A Partnership of Reidsville Area Foundation and The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation.

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Reidsville Area Foundation and The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation have launched a multi-year initiative to catalyze community-led change in Rockingham County, NC. The initiative leverages The Harwood Institute’s nearly 40-year track record of equipping communities to strengthen civic culture and Reidsville Area Foundation’s longstanding commitment to and investment in Rockingham County’s vitality. 

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The goals of this initiative for Rockingham County are to:

1. Illuminate key issues that matter to people and better understand the underlying conditions that make up the community;

2. Take action on key issues that matter to people; and

3. Strengthen Rockingham County’s civic culture so the region has the capabilities to shape its future and deepen its good work.

 

​The Harwood Institute and Reidsville Area Foundation share a deep belief that the people of Rockingham County must shape and drive the community's future. The solutions are right here in the community. This work will build on the good that already exists. 

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NEWS! Together, we engaged leaders and residents across Rockingham County to better understand what’s going on in the community and build a stronger civic culture.  Based on those interviews and conversations, The Harwood Institute has produced a report—Better Together: Creating a Shared Direction for Rockingham County. The report is not a scorecard on the community, nor does it prescribe specific solutions for moving forward. Instead, it explores how people across Rockingham County see and experience life and offers key areas for strengthening civic culture so the community itself can come together to determine how best to move forward. 

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THE OPPORTUNITY

The people of Rockingham County cherish their community. There’s a shared history. Pride runs deep. And shared values of faith and family shape people’s lives. Yet the area is dealing with pressing challenges and faces a fundamental choice: Stay on the current path and risk decline or work together to address what matters to people and restore hope?

 

Moving forward in a more hopeful way will require strengthening the area’s civic culture—how people interact, work together, and get things done. Now is the time to create a shared direction. The people of Rockingham County have what it takes to step forward, turn outward to one another, and build a stronger community together.

 

UNLEASHING COMMUNITY-LED ACTION

This initiative focuses on the issues that matter most to people. At the same time, it strengthens Rockingham County’s civic culture. Building upon the findings of the report, Better Together: Creating a Shared Direction for Rockingham County, this initiative will catalyze long-term change in the following ways:

• Public Innovators Labs – The Harwood Institute will host two in-person “Labs” for approximately 50 local leaders and residents. The Labs are learning experiences that introduce the Harwood approach and the practice of Turning Outward. 

  • Getting Started Lab – September 2026: The first Lab orients participants to the Harwood approach and gets them started in applying the mindset and practice of Turning Outward. Lab participants will learn to see the need to Turn Outward to their community; understand how change happens in a community; develop ways to engage people in the community and discover what matters to them; discern where their community is starting; and identify how to show up more intentionally in their work and lives.

  • Unleashing Impact Lab – Spring 2027: The second Lab helps participants take intentional actions to unleash, grow, and spread a chain reaction of actions throughout their community. Lab participants will learn to see how a chain reaction is unleashed; strengthen their community’s civic culture; develop new ways to engage in ongoing learning and innovation; and name what it will take to keep showing up with greater intentionality in their work and lives.

• Learn and Apply Webinars – The Harwood Institute will provide a series of pre-recorded  “Learn and Apply” webinars for the community to use at specific points throughout the initiative. These webinars reinforce the Turning Outward practice and expand on important topics to help those engaged in the work to deepen their learning and accelerate progress.

• Coaching of Action Teams – Harwood Certified Coaches will support three action teams, consisting of community leaders and residents who will apply the Harwood approach to take action on what matters to people in the community.

• Workspaces – Harwood Certified Coaches will design and lead in-person “workspaces” for the action teams, Lab participants, and other engaged community members and partners. The workspaces will promote the cross-fertilization of ideas, provide opportunities for problem-solving, teach new areas of the Turning Outward practice, and accelerate and deepen the application of the practice.

• Harwood Catalytic Guides – Six leaders will go through the 13-week-long intensive Harwood Catalytic Guide program. Harwood Catalytic Guides support people in applying the Turning Outward practice, which enables them to create community-led change, unleash the potential of their community, and show up with intentionality. Harwood Catalytic Guides can also serve as strategic partners to Reidsville Area Foundation.

• Harwood Essentials Orientation – Reidsville Area Foundation will host Orientation Sessions to welcome and orient interested community members to the Harwood approach to use it in their own work or join an action team.

• Story of Change – Near the end of the action phase, The Harwood Institute will prepare and design a Story of Change to be distributed throughout Rockingham County to leaders, organizations, and residents.

• Network of Public Innovators – Reidsville Area Foundation will nurture the local network of Public Innovators who engage throughout the initiative.

 

TIMELINE

The initiative will launch in September 2026 with the Getting Started Lab. The Harwood Institute's coaching of the action teams will begin immediately following the Lab and extend through September 2028. The Unleashing Impact Lab will be held in Spring 2027, with workspaces occurring at key junctures throughout the initiative.

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STEPPING FORWARD

You are a vital part of this initiative. Your insight, leadership, and involvement will help shape the future of Rockingham County. To learn more or get involved, please contact the Reidsville Area Foundation team at 336-634-1669 or via email at info@rafoundation.org.

 

ABOUT THE PARTNERS 

Reidsville Area Foundation is a private, health legacy foundation actively pursuing a vision of a thriving Rockingham County through grantmaking and community partnerships. The Foundation works to transform and significantly improve the education, health, and quality of life of the residents of Rockingham County. 

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The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization with over 35 years of experience equipping people, organizations, and communities to bridge divides, create a culture of shared responsibility, and build civic capacities.  The Institute’s Turning Outward practice has spread to all 50 U.S. states and more than 40 countries.