Honesdale to be part of PA Heart & Soul

HONESDALE, PA — PA Humanities has partnered with the Route 6 Alliance and Community Heart & Soul to select Honesdale for PA Heart & Soul, a humanities-based approach to community and economic development. Honesdale joins five communities along the Route 6 line—Youngsville, Mansfield, Port Allegany, Carbondale and Wyoming County (Tunkhannock)—that have become PA Heart & Soul communities. 

The Wayne County Community Foundation has received $22,500 from PA Humanities (in partnership with the national Community Heart & Soul organization and PA Route 6 Alliance), through a grant from the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) Bureau of Recreation and Conservation. 

Another grant award of $30,000 has been received from the William E. Chatlos Foundation. Additionally, approximately $20,000 worth of in-kind coaching is being provided by PA Heart & Soul. 

Through a two-year planning process, people who live, work and play in Honesdale will share what they love about the place they call home, why those things are important, and their hopes for the future of their community. “Shared values brought to light through this process will form the foundation of a plan that can inform community and economic development for years to come,” a press release reads. “Along the way, citizen and civic engagement are boosted as folks learn about what they have in common with other folks in their neighborhoods and how they can be more involved.”

The Greater Honesdale Partnership will also be involved.

Honesdale mayor Derek Williams noted that “listening makes a big difference in community planning... What we learn through Heart & Soul will help enrich and inform the next generation of planning initiatives in the Maple City. I encourage anyone interested in Honesdale Heart & Soul to contact me or the Wayne County Community Foundation about how they can be more involved.” 

Since 2015, PA Humanities has worked to bring the Community Heart & Soul® model to communities across Pennsylvania. Originally pioneered by the Orton Family Foundation and now renamed Community Heart & Soul, the resident-led planning initiative finds common ground through gathering stories, having conversations, and getting people more involved in co-creating the future of their community. 

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