What is Community Heart & Soul?

Community Heart & Soul is a four phase, step-by-step process. Developed and field-tested for more than a decade in partnership with small cities and towns (population less than 50,000), Community Heart & Soul has evolved into a proven method for bringing the community together to chart a course forward.

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YouTube Video ::: Community Heart & Soul with Lyman Orton, Founder

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Phase 1: Imagine - January 2018 - December 2018

Kershaw Heart & Soul formed with diverse community leaders who are committed to see Community Heart & Soul through the all 4 phases.  A community coordinator, Dayna Singleton, was then hired to oversee the 2-year grant and team of volunteers. Overarching goals were created, as were the guidelines moving forward to bring awareness, interest and engagement from the community, which is the 29067 zip code, using the Community Network Analysis tool and demographics of Kershaw. 

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Kershaw Heart & Soul Overarching Goals

Communication:  Improve communication throughout Kershaw to increase participation and build community.

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Youth:  Engage our youth in  becoming part of Kershaw's future development.

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Young Professionals:  Engage youth professionals to find out what economic opportunities would keep them living and working in Kershaw.

 

Senior Citizens:  Generate opportunities for senior citizen involvement and inter-generational collaboration to develop Kershaw.

 

Community Pride:  Reignite the sense of community pride throughout Kershaw.

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Phase 2: Connect - December 2018 - January 2020

Starting with the Christmas Parade, Kershaw Heart & Soul started to circulate surveys asking the community what they loved and what they would change about Kershaw.  A free Pancake Breakfast was held in February 2019 to engage with the community and tell them about Kershaw Heart & Soul. The next several months, surveys and stories were gathered through community events and personal contact from the Kershaw Heart & Soul team.

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Kershaw Heart & Soul looked over the values that were gathered from the 500+ surveys, 200+ stories and the additional 375+ surveys from vetting the draft Heart & Soul Statements and came up with the following:

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Kershaw Heart & Soul  Statements

1. ​Small Town Feel: Kershaw treasures a close-knit, diverse, caring, and safe community, in which we enjoy the simplicity and peacefulness of living in a small town.

2. ​Faith-Community Harmony: Our community values the faith heritage and community involvement where we serve and love our neighbors through various ministries and organizations in Kershaw.

3. Education: Our community values quality local schools and other educational outlets where academics, fine arts, and athletic traditions encourage achievement.​

4. Environment: We treasure Stevens Park and our green spaces that connect us to Kershaw's natural beauty and resources while fostering health and well-being.

5. ​Local Businesses: We value our downtown and local small businesses who support the community and provide convenient access to necessities and services.

6. Development: Our community values investments by individuals, non-profits, businesses and foundations that create opportunity for future economic development and promote access to affordable housing and quality of life for all people.

7. ​Culture: We value Kershaw’s history and cultural diversity through festivals, events, programs and places that create community connections for all ages, as we acknowledge our past and celebrate our present, for future generations.

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​Phase 3: Plan - January 2020 - July 2020

Kershaw Heart & Soul is currently going out to the community and ensuring we got the Heart & Soul statements right.  Do they relate to you? If not then what did we not hear from the community? In addition, the team is now looking at all the hopes, concerns and action items from the surveys and stories that we heard and starting to develop an action plan.  We need the community’s help in determining which ones are important!

 

And that is why Kershaw Heart & Soul is holding a 29067 Community Conversation Thursday, April 9th, 2020 at 6:30 p.m. (which has been postponed to a later date due to the Town of Kershaw being under a State of Emergency - March 17th, 2020) at the Country Club located at 301 Club House Drive, Kershaw, SC.  This is to have a community conversation about the action items and how to prioritize them for the Action Plan.  What is important to the community?

 

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In May, the team will be developing an Action Plan guided by the Heart & Soul Statements that captures prioritized ideas.

The team will also revisit the Community Network Analysis to ensure all areas of 29067 are represented and included in decision-making, aiming for broad and meaningful participation in developing and evaluating options.

 

​Phase 4: Act - July 2020 - November 2020 ((( CURRENT PHASE )))

Change the way the community takes action by putting resident engagement at the center of decision-making.

• Adoption of Heart & Soul Statements by city council; incorporation into comprehensive and other plans.

• Form a Stewardship Team to coordinate with community partners to make actions happen.

• Continue to apply the principles of Community Heart & Soul in future community endeavors.

• Celebrate!

 Resource: www.communityheartandsoul.org

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What kind of changes have happened so far in the community?

​Improved Communication throughout the Community

• New website; social media platforms; Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

• Relationships with Kershaw News Era, The Lancaster News, 102.7 FM Radio Station Lugoff, SC, Interstate 107 Rock Hill, SC, CN2 News, LearnTV (Lancaster High School)

• Community Relationships with organizations within Kershaw; KARE, KCPC, Gold Mine Cruisers, OceanaGold, Local Business Owners, Chamber of Commerce, etc.

• Meet the Mayor Sessions

• Town implemented a new water/garbage bill that now features important information as well as events coming up to residences that have water and garbage.

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Youth Activities and Engagement

• Through OceanaGold youth temps have had them help at the Christmas Parade, Easter Egg Hunt, and Tailgate Festival.  This has led into collaboration with AJHS Honor Society and Focus Arts. 

• Focus Arts project with Christmas Ornaments

• Collaboration with Youth Groups with Easter Egg Hunt and Summer Movie Series 

• Youth Serve 2019 and 2020

• Youth Night for 13+ (Fall 2019 and Winter 2020)

• National Hop-a-Park Day July 2019

• Summer Movie Series (Summer 2019)

• Tailgate Festival (Fall 2019) engaged in athletic groups to participate in the festival while raising money for their group.

• Building relationships with the local schools to engage the youth in the community through Tailgate Festival, Christmas Parade, Christmas at Town Hall etc.

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Young Professionals - Economic Fortitude

• Have heard that Internet/Wi-Fi is important and essential to the youth and young professionals. As a result, the Town has been working towards implementing Wi-Fi locations within the Town Limits.

• Learning more on where the 25 - 35 year olds are and how to engage with them in the community;

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Senior Citizen Engagement

• KES had a Heart & Soul theme for the 2018 - 2019 School year which had the students research then and now for Kershaw.  This involved interviews of prominent people in the community.

• Assisted in help with baked goods for events.

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Reigniting Community Pride

• Best Attended Christmas Parade for 2018 and 2019

• The community has asked for more activities and with the statistics that Kershaw community attends 80%

• The community is highly engaged with what is going on and by whom by the analyitical information provided by the Town's website and social media platforms.

• We have also been hearing from the community that they want more collaboration on combining events which has already happened with the Easter Egg Hunt (bringing together over 25 organizations, churches and businesses for 10,000 Easter Eggs) and the Tailgate Festival which combined the Hog Jam and KARE Day in the Park.

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During COVID-19 Era

• Without the improved Town website information would not have been readily avaiable to the community regarding how the Town was reacting to it.  Informational pages had been created so that the community had the resources in one place.

• With the cancellation of the Community Wide Easter Egg Hunt two events were created and we welcomed by the community as something positive and were grateful.  This lead into Marvelous Mom Giveaway and the Dynamite Dad Giveaway with collaboration from KARE, OceanaGold and Kershaw Hardware & Supply.

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Census 2020

• As of June 1st, 2020 Kershaw's response rate is 59.6% compared to Lancaster County 64.2% 2nd behind York County in South Carolina.  South Carolina's response rate is 55.3% compared to the United States response reate of 60.5%

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Positive Changes in the Community

• First Steps 4K Program coming to Kershaw with the renovation of the Old Bank Building.

• Creighton's Creamery combining ice cream with coffee and baked goods.

• Future renovation of the Community Center for Seniors with has impact on everyone using the community center.

• Outdoor excerise equipment and shuffle board at Stevens Park.

• New library in the middle of downtown in the old Wells Fargo Building.

• Sports Complex coming to Heath Springs.

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What is being worked on ...

• Youth Community Council

• Neighborhood Watch

• Volunteer HUB

• Collaborating on more events to combine and join forces