bill Hart
and JaneBowman
Celebrating Cultural traditions
Growing Community
Our Communities is future-focused. It is how people in our area come together to work on building a brighter future for NW Stokes.
A Brief History
The initiative evolved from a series of locally produced forums held
in 2014. At that time decades-long decline and dwindling government
investment in our localities had reached a crisis point. The
initiative gained urgency and momentum after the area’s elementary
school—the heart and center of our communities--was closed in 2015.
At that point, the death of all the villages in the very rural
northwest—former tobacco country---seemed to be a forgone and widely
accepted conclusion in most of the county. However local
folks---renowned for their self-reliance and resilience---disagreed
and a large group decided to test the idea that ordinary people, even
in tiny farm villages, could shape and drive their own development
from the grassroots up, relying on themselves initially and not
outside resources. Finding no models that seemed to fit our size,
circumstances and needs, the group set about crafting its own original
development approach, one that is community-driven (not just
community-based) all-inclusive, responsive and action-focused. The
main challenge was/and is building local capacity. The work involves
outreach, skills-building, community-learning and engagement. (For
more about the initiative and our experiment see the Foundations page)
Current objectives of the initiative
Improve local services
Promote education and technology
Create a business-friendly environment
Conserve our natural, historical, and cultural assets
Integrate the arts into community life and development
Increase community involvement and inclusion
Some of our activities:
Organizing and presenting an annual FarmFest
Leading a community-driven planning and development process
Creating opportunities for civic engagement and education
Raising funds for local organizations and projects
Teaching classes and workshops
Sponsoring music events
Leading arts initiatives
Documenting and preserving local music and history
Partnering with providers to expand broadband internet access
Maintaining and expanding community outreach and information tools
Building partnerships with other agencies and organizations
Our Communities in 2020
Over the past 5 years, Our Communities has built the capacity to take
on some big projects. We now have a core volunteer base over more than
50 people, and a record of progress. In 2020 we will be continuing our
planning and development process. Over the next two-years, Francisco
residents of all ages will participate in putting together a 15-year
comprehensive development plan and designing a 21st century village. A
store, a park and a walking trail, will be part of this design. A
campaign to attract a store is underway and preliminary work has been
done for both the park and the walking trail.
These projects focus on three priority needs:
1. an environment that and supports “community”.
2. a solution to the food desert problem.
3. next-generation community leaders
Our Communities invites anyone interested in this work to join us. Our
hope is that the lessons learned here will benefit other under-served
and marginalized communities.