RONAN — With the barn doors open to a warm late-summer evening, residents gathered around tables arranged in a horseshoe at the newly revamped community center here. Over two hours, they shared what they loved about their town and their hopes for its future during an initial meeting as part of the Community Heart & Soul program.

Lifelong residents and newcomers alike spoke about the connections that make Ronan feel like home.

“There’s nothing that replaces driving down a road and waving and somebody waves back,” said Gwen Zolber, sharing what makes the community feel like home to her.

The gathering was part of Community Heart & Soul’s Getting Started phase, which helps towns explore whether they’re ready for a longer effort to identify what matters most to residents and turn those priorities into action.

Guiding the conversation was Camden Graves, one of Montana Community Foundation’s certified Community Heart & Soul coaches. Her role is to help residents discover the path forward together.

“You guys have those answers. We’re just here to help you pull them together and find them and make action plans to move on,” Camden told the group.

Attendees provided demographic information to help organizers identify whose perspectives were represented and who still needed to be included. Camden encouraged participants to invite others to upcoming workshops and continue conversations with friends and family between meetings.

If Ronan moves forward with the full program, residents will work through four phases — imagine, connect, plan and act — to develop statements reflecting what matters most to them and an action plan to guide local decisions.

“Our goal is that by the end of this, everyone knows more people than they did when they started, and that we’ve opened up these conversations into all realms of the community,” Camden said.

Ronan is the sixth Montana town to take part in the Community Heart & Soul program, joining Arlee, Boulder, Broadus, Havre, and Polson.

MCF works with Montana State University Extension to offer Community Heart & Soul to rural communities across the state. For more information about the program, how to learn if your community is a good fit, and to read answers to frequently asked questions, visit our website or contact Camden at camden@mtcf.org.

Learn more about Community Heart & Soul