Community Treasures

A civic exercise developed by Pomegranate Center to identify irreplaceable community assets

Background:

Community Treasures was developed by Pomegranate Center, a community design and development non-profit, to help communities discover their natural, cultural, historical, and future treasures in order to protect and utilize them for community betterment. The program was first piloted in 1991 when Pomegranate Center helped involve Issaquah residents in the shaping of the City’s Comprehensive Plan. As a result of the program, residents identified the top 50 treasures that were later officially adopted by the City. An art exhibit of high school students punctuated the findings. Since 1991, several schools integrated the program into their curriculum, involving students in researching top treasures, interviewing community members, creating posters and organizing art exhibits. Like the City of Issaquah, other communities have used the Community Treasures program as a part of the planning process. In one community, postcards of the treasures were sold to fund important local projects. In 2003, Pomegranate Center worked with the YMCA and Safeco Corporation in developing the Neighborhood Matters! program, which was conducted in 5 different cities to strengthen local assets. Community Treasures was adapted as a phase of that initiative.

The Community Treasures program is ideal for:

  • Clarifying civic identity
  • Strengthening cultural preservation
  • Increasing awareness of the natural environment
  • Highlighting cultural assets
  • Guiding growth management
  • Involving people in the community from all sectors
  • Building community pride
  • Creating constructive public dialogue
  • Integrating irreplaceable assets into future plans

Pomegranate Center continues to work as a Community Treasures consultant to some communities. Others conduct the process independently. In those cases, Pomegranate Center appreciates learning about the project’s results and successes.

Treasure:

A treasure is anything that has great worth or value, which you want to retain or guard from being devalued, injured, forgotten, or lost. A treasure is anything that has a special meaning and which, if lost, destroyed or unnoticed, would be a source of regret.

Assumptions:

  1. Shared vision is the prerequisite for effective change
  2. Building on community assets is the best way to improve communities—if we don’t know what we already have, how can we know what we still need; if we don’t know where we are, how can we know where we need to go?
  3. Using peer learning principles, people have the capacity to turn differences into gifts
  4. The opportunity to be involved must be given to all
  5. There is always something that can be done—no matter how small—to make things better; simple can be powerful

Context:

Without a well-developed sense of place and a knowledge of our neighborhood’s strengths and values, we run the risk of destroying the very things that we most value. Our society is one that moves often, leaving many of us ignorant of the natural and cultural environment of our neighborhood. The goal of this survey is to increase the neighborhood knowledge by making a list of the top Community Treasures. These Treasures are indicators of community values and strengths. When making plans for the future, it is wise to know and build upon these strengths.

A Community Treasure:

A community treasure is anything and anyone that makes your community or neighborhood unique and special. In every community we have vast untapped treasures in our midst. We often complain about what we lack, but less often appreciate or make use of the gifts we have. As a result, we often miss opportunities to use these local treasures to enhance the social, environmental, cultural, and economic well-being of the place in which we live.

Project Goal:

The Community Treasures project goal is to increase the community’s self-awareness.

Strategy:

Involve community members to identify a list of the top Community Treasures. These Treasures are indicators for community values and strengths. When making plans for the future, it is wise to know and build upon these strengths.

Community Treasures Process:

  1. Assemble a steering committee.
  2. Identify partners: all who can benefit from this work (historic preservation, education, cultural, planning, tourism, etc.)
  3. Define the graphic boundaries of the project.
  4. Agree on the Treasures categories. We recommend:
    • Individuals—people that bind us together
    • Local institutions—stores, restaurants, hospitals, businesses
    • Community gathering spaces (indoor and outdoor)
    • Natural treasures (views, rocks, trees, bodies of water, land shapes, etc.)
    • Cultural treasures (gardens, buildings, artworks, bridges, etc.)
    • Historic treasures (objects, buildings, areas with history, etc.)
    • Recreational treasures (places for play, reflection, reading, eating, playing, etc.)
    • New treasures—new promising projects that should be encouraged
    • Missing treasures (optional) —what needs to be added to make the community more livable
    • Other?
  5. Perform a “Treasure Quest�—get as many people as possible from a variety of sectors to fill out questionnaires or respond to interviews. Involve schools and local youth groups.
  6. Tally results that identify top treasures and compile a list. Agree to how many neighborhood treasures you will include in your tally. Fifty is a good number, though you can choose any number that works for you. Make a list ranking the treasures with the highest number of nominations regardless of the category. This will be your official (neighborhood, community, or City name) Treasures list.
  7. Increase community’s awareness of the Community Treasures:
    • Exhibit of community treasures
    • Photo contest
    • School curriculum
    • A performance about community history and its people
    • A monthly tour of the treasures
    • A “treasuresâ€? run
    • A series of newspaper articles
    • A civic proclamation
    • A celebration
    • Etc, etc.
  8. Revisit the process every few years.

Steering Committee:

Key things to remember

  • Good communication—in making music one has to listen and play at the same time; everyone knowing the essential information makes creativity possible.
  • Trust in each other’s capacities: break the project into manageable steps and assign them to those most capable of realizing them (i.e. who can do in one hour what would take another person a day or a week).
  • Smart, strategic use of time, talent, and resources—leadership doesn’t mean that you have to do everything; rather it is a commitment to make sure a task is completed.
  • Everyone learns and everyone teaches—after the project experience, you share your new-gained knowledge with others.
  • Make every step decisive so it leads to the next.
  • Boundaries/limitations can be friends—the key is to accomplish the project’s goal in a relatively short time, with strategic human and financial support.
  • Make it simple but meaningful—the work doesn’t need to be complicated to be significant.

COMMUNITY TREASURES SURVEY

To prompt community members to think about their many and diverse assets, we developed 9 categories that invite people to think about the many different layers of their community—human as well as natural. There is space for three nominations in each category. It is not necessary to fill out all the lines. It is OK to nominate the same treasure in different categories. Ask each person to also give a brief description of why they selected that particular treasure. These quotes may serve the community well in the future—they can be used for brochures, marketing, poetry, etc.

Attach to the questionnaire a map delineating the boundaries of the community. Ask people to write your nominations for treasures on the Treasures page. Ask people to be SPECIFIC—to name a particular person, institution, artwork or view (instead of naming stores in general, name the specific store; instead of naming views, specify a distinct location; instead of writing trees, name a specific tree).

Tally the list with those of others to select the Top Treasures.

Survey Instructions:

Ask participants to write up to three nominations in each category, and briefly describe their importance with a clear definition of why they are important.

Example:


Treasure: Mrs. Ginobli’s house
Location: on Lake Drive
Why: It is very ornamental and colorful. I love stopping there.

OR

Treasure: Frederick’s Café
Location: on Apple Lane
Why: Great cappuccino, home-made pastries, display of local art, interesting conversations.

The Steering Committee should create a report and a map locating all the treasures, and host a celebration to share the results and brainstorm how the new-found knowledge can be utilized to serve the community.

Download a pdf of the Community Treasures Survey.