What’s Your Intent

In working with many groups looking at starting community connecting type initiatives, I often ask, “What’s your intent?” The work can be a challenge and for service agencies it can often be a leap from their structured operations. So it can be helpful to be clear around intent and key values in figuring directions to take and best methods.

A group of parents and adults receiving services from the disabilities service agency in Cincinnati were very clear years ago. They wanted to have more people in their lives that weren’t paid to be there and to be in places where they could be around others that cared about similar things. This provided the direction for research, design, implementation and evaluation. I am not sure anyone knew the impact of what they were describing for them, neighborhoods or the people supporting them.