Pull up a Chair: September Newsletter
After the Storm: What Community Resilience Looks Like
Athens County has had a wet summer.
From the June storm that disrupted Nelsonville Music Festival campers to the significant flash flooding in August, many of us have spent this summer watching the forecast, checking creek levels, helping neighbors, and hoping the next round of rain would pass us by.
When the water rises, a community doesn't suddenly become resilient.
We reach for the relationships, knowledge, organizations, and habits of looking out for one another that were built long before the rain began.
A neighbor knows who might need a ride. A nonprofit leader knows who to call. Emergency responders understand the landscape. Volunteers show up. Organizations share information and coordinate resources. People check on one another.
It is imperfect, as communities always are.
But it reminds us of something important.
“The trees act not as individuals, but somehow as a collective. Exactly how they do this, we don’t yet know. But what we see is the power of unity. What happens to one happens to us all. We can starve together or feast together.”
― Robin Wall Kimmerer,
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
Together We are Stronger
Earlier this year, ACF was selected as a Civic Hub grantee for our work advancing collaborative solutions in Athens County.
We are grateful for that recognition. But the real story is not about ACF alone.
It is about the strength of this community.
Over 400 people have participated in Leadership Athens County. Community members have come together through Co-Create projects to explore issues such as housing. Local nonprofits are building their skills, networks, and capacity through programs like Strengths+Strengths. Through grantmaking, partnerships, and community conversations, people are finding new ways to work together.
With support from the Trust for Civic Life, we can invest even more deeply in the programs and relationships that fuel collaboration and progress.
“Trust funding will help us harness the creativity and knowledge of our community to tackle challenges and seize opportunities. We’re excited to show how co-creation can make a real difference here in Athens County— and in communities like ours across the country.”
—Kerry Pigman, Executive Director
Earlier this year, ACF announced its Civic Experiment Grantees, community members working in different ways to strengthen civic life and resilience in Athens County.
Maybe you've attended a Monday Morning Mingle at the Athens Community Center. Perhaps you've joined an anti-racism discussion group or attended the Love Grows Festival hosted by Tenderfoot Fair Trade Learning Lab.
You may not have thought of those moments as civic participation.
But they are.
Every time we gather, learn from one another, share ideas, meet someone new, or participate in our community's life, we strengthen the connections between us.
And those connections matter.
One Civic Experiment Grantee, Invisible Ground, is exploring how place-based storytelling can help people connect with their communities' history and with one another.
Created and produced by Brian Koscho, Invisible Ground combines audio, augmented reality, visual elements, and public history to activate often-overlooked community spaces.
The project will center a series of public events at historic cemeteries throughout Athens County. Possible locations include West State Street Cemetery and the State Hospital Cemetery in Athens, Kilvert Cemetery in Tablertown, and Fort Street Cemetery in Nelsonville.
Each gathering will begin with an opportunity to experience the site and hear from someone with a direct connection to its history. Participants will then gather nearby for food, conversation, and a cultural experience that may include music, art, film, or media.
The project will also establish a permanent immersive historic site at West State Street Cemetery, creating an ongoing, self-guided public history experience.
It is an unexpected way of asking a familiar question:
What can we learn when we gather around the stories of the places we share?
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