Community Collaboratives – Town Square Collaborative

At the Town Square Collaborative we believe rural communities are strengthened when everyone works today. Rural communities are tended by diverse organizations and institutions whose impact and ability varies from community to community. In each rural community, churches play an integral role in creating culture, caring for those in need, building relationships, and providing critical services. The Community Collaborative model is designed to bring key community stakeholders together to identify an area of concern in their rural place and respond as a group. To do this, community collaboratives will be supported by TSC staff and a select set of partners. Funded by the TSC, our partners will bring their resources, expertise, and experience to our partner communities.

If rural communities are to flourish, it is vital that barriers be broken down and a renewed sense of collaboration grow. When churches, community organizations and civic institutions collaborate there is no limit to what can be accomplished. You can learn more by contacting Assistant Director of Community and Engagement Shana Chaplin, schaplin@ozarks.edu, and by exploring our partners below.

In many Arkansas towns, churches stand as the oldest continuously operating institutions—serving not only as places of worship but also as anchors of public service and community support. The Winthrop Rockefeller Institute’s Civic Arkansan Credential is designed to harness the unique influence of churches, both large and small, by encouraging congregations to reflect on how their shared values shape their role in the broader community. Through values exploration and education on how to engage in civil conversations across differences, this initiative invites faith communities to think expansively about the impact they can have when values guide their civic engagement. Whether that means voting, volunteering, participating in local meetings, or even bridging political divides to strengthen civic health in local communities.

At Innovative Poverty Solutions, we help groups develop and implement community-driven, innovative solutions for poverty reduction. We focus on building community across income lines and utilizing the power of social capital for community change. Social capital is the network of relationships and connections people have that provide access to resources, opportunities, and support. In short, it’s not always what you know, but who you know that matters.

We believe that social capital is the most valuable yet underutilized resource we have in the work to reduce poverty, and churches are one of the best places to build and steward social capital for the good of others.

We provide the training and resources to help you better understand poverty in your local context, convene people together in spaces of dialogue, reimagine what ideas and solutions could be possible, and then help move groups to action.

The tools and support we offer include:

“Poverty IQ” training:
- An immersive, experiential, and actionable approach to learning about the complexity of poverty and how to begin the work of reducing it.
Community Dialogue and CoCreate Sessions:
- Small events that facilitate healthy and productive discussion and collaboration to identify specific community barriers to reducing poverty, explore potential solutions, and opportunities to take action.
Coaching and Consulting toward implementation:
- As a follow up from training and community collaboration, coaching and support is offered on effectively implementing and integrating new initiatives.

Communities Unlimited connects rural Americans to solutions that sustain healthy businesses, healthy communities, and healthy lives. We believe that access to opportunities should not depend on where you live, how much you have in the bank, or what you look like.