Community Project Paper
Trista Baldwin
MGT/522
October 27, 2014
Cara Koch

Community Project Paper
The Heart in the Park Labyrinth located in Tonkawa began in 2006 with a group of community members who expressed interest in local artist Audrey Schmitz idea to recognize and celebrate Oklahoma's Centennial. The city's motto "Wheatheart of Oklahoma" and the Native American translation of the towns name "Tonkawa" meaning "they all stay together" was the inspiration behind the design. The park contains pavers and art panels depicting local culture and history. In less than one years’ time fund in excess of $150,000.00 were raised through donations, grants, and in-kind services. The park is utilized for a variety of community activities including educational presentations to high school and college students, fundraising events, an annual Harvest Walk, Valentine's Day Walk and weddings ("Heart in the Park Labyrinth", n.d).
Community projects such as this can be successful when elected officials come together with residents. Collaboration amongst various team members has proven to be an effective tool when utilized to accomplish common goals that may not have been achievable on their own (Swindell & Hilvert, 2014). When different partners come together it is important to ensure that all team players are on the same page. There are seven characteristics that can influence the success in achieving goals in a community project; assessing funds available, contract specifications, labor intensity, capital intensity, costs, management competencies, and administrative stability. These agreements that are often formed between public or private sectors and government can be informal arrangements or it can be done through more formal arrangements. According to Contemplating Collaboration, these arrangements consist of at least two units of government but can include more (2014). An example given in Contemplating Collaboration includes 18 municipalities in Cook County and Lake County, Illinois. It was realized that by utilizing bulk purchasing cost could be dramatically reduced. This ultimately led to a savings of $500,000 after the first year for the combined group (Swindell & Hilvert, 2014). Collaboration between the community and government is one method of working to successfully complete a community project.
Another program that has been successful in its mission through collaboration with local government officials is CDC's Healthy Communities Program. This community program provides funds and assistance to help prevent chronic diseases at the local level ("Centers for Disease Control and Prevention", 2011). Through working with government officials the program has been able to make many environmental changes. In Mantistique, Michigan, a "complete streets" resolution was drafted which will require communities to consider all users when designing streets, sidewalks and bike paths. In Ypsilanti, Michigan, several groups came together to offer recreational programs in the city parks ("Centers for Disease Control and Prevention", 2011). The changes in policy that this program has been successful in making would not have been possible without the partnership of local government. Looking at this different community programs all with different goals to achieve; public parks celebrate and teach culture and history, saving funds, and preventing chronic illness, one would take away that in order for a community program to be successful it is vital to have the support or backing of the government. Often times the purpose of a community program is to make a change for the better within the community for this to have a lasting affect it is imperative that there be policies in place to protect the mission of the community project.

References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/resources/publications/aag/healthy_communities.htm
Heart in the Park Labyrinth. (n.d). Retrieved from http://www.heartinthepark.org/history.html
Swindell, D., & Hilvert, C. (2014). CONTEMPLATING COLLABORATION. Public Management (00333611). 96(7),6.