By JAMES BELL
Hays Post
The Hays Public Library and the Hays Chamber will soon team up to bring a discussion of the book "13 Ways to Kill Your Community."
The work by Doug Griffiths and Kelly Clemmer shares information on ways to strengthen and grow smaller communities by highlighting fundamental mistakes in community development.
At 8 a.m. Sept. 12 and running every following Tuesday until Oct. 10, a book discussion will tackle three chapters of the work in order to spark conversation about the needs of the community.
“This conversation is for anybody who cares about their community and wants to, look at some of our challenges and make a difference,” said Brandon Hines, Hays Public Library director.
He said the work is an easy read, and the conversation is more important than the material.
“I think when you look at building a strong community, [you should have] things that really speak to the different pockets of people that you have, so they feel like they're welcomed and encouraged to stay,” said Sarah Wasinger, Hays Chamber president and CEO. "This is just kind of a nice, organic way to have an actual conversation.”
Each chapter of the book centers on a specific community concern, and each session will discuss the topic area, like water access, attracting business and engaging youth. These three are topics in the first session.
“When they talk about engaging youth, what you’re really talking about is engaging younger families, younger professionals, as they move into town,” Hines said.
The author “talks about board memberships. A lot of times, you don't see anybody on a board that's under 40 or 50 years old ... that turns young folks off when they're not engaged with these decisions.”
Breaking into sessions helps foster discussion, Wasinger said. It allows for a diversity of thought from participants and helps keep young professionals in Ellis County.
“When you don't talk to youth to see what things are important to them, it's very easy for them to want to locate somewhere else,” she said. "We need to be embracing those things and finding ways to keep them grounded here in Hays, not grounded in a bad term, but anchored in Hays and Ellis County.”
The library has two copies of the book in stock.