In February of 2019, I started a new creative journey. For years, I’d wanted to make sourdough bread. I grew up in a home where homemade bread was the norm, but we’d never done sourdough. I fell in love with the flavor of sourdough as an adult and wanted to produce THAT at home, but the timing had just never been right for me to get the whole process going. And then, I took a pause and allowed myself the luxury of a sabbatical with some contemplative time and some amazing time creating things in my kitchen and studio.

All that to say, I kind of just jumped into the sourdough thing. I read a TON, watched a lot of YouTube, joined online sourdough groups and finally, I launched a starter in my own kitchen. I fed and nurtured it and began to see some bubbles and growth. I’ve learned that the right warmth matters to a healthy starter; you have to ‘baby’ it, feed it often and maybe most importantly, you have to give it a name (I named mine “Startacus”).

It took some courage to turn that starter into bread but since that first loaf, I’ve been seriously hooked. I’ve also begun to want more from my bread than an enviable crumb. I want it to be extremely good for you, so I’ve started adding seeds and grains to it. I can’t wait to try new additions as well.

So, to me, it seems like I’ve made a lot of bread. I know that other obsessed sourdough bakers are producing way more loaves than me. I’m still learning. Every loaf has not been a success but some of it has been incredible, and I’ve been able to share a lot of it with friends and family.

Perhaps, oddly enough, the whole sourdough process has also reminded me of the community work that I’ve been engaged in for the past 20 years. Working honestly with community, listening and launching projects and programs is a lot like getting a sourdough starter going. At the beginning, you never know if what you’re doing is going to produce something great, or if it will fall completely flat, like a bad loaf. Starter has to fed; and fed well. It needs to be nurtured and have the right conditions to be successful. But you also have to realize that what works in someone else’s kitchen is going to be a little different than what works in yours. It’s the same with any community process. It’s hard, messy, and unpredictable. But, for those that stick with it, aren’t afraid to keep pushing and consistently push for better and better results, it’s well worth the effort.

There’s a shared sense of urgency that we all feel about our communities right now. And, as we recognize the urgent issues that face Michigan, we know that we must be both responsive to issues and opportunities as they arise, as well as working to plan for the future.

Planning for a post-COVID future doesn’t start later, after we fix the mess we’re seeing all over the map. We have to start now. And, while the interventions, and the process of starting now, will look different than the processes that we will implement several months or years down the road, it’s critical that we recognize that our approach to community wealth building is a phased approach that doesn’t start after the emergency ends.

We must re-imagine the necessary inputs and structures by which our Main Streets and our neighborhoods can become more resilient and locally focused. Together with the Michigan Municipal League (the League), the MML Foundation is working to develop a set of objectives to support our members across the state. We look forward to working collaboratively with partners from the corporate, philanthropic, and public sectors to meet the needs that we are in the process of identifying. The League and our partners are coordinating to gather data from municipalities across Michigan on the workplace and financial impacts from the coronavirus pandemic and how local governments are reacting.

The State and Federal Affairs Division (SFAD) team at the League will use information that is gathered from these survey responses to help to provide benchmarks for municipalities to compare themselves against. This data offers valuable insights into the operational/fiscal impacts of the current crisis and the SFAD team will be able to use those insights with state and federal policy makers as legislative and budgetary reactions are considered. In short, real data to identify real needs are invaluable if we are to craft an authentic and impactful approach.

That’s just a taste of how we are assembling our thoughts on what the right response should be for us. We plan to reach out to current, past, and future partners. We aren’t offering to partner on something that checks a box. Rather, we are looking to brew a starter and to gather the right ingredients for a clear and comprehensive approach to community revitalization in Michigan. More to come.