Many communities struggle to sustain their economies, their residents, their culture and ultimately their sense of hope. For many years, I lived and worked in an urban community whose downward spiral lasted 40 years. Similarly, most rural communities are in a prolonged pattern of decline.

Against this backdrop, Public Square Communities LLC is in its 7th year of engaging communities in an intense, bottoms-up, ongoing process which generates community enthusiasm, futuristic thinking and citizen teams implementing long-term goals.  New leadership is empowered, new ideas are developed, new partnerships are built, and hope is renewed.

The purpose of the Public Square Conference is to celebrate and sustain this new leadership, these new ideas and partnerships, this newfound hope.  A first-time attendee last year put it succinctly: “This is the lynchpin of sustaining the Public Square.”  And a three-time participant exclaims, “This is absolutely the best conference I’ve ever attended.”

Citizens from all four Public Square sectors of each participating community – from Business, Education, Human Service and Government – come to the Conference prepared to teach each other their successes and challenges in a cooperative atmosphere that includes funding and program partners from across Kansas. The result is a large scale multiplying of ideas, talent, resources and relationships.

Conference partners fund 90% of the cost to honor these entrepreneurial communities and encourage them to keep producing results over the long haul. 2009 Conference partners were Finnup Foundation Trust (Garden City), Kansas Housing Resource Corporation, the Farm Credit Associations of Kansas, Kansas Department of Commerce, the Kansas Electric Cooperative and Kansas Health Foundation (Wichita).

The 2010 Conference will be November 18 – 19 in Salina.
We anticipate 100 participants: 70 from communities and 30 from partners and interested organizations. Online registration will open on September 13th.

For further information, please contact me or Chrysanne Grund, Operations & Communications Colleague, at cgrund@buildthesquare.com. We look forward to seeing you at the 6th Annual Public Square Conference in Salina.

Terry Woodbury, President
Public Square Communities, LLC
twoodbury@buildthesquare.com

“Re-building the Public Square . . . one community at a time”