Walk it Like I Talk It: Creating a Practice Reflection Tool in Collaboration with Rural Community Builders

Abstract Information: Roughly 20% of the US population lives in rural areas, yet just 7% of philanthropic funding is dedicated specifically to rural communities. The Ford Family Foundation, based in Roseburg, Oregon, is one of the few private foundations dedicated to rural communities. They are an embedded rural funder with a long history of investing in resident-led community development throughout their region, what they call “community building.” The Rural Community Building (RCB) team leads the community building work at the foundation, providing a holistic set of supports to rural residents as they work together to make things better. The RCB team developed the RCB Reflection tool to elevate and share the wisdom of rural community builders with whom they work. The RCB Reflection tool is a bi-lingual rubric designed for rural community builders to use to reflect on their progress and inspire action for the future. It includes detailed descriptions of the four dimensions of rural community building: Connections, Capacity, Community-led Action, and Community Building Culture. TFFF supported an extensive development process for the RCB Reflection, seeking the input of multiple grantees and collaborators, pilot testing several versions of the tool, and co-creating the protocol with Spanish-speaking rural community builders. This demonstration session will share details of key moments in the evolution of the RCB Reflection, including designing and pilot testing versions of the tool with rural community builders, trans-creation of the most recent bi-lingual version of the RCB Reflection, and using the tool to support ongoing reflection and action planning in multiple rural communities. Presenters will share distinct perspectives on the development and implementation process, including those who piloted the tool with rural community builders, those who led the bi-lingual trans-creation process, and those who analyzed the data shared by participating communities. They will reflect on the ways in which the foundation’s values influenced the process, and lessons learned for grantmakers interested in supporting similar knowledge-building initiatives.