Goals and Objectives

Susan Edsall leads the "Community Leadership" session at PLT in Hot Springs, Arkansas, 2000.

Credit: Anne-Leslie Owens

To increase the capacity of local preservation organizations and commissions by identifying and training current and potential leaders who have the ability to dramatically increase their effectiveness.
To empower grassroots organizations and local preservation commissions to achieve preservation successes in their communities.
To create, maintain and support a national network of leaders of the grassroots preservation movement.
To heighten local understanding and awareness of the value of preservation and to explore and present new ideas for approaching local preservation issues in the host community.

The typical schedule below includes the goals and objectives for each session.

Welcome and Introductions

Program Overview
Introduction to the Team Project
Community Preservation Issues

Community Leadership
Through a series of action learning experiences participants will:

build competence and courage for leadership, approaching leadership as a mix of personal actions and attitudes that focus the energy and resources of a community on the achievement of its goals;
have the opportunity to identify individual motivation for leadership and explore and develop preferred approaches to executing leadership responsibilities in the community.

Politics of Preservation
Participants will develop a basic understanding of:

how to work with local elected and appointed officials;
how to make an effective case for preservation in the public arena;
the importance of and strategies for building support among public officials and the community at large.

Human Resources
Participants will develop an understanding of:

the elements of a successful volunteer program, including recruitment, screening, placement, evaluation, recognition, and volunteer/staff relations
similar issues directed specifically to board-level volunteers, with an emphasis on board/staff relations and appropriate roles for each
basic personnel management issues and strategies.

Strategic Planning
Participants will develop an understanding of:

strategic planning as an integrated process, which relates program goals to human and financial resources
budget as a working companion to the strategic plan
when to get professional help and who to ask.

Financial Resources
Participants will gain a basic understanding of:

identifying and cultivating appropriate funding prospects;
involving the board of directors in development activities;
making the case for the importance of funding your program;
the budget as a management tool;
strategic planning as an integrated process which relates program goals to financial resources; and
when professional help is appropriate and where to find it.

Legal Tools
Participants will develop a basic understanding of:

legal tools available to preservationists at the local level, including ordinances, incentives, zoning and planning;
the constitutional basis of support for historic preservation;
state preservation-related legislation and its impact on local preservation activity.

Economics of Preservation
Participants will gain a basic understanding of the:

Hands-On Design Workshop
Participants will develop an understanding of:

the basic elements of design and the design issues that arise when new structures are built in historic areas or additions/alterations are made to historic buildings;
issues and strategies that can be applied to developing responses to the assigned team projects.

Public Presentation of Team Project Findings

Program Wrap-Up and Evaluation