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For communities to respond to their challenges, they must resolve, for themselves, that their capacity to solve problems requires revitalization. Outside consultants can make recommendations, but without local ownership of the strategy and implementation plan, it is not likely that the community will take action. The Civic Index, a twelve point community self-evaluation tool, helps communities develop their problem solving capacity by providing a method and a process for first identifying strengths and weaknesses, and then for structuring collaborative problem solving strategies. Today's column concludes our discussion of the Civic Index with a challenge for communities to continue the self-evaluation process on an ongoing basis.

Capacity Building: An Ongoing Process

Undergoing the Civic Index community self-evaluation process does not mean that the community will immediately, or in fact ever, become problem free. The purpose of the process is not perfection, but to identify local challenges and then establish community structures to offer better, more complete solutions to these problems.

By beginning to build collaborative relations, by asset mapping and identifying problem solving capacities and needs, a community will be better able to address future (and current) challenges. Governmental leaders, residents, businesses, and civic organizations will have convened and undergone a valuable learning experience which could change the way that things are accomplished and decisions are made in that community.

However, while this cooperative process will have helped a community identify problems and work to achieve goals, those problems and goals do not remain stagnant. As the community changes, the community's challenges and goals will also change.

Further, the problem solving environment itself does not remain constant. One of the factors which precipitated the National Civic League to develop the Civic Index was the changing community problem solving environment: In the past 20 years, communities have grown more diverse, have been asked to assume greater responsibility for solving their own problems, and have been asked to do so with less outside financial resources.

As such, communities need to understand that the self-evaluation is not an end in itself; but part of an ongoing process.

As Drew O'Connor, Assistant Director of the National Civic League's Community Services often explains, "An assessment using the Civic Index can help a community decide what it desires its future to be. That vision can spell out the ideal of where citizens would like the community to go."

"Still," O'Connor continues, "the community will probably never fully attain that ideal. It will, however, go much farther toward getting there than it would without stating such a commonly shared vision."

As such, there is a need for constant ongoing re-evaluation of your community's status in regard to each component of the Civic Index, as well as in regard to the success you've had in implementing plans to bolster the weaker elements of your community's civic infra-structure. This need applies to both communities which have difficulty addressing the shortfalls identified in their self-evaluation and those which have been more successful meeting their challenges.

Lee's Summit, Missouri, for example, first started working with the National Civic League in 1993; 70 people began meeting to help the community develop a strategic plan for managing growth.

The results have been overwhelming. As a result of this plan, Lee's Summit: 21st Century, residents have passed tax increases for roads and water improvements, to support additional police and firefighters, and to build a new police and fire station. In fact, 12 of the 12 ballot referendums which grew out of the plan have been enacted.

Even so, Lee's Summit is not content to rest on its laurels. The town has called the National Civic League back to help residents update the plan. Rather than saying, "We've accomplished our goals," community residents are saying, "We've accomplished our goals. What can we do next?"

The Civic Index process itself serves as a foundation for this continued capacity building. The effort will have gotten the collaboration process rolling in communities, bringing together representatives from each sector to help with the community evaluation.

Don't let these inroads falter. Construct mechanisms to keep the process rolling. For example, recommend an annual "State of the Community" report, using the recommendations made while conducting the Civic Index as benchmarks.

Generate publicity about the community's self-evaluation; emphasize the strengths, weaknesses and challenges identified by the process. Doing so will certainly generate more public input and suggestions for ways to improve your community. And it will also help build civic pride, in that it illustrates your community is willing to take the hard step to move forward. Moreover, the Civic Index process, in addition to identifying elements of your community's civic infrastructure which need bolstering, will certainly also reveal the positives your community has to offer.

The National Civic League provides an excellent means by which you can revisit the status of your community's civic infra-structure: The All-America City Award is the oldest and most prestigious community recognition award in the country.

For 50 years the All-America City Award has encouraged and recognized civic excellence, honoring communities of all sizes - cities, towns, counties, neighborhoods and regions - in which citizens, government, businesses and voluntary organizations work together to address critical local issues. Since 1949, nearly 500 communities have earned the All-America City designation.

A key element of the application process is the requirement that communities briefly assess their performance in regard to each component of the Civic Index; communities are asked to describe their level and quality of civic participation, government performance, regional cooperation, and so on.

The application also requires that the effort to become an All-America City be driven by all sectors of the community - business, government, nonprofits - along with private citizens.

Thus, the application process itself, just as with the Civic Index process, presents a unique opportunity to communities to evaluate themselves and foster new community partnerships. Moreover, it gives communities that have previously undergone the Civic Index assessment an occasion to gain recognition for successful efforts.

Regardless of what mechanism a community chooses to adopt to continue and move the capacity building process forward, either through applying for the All-America City Award, conducting periodic state of the community assessments, or even conducting subsequent Civic Index evaluations, the key is that the process continue. No community is perfect; but communities can continue to improve and thus continue to improve the quality of life for their residents.

For information on how the concepts and techniques presented in this column, or any of the previous columns, can be applied in your community, or to order a copy of the 1999 Revised Civic Index, contact the National Civic League by e-mail at ncl@ncl.org; on the world wide web at www.ncl.org; or by phone at (303) 571-4343.

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