Thank you for all the days you had to turn off the internet so I could get zoom to work, all the nights you scheduled pizza in the half hour I had between classes so we could eat together, all the conversations that allowed me to figure out how to explain what I was thinking so I could ask better questions, and all the times you. HeartLands has not seen the scale and scope of the LoL program grow and flourish as the organization had hoped it would. Conservancy's current LOL program is the most influential in program success and thus may be the key to designing methods to expand the scope and scale of the program in a way that is sustainable for the organization to manage.
What factors have most influenced the development of the projects undertaken by the Lots of Love program since its inception in 2016. What characteristics of the current LoL volunteers can be indicators of growth in collective community identity. This model places the shared community action, which is the aspect of the work that builds individual and community identity in the nexus of the.
In my process improvement project, I used a sequential mixed methods design consisting of field visits and a survey and completed both a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data.
Key Findings
Recommendations
Once HeartLands and members of the volunteer coalition establish a plan, volunteers then take over the construction and maintenance of the new green. Expected outcomes of the HeartLands program are to see property values stabilize, for neighborhood residents to develop a greater sense of belonging. Some of the program's projects have evolved into inspiring and collaboratively maintained sites for the communities in which they reside.
The League's hope for the overall short-term outcome was to increase the implementation of settlement plans in these selected cities (see Figure 2). A further limitation of the research is that many of these models treat all inputs to the placemaking system similarly. This model places joint community action, which is the aspect of work that builds that individual and community identity, as discussed earlier, at the nexus of the placemaking model.
Therefore, this process improvement project will be rooted in the conceptual framework of the Virtual Placemaking Cycle. In November 2021, I visited each of the 4 LoL sites and developed structured field notes from the site. The project is no longer part of the LoL program and there are no physical indications of any LoL development remaining in place.
The LoL Program seems to be working as designed
Much like Loh's work with PlacePlans explored earlier in the literature review, even though not all of these LoL projects were fully completed as intended, the growth in sense of community for these volunteers is evident.
HeartLands’ leadership and programming emerged as enablers for
Project Question 1: What factors have most influenced the development of projects undertaken through the Lots of Love program since its inception in 2016. I am very pleased to see firsthand how organizations in the region, such as HeartLands, are promoting stewardship and conservation of the land through partnership strengths in ways that benefit community engagement and appreciation of our natural resources. Belleville Heart Garden respondents ranked HeartLands' work promoting their site as most helpful.
Volunteers who work with the Exploration Garden at Clinton Hills Conservation Park cited “renting or acquiring land” as the most helpful assistance HeartLands provides. While Signal Hill Outdoor Classroom volunteers have found the "Development Plans" work for the site to be the most useful. Liability insurance may be the least useful service, or volunteers may not realize how necessary this service may be in this type of work.
Connecting my Lots of Love group with technical experts in horticulture, horticulture, biodiversity, conservation and other topics. Lots of Love Scholarships lead stewards to participate in the University of Illinois Master Gardener Program. Programming emerged from quantitative and qualitative analysis as a key factor supporting the success of LoL projects.
In particular, the opportunity to participate in educational opportunities for children and with your children came up several times - this is probably because the Signal Hill Outdoor Classroom was created to serve two different elementary schools in the area, and the students and parents often volunteer together (Lyon, 2021) . However, many of the volunteers cited programming opportunities as key opportunities for the projects that did not involve children - highlighting opportunities for local recreation and education. The authors point out that through programming a wider community can be involved with a place; mutual stewardship can evolve as people enter the placemaking project for new reasons (Silberberg et al, 2013).
One respondent noted that while the Signal Hill Outdoor classroom was used for student programming, meeting with teachers or parent groups and HeartLands to help them re-engage with available programming opportunities could help increase volunteer engagement at the site.
Lack of knowledge or awareness emerged as a barrier
I noticed that Facebook announcements for many of the LoL Volunteer Work Days were only released a day or two before the event. The turnover in these key staff positions may have contributed to the problem uncovered in this finding. Project question 2: Which characteristics of the current LoL volunteers can be indicators of growth in the collective community identity.
Most volunteers working on LoL projects do not identify as a
Sites with Volunteers Who Live Closer Also Have Volunteers Who
The space was an abandoned residential lot in a marginal neighborhood that was transformed by the local community. From my observations during my field visits, I could see evidence of the differences between the communities.' At the Belleville Heart Garden, I saw that the garden is now a thriving space full of community art and hand-painted signs.
In contrast, 100 percent of Signal Hill Outdoor Classroom and Exploration Garden respondents volunteer less than twice a year. This finding is consistent with my literature survey, as people who live closest to an abandoned lot undergoing a placemaking process see the greatest benefit. HeartLands goal in working with me on this process improvement project was to gain insight into how to choose which one.
HeartLands has a description of how staff believe the program works (see my visualization of this program model in Figure 1), and my analysis indicates that the model reflects how the program works (see Finding 1). If HeartLands applies the knowledge I gained through my findings to refine the inputs to the existing logic model, the organization could develop a more targeted application process.
Develop a structured multi-step application process for
2 – Next, HeartLands could develop an orientation to the LoL program that could be offered via a webinar. This could be offered on a periodic basis so that potential community partners can understand what options HeartLands offers. The LoL application may require members of a group requesting assistance with their placemaking project to be present before applying.
Implementation of this part of the recommendation would help to alleviate the problems described in finding 3. 3 - Next, the results from this project could be used to better define the inputs in the logic model of the program and use these definitions to structure. To require that the project be led by an organized group of volunteers from the neighborhood in question.
As discussed in Finding 5, the LoL projects with volunteers who live closer to the sites also tend to have participants who volunteer more often. By requiring new projects to be led by neighborhood volunteers, we could test this finding to see if participants would volunteer more often. If the results uncovered in this project hold true, HeartLands should see a measurable change in the program's performance.
Success can also be measured by continuing to ask volunteers if they are members of an organized group of volunteers. An increase in positive responses to this question may indicate growth in the collective community identity. Asks applicants to identify at least two other organizations from the community (government organizations, churches, other nonprofits, etc.) that will participate in the LoL project.
This aspect of the recommendation is derived from the National Endowment for the Arts' Our Town application (2022). If the intent of this program is still to transform abandoned lots, consider accepting only.
Reduce or pause the number of services that
We work with people in the community and work with the city, town or public agency to lease or acquire the land long-term for use by the community. We sometimes fiscally sponsor an organized group that must use our nonprofit status to accept donations and grants for capital. We also provide scholarships for LoL head stewards to participate in the University of Illinois Master Gardener program.
HeartLands Conservancy can also accept donated land to participate in the Lots of Love program. You are invited to complete this survey as part of a research project exploring how you can grow HeartLands Conservancy's Lots of Love program!. If you have worked on more than one project, please answer the remaining questions regarding the Lots of Love project you select for this question.
Q4 How many working days has your family contributed to this Much Love project in the last 12 months?1. Q5 How strong do you think community support was for this project before the HeartLands Conservancy got involved. Q8 In your opinion, what factors hindered the development of this Lots of Love project the most.
Q9 Have you noticed any other positive effects of the Lots of Love project in your city? Q26 Many LoL volunteers belong to an organized group of volunteers who have collaborated with HeartLands in developing a LoL project. Q20 When a group decision has to be made, how does this usually happen?
Q10 Next, we are going to ask some questions about the services that HeartLands Conservancy offers to Lots of Love volunteer groups and participants. Of the following services that HeartLands Conservancy offers to Lots of Love projects and participants, how helpful have you found each of the following types of assistance. Q12 Are there any other services that HeartLands Conservancy did not provide that you would have found useful.
