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PA Humanities pitches Heart & Soul engagement program to East Goshen supervisors
Summary
PA Humanities presented its PA Heart & Soul community-engagement program — a coached, four‑phase process that aims to gather resident-driven priorities and produce an action plan that can feed into a formal comprehensive plan. The board asked for more time and no application was approved tonight.
PA Humanities told East Goshen supervisors on Monday that a structured, locally led outreach effort could give the township a stronger, resident‑driven foundation for its next comprehensive plan.
Jen Danifo, senior manager of programs at PA Humanities and a certified Heart & Soul coach, described the PA Heart & Soul adaptation of the Community Heart & Soul model — a four‑phase, roughly two‑ to two‑and‑a‑half‑year process that builds local leadership, seeks out “hidden and missing” voices, collects stories and values from residents, and produces a community action plan that can bolster grant applications and guide future policy. Danifo said the program has statewide partners and that PA Humanities and the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) together can provide up to $50,000 in matching funds to support the work.
"This is asking the people who live here to tell you what they love about the community and what they want to see strengthened," Danifo said, adding that PA Humanities would pair East Goshen with a certified coach and offer training on outreach and on tracking demographic representation of respondents.
Board members and residents raised questions about timing, scope and local control. Several supervisors said the township’s last comprehensive plan felt consultant‑driven and that an engagement process could help produce more authentic community input. Others said Heart & Soul should not replace the board’s responsibility to vote on a formal plan and that the township needs assurances about participation levels and how the outreach would align with a parallel comprehensive‑planning process.
Derek, a board member who introduced the item, said the idea was meant to run alongside a consultant‑led comprehensive plan rather than substitute for it. Danifo said PA Humanities typically seeks a municipal resolution as part of the application and recommended a September application window to meet PA Humanities and DCED deadlines.
No formal action was taken Monday. The board asked staff to continue the conversation and consider a resolution or an application timeline at a future meeting if the supervisors want to pursue PA Heart & Soul further.
