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BeLocal Mt. Airy Makes Their Debut

Courtesy Photo

Courtesy Photo

BeLocal Mt. Airy made its first public appearance at this weekend’s Heat Chili Cook-off in downtown Mt. Airy. A local grass roots citizens group, BeLocal Mt. Airy was formed to bring the residents of Mt. Airy together and is actively seeking to strengthen the town’s sense of community, sense of place, and local self-reliance. Their motto is  “Grow. Play. Shop. Act.”

  • Grow:  Supporting local farms, starting community gardens, encouraging backyard gardeners.   
  • Play: Expanding local cultural and recreational opportunities, encouraging individual expression and sharing.
  • Shop: Strengthening the local economy by supporting local businesses, and encouraging local entrepreneurship.
  • Act: Engaging residents through community-based volunteer opportunities.

The groups vision is “to counter the many global, economic, and societal forces that tend to split us apart by bringing people together around the common cause of making their home town a more socially connected, environmentally sustainable, culturally rich, economically vibrant, physically safe, and beautiful place to live.”

BeLocal’s mission is to find solutions to common needs by engaging all stakeholders in the process. So far their efforts are really paying off. By systematically reaching out and inviting different segments of the community to be part of the conversation, they’ve proven to be a true grass roots organization that has shown inclusion and objectivity in their approach. Quite refreshing for some Mt. Airians who believe they’ve been shut out of the process of planning for Mt. Airy’s future.

The group’s founders, Teresa Shattuck and Erin Tunkel, have been busy creating important alliances and carefully collaborating among their core group for several months. According to the group’s blog, “After 2-1/2 months of hard work by the Steering Committee we have a name, a vision, tremendous ideas and energy to put into action!”

Shattuck is a co-founder at Shattuck & Associates, a company that provides program planning and evaluation services in the fields of health and education. Her work with communities like Mt. Airy uses an evaluation process that includes surveys, focus groups, and in depth interviews to assess community needs.  

Shattuck and Tunkel, also an employee of Shattuck & Associates, recognized Mt. Airy needed some in depth evaluation. Even though the town did a survey in 2007, both Shattuck and Tunkel realized that the previous survey, although a good start, was just not enough to clarify or really zero in on the where, what, or how the future should look through the eyes of the Mt. Airy community.

For example, the 2007 town survey showed that 63 percent of those who surveyed wanted a Community Recreation Center, or sports complex. However, In 2009 when an a local resident proposed to build a community center, both the Planning and Zoning commission and the Town Council turned it down due to location and area resident complaints. Zeroing in on particulars regarding what kind of center, where a generally acceptable location would be in town and exactly the uses of such a center or complex, would help to further create the focus, collaboration and consensus needed to actually move forward with such initiatives.    

Shattuck and Tunkle decided to utilize their skills and experience in evaluating communities to provide much needed analysis of needs right in their own hometown. The creation of BeLocal was the result.

BeLocal has been busy holding informal discussion groups throughout neighborhoods and at local coffee shops. So far, the feedback and response has been overwhelmingly positive. The group recognizes the community really wants to contribute so they’ve tailored the groups to be inclusive of all members of the community including teenagers, children 12 and under, men, women, families, businesses, community organizations, as well as our local government. Everyone is invited to the conversation and will be included in the process.   

According to the group, “inviting all stakeholders to the table for informal discussions and brainstorming sessions is a process of imagination, planning, and hard work, we will devise creative ways to build a community that is connected, engaged, sustainable, and looks to one another for the greatest possible number of our needs.” If you’re interested in getting involved, or want to host a discussion group in your neighborhood, contact Teresa Shattuck @ teresa@shattuckandassociates.com,  or Erin Tunkel @ erin@shattuckandassociates.com.

Visit BeLocal Mt. Airy on the Web at http://belocalmtairy.org/

 

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