Communication is Key During Community Conversation

The Community Conversation was a talk about talking.

Whether the talk focused on promotion, sustainability or safety, the conversation led by the Lawrence Township Community Foundation (LTCF) always came back to one thing: communication.

“We are doing a lot of things already,” Tahirih Smith of Sustainable Lawrence said, citing the Lawrence Township Master Plan and other initiatives in town. “Now that we’re doing these things - A, let’s continue to do it; but B, let’s shout it out, let the world know.”

The community talk was organized by the LTCF in an effort to promote communication, among other things. Service organizations, non-profits, businesses and citizens from throughout the area came together for the meeting held at the Lawrenceville School on Saturday to try to improve their home – a place where many have lived for decades.

“We’re here to get together to change our small part of the universe,” Sue Kirkland, facilitator of the meeting, said.

She was hopeful the event would have an impact on the community. “Sustainable Lawrence also emerged from this kind of conversation, so who knows what we’ll come up with?” she said.

After a round of introductions wherein members of the audience were given the chance to talk about their passions and volunteer work, the room broke into small groups to discuss several key topics: promoting Lawrence Township; making Lawrence healthy and safe; getting around Lawrence; being a good neighbor; sustainability; and engaging across generations.

Whether they talked about promoting the township through newsletters and social media, improving safety by cracking down on drugs and alcohol, or engaging across generations via sports and multi-generational recreation, the discussion always came back to improved communication.

“Communication is one pillar that supports everything,” Kirkland said.

The group broke down further to explore specific issues in depth.

“If we don’t have sustainability, what happens?” Smith asked a small group focusing just on sustainability issues.

Councilwoman and three-time township mayor Pam Mount pointed out that the township’s master plan for development already includes a sustainability element. The challenge now, she said, is getting those initiatives and rules put into action. Mount, who owns Terhune Orchards with her husband, announced earlier this month that in November after 12 years on township council.

“Luckily, right now we don’t have developments around but they’ll be back,” she said.

Mount and the rest of the group saw promotion as key to the issue of sustainability.

The small group focusing on only promotion had similar ideas.

“How do we get [non-profits and other organizations] to buy in? How do we get everyone to see that there’s a real benefit here?” Lawrence Township Manager Richard Krawczun asked.

Many of those gathered saw things like community calendars and a community center as ways to promote and inform the community.

Dennis Conn, deputy director of Interfaith Caregivers, also stressed the importance of “one physical center” where the community could meet.

“The community center, too, was something really big,” he said. “There’s no central place to get together.”

After gathering all these ideas, Kirkland suggested ways to keep the conversation going. She encouraged every single person in attendance to sign up to help with one of the issues brought up or to volunteer with one of the groups present. She said LTCF will be finding dates and times for the small groups to re-convene to start solving the problems they discussed.

LTCF president Jori Fahrenfeld was optimistic about the results of the Community Conversation. “I’m very excited about how we move forward from here,” she said.

Along with leading to the creation of Sustainable Lawrence, a past Community Conversation resulted in the welcome signs posted throughout the town, she said.

She said the result of the conversation “doesn’t have to be something spectacular. It can just be something that fills a need. But something spectacular would be great too.”