National Community Development Consultant Identifies Texarkana USA a Superlative of DOING!

Mary-Marshall VanSant, CCP, Director of the Center for Learning & Professional Development, University of North Alabama (UNA)
Joseph N. Fratesi, Ph.D., Assistant Director for Community Development, Stennis Institute of Government and Community Development, Mississippi State University

In his position at the Mississippi State University, Dr. Joe Fratesi consults nationally with communities of all sizes on Community Development.  Based on his work around the country, Joe’s perspective is that: “Texarkana has built the strongest collaborative ecosystem using Strategic Doing in the country.”  Acknowledging that Strategic Planning can have usefulness within hierarchical systems, Joe describes himself as a “recovering Strategic Planner” who is now training leaders around the country to effectively use the process of Strategic Doing, championing it as the more effective tool for developing collaborative strategy in communities and regions in which the myriad challenges are complex and the needed partners for progress are not hierarchically aligned–i.e., communities and regions like ours.  

Dr. Fratesi has been part of the past three Strategic Doing Practitioner trainings in Texarkana, working with fellow SD Fellow Mary Marshall VanSant of the Strategic doing Institute at University of North Alabama.