Les Brost

What Is Community Values Assessment & What Will It Deliver?

The Community Values Assessment process (CVAP) delivers a comprehensive “Community Values & Change Readiness Assessment” that communities, Councilors, administrators, planners and developers can use in gauging the “fit” of potential development, municipal alliances and other options for community change. The final product- a “Community Values & Change Readiness Assessment” map will be a core component of municipality sustainability and growth plans and is invaluable for communities contemplating regional initiatives or regionalization.

This unique process focuses on respect for the community and its’ leadership and builds on positives, not negatives. It builds overall community self-knowledge and understanding, and captures local wisdom on areas pertaining to change, flexibility, values, and leadership.

The CVAP is the first stage of the BridgeBuilder Community process facilitating community understanding and cohesiveness. It forms a “discussion platform” enabling community members to understand their interests before taking positions on issues of importance.

This assessment process is made up of two assessment tools:

A. Community Change Readiness, and Values Assessment

What are the commonly held community values? This assessment explores and assesses community values pertaining to economic, social, and environmental factors. It also captures the overall community prioritization of those values, which is vital information for decision-makers. It uses one-on-one, face-to-face interviews to explore your community’s change-readiness and assess its capacity to deal with change.

Is a community ready for change, or do they really want only “changeless change”? Using the same interview process, this assessment gauges the change-readiness of municipalities / communities in the economic, social and environmental areas. This assessment also explores the community history and tells the stories that define the community, and integrates that information into the final assessment report.

B. Leadership Capacity Assessment

Is your local community leadership ready to lead change? Successful community renewal depends on having leadership ready, willing, and able to lead change. This Leadership Change assessment will gauge the local leadership capacity and identify the areas for growth and leadership development.

Conclusion

In managing change, as in life- you can’t get to your desired destination if you don’t know your starting point!