5

WHY NEED WE PLAN?

In earlier days, when new territory was being explored,
planning was chiefly a matter of extending activities in
‘‘horizontal’’ directions. Financiers, lawmakers, educators
and other leaders cooperated to encourage the appropriation
and use of new land, minerals and forests. State, county and
township boundaries were established; roads were laid out;
towns were plotted and individual farmers were given oppor-
tunities to homestead land.

Now it is only by building more activities and programs
within the areas in which we live that we can have more jobs
and expanded satisfactions. Thus we have need for a type of
‘‘vertical’’ planning.

‘*Vertical’’ community development, even more than ‘‘hori-
zontal’’ community progress, depends on group effort. During
the period of locating and appropriating natural resources,
many individuals were rewarded as they extended themselves
away from people. Now, comparable achievements are possi-
ble only as we understand and work with people.

HOW CAN WE PROCEED?

People cooperate voluntarily only when they know that
certain desired benefits can be achieved by coordinated effort.
The average citizen is most interested in those problems that
he has helped to discover and analyze, and having had a part
in defining one community need, he understands and appreci-
ates the conclusions that others reach regarding related pro-
blems. Therefore, if conducted by members of the community,
local surveys provide a logical start in community planning.

In a democratic society no ‘‘outside’’ agency or advisor can
establish rules for developing the program of a local commun-
ity. As the interactions of human beings differ, procedures
will also vary. Nevertheless, in community planning there are
certain essential steps. These include:

(1) Developing a council of leaders which may be (a) an in-
corporated community council, (b) a council of the
presidents of different organizations, (¢) a community
planning committee elected at a representative commun-
ity gathering or (d) a self-constituted group of leaders
who appreciate the need for working together in coor-
dinating and advancing community life.

(2) Making an analysis of community resources and needs,
either (a) using the check sheets suggested in this out-