Yale’s Heart & Soul Project puts residents at the center of community planning

The Community Correspondent role provides readers with on-the-ground and inclusive stories about the Port Huron area. This is made possible through funding provided by the Community Foundation of St. Clair County. 

Before talking about new parks, trails, or downtown improvements, organizers behind the Yale Heart & Soul project begin with a much simpler question: What matters most to you?

For the past year, volunteers have been asking that question to residents across the Yale area, collecting stories and ideas that organizers hope will eventually shape future community priorities. Instead of presenting residents with a predetermined vision for the future, the project focuses on listening first.

The initiative is led by the Community Foundation of St. Clair County through the national Community Heart & Soul model, which encourages communities to identify their own priorities before moving into planning and implementation.

“We want to know what is important to them instead of imposing what we think is best for them,” says Natacha Hayden, program officer for Community Impact at the Community Foundation of St. Clair County and the Heart & Soul certified coach for the Yale area. “We don’t live in the Yale area in particular. So if anything, we want to hear from the residents and see what those priorities are and where we can connect and make those things happen.”

The project is currently in its second of four phases, known as the connecting phase, where volunteers gather stories from community members of all ages. Those conversations will eventually be organized into common themes that can help guide future community action.

“This is a resident-led initiative,” Hayden says. “So when I say we, I really mean Barb, Kim, and an array of volunteers that are connecting with the residents and asking what is important to them, what hopes they have for the future in their of their community, and even ideas that they may have for actions that they can take in the future.”

For Barbara Stasik, a Yale resident and one of the Yale Heart & Soul project coordinators, making sure every voice is represented is one of the project’s most important goals.

“Our goal is to talk to as many people of all ages as we can, because we feel it’s important for our community to have input on what our future is going to look like together,” Stasik says. “At the end of the program, we hope to have a coordinated effort as to where we head toward the future from everyone’s input and ideas, and we’re really trying to get all ages involved. We talk to children, teens, tweens, middle age, and older.”

Rather than relying on public meetings alone, volunteers are taking the conversations directly into the community.

Over the past year, organizers have attended events including the Bologna Festival, school sporting events, and other community gatherings, while also visiting local businesses and hosting coffee hours. The goal, Stasik says, is to meet residents where they already are instead of expecting them to attend another meeting after work.

“Sometimes it’s hard for people to come somewhere after work or during work, so I’m going there, and so is our storytelling team,” she says. “We’re really trying to engage people where they are and where they can meet with us, and be mindful of their time, their talents. Everybody wants to feel needed and involved, and we’re trying to do that.”

Organizers say the approach is designed to include people who may not typically participate in community planning conversations.

“You don’t have to be working in a certain space,” Hayden says. “You don’t have to be a professional of a certain kind. We want to talk to everyone and understand what is important to them.”

As those conversations continue, several common themes have already emerged.

Yale Park is one of the places residents mention most often, according to Hayden, along with outdoor recreation opportunities. Suggestions have included additional walking trails and kayak launch sites.

Stasik says some of the most memorable feedback has come from younger residents, who have emphasized preserving community traditions.

“One of the things they love is our Christmas parade and the fact that our businesses all decorate downtown,” she says. “They’d like to see every business decorate. So that was kind of a fun little insight into what makes a difference to them.”

Residents also continue to point to the Bologna Festival as one of the area’s defining traditions.

Like many long-term community initiatives, Heart & Soul has required patience. Because the process emphasizes relationship-building before action, some residents initially expected to see immediate results.

“It was slow a little bit because we were all learning,” Stasik says. “It’s a brand new thing, and we had great coaches talking us through as we go, and people had questions, and I think they were expecting to see something immediate, and now we’re kind of getting through that.”

She adds, “Listen, we need your ideas. This isn’t going to happen overnight. It’s a process, and it’s teamwork, and it’s time and effort.”

As more people have participated, she says, those expectations have shifted. “They can see it now. They can understand it and feel that what we’re doing is going to make a difference for their future, their kids’ futures.”

The project has also created a sense of recognition for residents who have sometimes felt overlooked.

“One of the things I keep hearing over and over again is a lot of times, some of our little communities like Yale and Oka and Greenwood, we kind of feel left out of the mix of the Blue Water area,” Stasik says. “So it’s really pepped people up and given them like a sense of ‘oh we matter, and they’re thinking about us,’ and so overall the reaction has been wonderful that they brought this to us.”

For Hayden, the initiative is about more than collecting stories. She says the Community Foundation hopes the relationships built through Heart & Soul will continue long after the current project concludes.

“This is really a part of a broader initiative for the foundation itself,” Hayden says. “This is a long-term thing. We’re not going anywhere.”

As organizers continue gathering stories, the Community Foundation hopes to eventually establish a community fund managed by local stakeholders, allowing charitable dollars to stay in the Yale area and support the priorities residents identify through the Heart & Soul process.

For Stasik, the project’s greatest impact is already evident in the conversations taking place across the community.

“Small towns have suffered across our state,” Stasik says. “You know we are a lower-income community, and people have to travel quite far to get where they’re going. All those factors contribute to a sense of maybe sometimes aloneness, or sometimes their voices aren’t heard.”

She adds, “I think it was an amazing opportunity for us to remind people that they matter. Our town matters. We want our businesses to succeed. We want our outdoor spaces to be beautiful. We want success for future generations.”