A good job and ready access to housing are not enough to keep someone in a town they don’t like.
Likewise, many people are willing to move to their dream city, even if that means months of job hunting and finding roommates on Craigslist.
According to The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s Soul of the Community report, the qualities that cause the greatest attachment to a community are social offerings, openness and aesthetics. The report, a three-year study of the factors that lead to community attachment — or why people love where they live — concludes that when residents feel strongly attached to their community, that community is more successful.
The State College area’s 2010 rankings in these categories are high overall compared with similar communities surveyed and were higher in 2010 than in previous rankings. But there are still many people in the community who aren’t as attached as they could be.
Soul of the Community is an exciting new way for the Centre County Community Foundation to evaluate what needs to be done to improve our community and how we can bring different people and organizations together to make those improvements.
With that in mind, we are pleased to host Dr. Katherine Loflin as the speaker at our annual dinner Monday. Loflin is the lead consultant and national expert on Soul of the Community. She will talk about the report, what it means for our community and what we might do to make our community more open, aesthetically pleasing and full of social offerings, thereby making it a more enjoyable and attractive place to live.
During the dinner we will give out three awards, including the Kathryn S. Weaver Award, which recognizes a local charitable organization for noteworthy service to the people of Centre County. This year it will be given to the Centre County Federation of Public Libraries.
Also to be presented are the Oak Tree Award, which recognizes an individual for service and commitment to and passion for the Foundation; and the Future of the Foundation Award, which recognizes a young adult community member who actively strives to improve the quality of life in Centre County and shows commitment and passion in working for the future of the community.
The winners of these awards won’t be announced until that night, so you’ll have to come to the dinner to find out who will be honored.
We hope to see you there to help us celebrate our community while learning how to make it even better.
Erin Rowley is program assistant for the Centre County Community Foundation and can be reached at erowley@centrecountycf.org.
