Revitalization Vision Workshop (one day)

This one-day educational workshop is primarily for the renewal of communities and regions.  It can also be used to restore large heritage sites, wildlife reserves, watersheds, estuaries, etc., especially if they are threatened by economically-challenged nearby communities or rural populations.  The goal of the session is to familiarize participants with the concepts of restorative development and integrated revitalization, and--in the process--help them form a shared vision of a renewed future.

The Revitalization Vision Workshop is a valuable investment, no matter what your current condition:

• Your area is in great shape, but wants to become even healthier, wealthier, and more beautiful.

• Your area is in poor shape, and wants to emerge from this condition as quickly as possible.

• Your area has already begun its socioeconomic renewal, and wants to leverage a successful beginning into a long-term revitalization of its built and natural environments.

Types of programs and projects on which you could focus a Revitalization Vision Workshop:

• Regional revitalization

• Community or neighborhood revitalization

• Military base redevelopment (BRAC)

• Waterfront redevelopment

• Historic district renewal

• Watershed restoration

• River restoration or urban stream restoration

• Rural renewal

• Fishery, estuary, or coastal restoration

• Brownfields remediation and redevelopment

• Infrastructure renewal

• Urban regeneration

• National economic renewal

Is your redevelopment budget stretched thin?  Properly implemented, an Integrated Revitalization Strategy can have an effect similar to a large increase in your redevelopment/revitalization budget.  Integrated produces a bigger revitalization "bang" for your restoration and redevelopment "buck."   Why?  Because integration activates the synergies inherent to restoring the socio-economic and environmental health of a community or region.  These natural efficiencies usually go untapped, thanks to the piecemeal, project-by-project approach to restorative development taken by most communities, counties, and regions.

The Revitalization Vision Workshop is a fast, effective, economical way to introduce your diverse stakeholders to the 12 sectors of restorable assets, the concept of a "restoration economy", and the power of integrated approaches to restoration and revitalization.  It's an enlightening, exciting, and even entertaining 6-hour session, done in a local facility of your choosing.

Use the Vision Workshop any way you wish:  You are only contracting the seminar from us...everything else is determined by you: The number of attendees (and who they are); whether you will charge a registration fee (and how much); where to hold it; whether you recruit sponsors; the focus of the event (a community, a region, an organization, a program, etc.), and so on.

Number of Attendees: As mentioned above, you can invite any number of attendees; hundreds, if you wish.  However, 24 is a practical maximum if you wish to have effective dialogue during the discussion periods (see extra half-day Dialogue option below).  The more citizens, leaders, and stakeholders you have who understand at least the basic concepts, the easier your revitalization work is likely to be in the future. 

Format: Six hours, usually starting at 9am and ending at 4pm.

1. 60-minute lecture: Revitalization Institute staffer will provide an introduction to the concept of restorative development, the three crises that trigger most restorative development, the trimodal development perspective, and the twelve sectors of restorable assets on which a community or region can build its revitalization.

2. 45-minute group discussion: Instructor will facilitate a discussion of the first lecture's implications for the local community/ region. Guest experts (if any) will provide insight on the feasibility and possible cost impacts of potential projects.

3. 15-minute break.

4. 60-minute lecture: A review of the most common challenges and institutional barriers that most communities and regions need to overcome, in order to produce the best environment for revitalization, plus an introduction to the use of the Integrated Revitalization Guide.

5. 60-minute lunch break

6. 45-minute group discussion: Instructor will facilitate a discussion of the second lecture's implications for the local community/region. Guest experts (if any) will offer technical insights and illustrative examples from other communities and regions as needed.

7. 15-minute break.

8. 60-minute lecture: A review of the dozen-or-so most powerful keys to revitalization, both in terms of community dynamics and specific types of restoration/redevelopment projects that best set the stage for ongoing socioeconomic renewal.

9. 60-minute group discussion: Instructor will facilitate a discussion of the third lecture's implications for the local community/region.  The final portion of this dialogue will focus on appropriate next steps.

Cost: $12,000 (plus travel costs for the faculty) for any number of participants.  

• Communities and regions enrolled by organizations within one of our 3 Networks receive a 10% tuition discount.

• Optional half-day dialogue session: If desired, you can add an optional half-day dialogue after this one-day event for an additional $2400.  This extended dialogue (basically, an extended Q&A session with the faculty) would take place the morning after the Vision Workshop.  It can help lock-in the lessons of the previous day, and might produce more consensus on the direction of economic development for your community or region.  If you had a large audience for the previous day's Vision Workshop, it's recommended that you limit the size of this dialogue session to no more than 24, in order to ensure that everyone has a chance to participate fully.

• Who pays the tuition? The community/region could pay the tuition itself, but it's also possible that a non-profit organization, foundation, or for-profit company will be willing to sponsor the event as a public service. 

  • Why would a public agency or non-profit pay for a community's Vision Workshop? They might simply do it as part of their mission to boost the economy or quality of life.  But, they might be receiving public funds or private grants to advance regional development, such as a watershed restoration initiative, or a statewide rural revitalization program. In that case, those funds are likely to accomplish far more if all the communities within their project scope understand the 12 sectors of restorative development, the concepts of integrated revitalization, etc.

  • For-profit companies: Be a Vision Workshop Sponsor!  If your design, planning, development, or other professional service company wishes to contribute to the revitalization of a community or region, you can sponsor a Revitalization Vision Workshop for them.  You do not need to be a member of our Affiliate Network to sponsor a Vision Workshop (but you do need to be an Affiliate if you wish to contribute Guest Experts to the Vision Workshop faculty from your staff.)  There are two levels of sponsorship:

    • Program Sponsor: Program Sponsors underwrite the entire cost of the Vision Workshop; both the tuition and the travel costs of the staff faculty and any Guest Experts brought in from non-profit and academic institutions. [Note: You would not be asked to pay the travel expenses for any Guest Experts from other for-profit firms.]

    • Faculty Sponsor: Faculty Sponsors underwrite the travel costs of the staff faculty and any Guest Experts brought in from non-profit and academic institutions. That way, communities on tight budgets know up front that their costs will be limited to the tuition. 

Faculty: The Vision Workshop faculty comprises one instructor from Revitalization Institute's staff, plus up to three volunteer experts (if desired) from organizations in Revitalization Institute's 3 networks. We will recruit those guest experts for you, based on your primary needs. For instance, if your area's key restorable assets are brownfields, historic buildings, and infrastructure challenges, your three guest experts will be chosen accordingly.  In many rural areas, the three key issues might be watershed restoration, farmland restoration, and ecosystem restoration.  Guest Experts on your faculty are normally not compensated, but you will be responsible for their travel expenses.  This is on a case-by-case basis, and you have the final say over which experts (if any) are recruited.

Is your community or region interested in our 5-day Revitalization Strategy Workshop?  If so, all of the potential stakeholders, participants, and backers will need to be brought up to speed on the need for --and value of--creating an Integrated Revitalization strategy for your area.  This is the quickest and most cost-effective way to do that.

You're not likely to get (up to) two dozen local leaders to commit 5 days of their life to the Strategy Workshop unless they fully understand why your area needs it, what they're committing to, how it's going to benefit your community/region, and how their particular agency, non-profit, educational institution, or business can benefit from playing a key role. That's where this introductory workshop comes in.

To enroll or obtain further information: Call us at 703-348-7878, or email us at info@revitalization.org.