Each person in a community has gifts to offer and passions they care about.Solidarity in Action JA+ is most impactful when residents become involved by sharing their gifts, talents, and passions to support community change that matters to them. But how do we discover residents’ gifts and passions and connect them so they can share their gifts? 

One of the most effective ways to unlock the power of community members is through learning conversations. Learning conversations are purposeful conversations that help us discover a person’s gifts, talents, and passions. It’s especially important to learn about a person’s passions because passions are what motivates a person to act. Learning conversations seek to understand what someone cares about so much that they choose to act. Most people are motivated by three things: 

• Hopes and dreams: what someone is excited about or wants to see in the future. 
• Concerns and fears: what someone is worried about or does not want to happen. 
• Gifts and talents: the gifts and talents that someone enjoys sharing with others. 

Learning what each stakeholder cares about, their passions, concerns, and what they are willing and able to put their time to helps to reveal sources of power and build community ownership of the assets in a community. It’s important to remember that some stakeholders wield a good deal of power through controlling resources, and they may have goals that are not directly tied to the goals of the community (for example, national businesses or federal funding sources). Making sure that local residents are leading these efforts can help more powerful participants see the importance in sharing power. 

By having learning conversations in your community, you will discover which individuals deeply resonate with your mission. You will also develop relationships, connections, and partnerships you didn’t have before. 

Guiding Questions for within the Mutual Aid Group participants:

Below are questions to guide your learning conversations, choose 1 or 2 questions from each section. Since you won’t have time to ask all of them, focus on the questions you like best and that are more related to your community efforts. 

Gifts and Talents 

• What do your friends or family tell you that you’re good at? 
• What are your two-three favorite hobbies? 
• What two gifts, talents, or skills do you have that make you a valuable family member and friend? 
• What talent do you have that not many people know about? 
• What is something that you love to do and never get bored by?  

Hopes and Concerns 

• What do you care about? 
• What are you concerned about? 
• What do you want this community to look like in five years? 
• What are your biggest concerns about what it could look like in five years? 
• What should we do that you would work on? 

Issue Feedback 

• What ideas do you have about what we’re working on? 
• What hopes do you have for our [insert] work? 
• What concerns do you have about our [insert] work? 

Association Involvement 

• What groups or associations are you connected to? 
• What groups or associations do you like? 

Possibilities 

• Which gifts or skills would you be willing to share with your community?
• Would you consider attending our next community meeting? 
• What would your possible roles be? 

Connections 

• Be sure to capture names and contact info at this stage! 
• Who else do you know we should learn more about? 
• Who else can you think of who might care about this work?