The Resolution

The Technical Heart of Resolution Fund:

The 3 rules, 3 processes, & 1 model that reliably result in rapid, resilient renewal.

Ever since Resolution Fund founder Storm Cunningham's first book, The Restoration Economy, came out in 2002, he has been immersed full-time in revitalization programs, revitalization conferences, and restorative projects of all kinds, all over the planet. 

When he started researching his new book, ReWealth!, he reviewed the hundreds of revitalization initiatives he had partaken in or studied over the years, in an effort to identify core principles.  Were there any principles that were always present in spectacularly successful revitalization stories?  Were there any principles that were always missing--in whole or in part--in those initiatives that failed to achieve their goals?

He was successful.  He discovered three such factors.  Together, this 3-part formula (collectively referred to as the "ReSolution") reliably produces what he refers to in ReWealth! as “rapid, resilient renewal”.   These 3 decision-making rules, 3 solution-making processes, and 1 action-making model are the heart of his new book, and the heart of our services.

Three decision-making rules should drive all decisions concerning your community's future:

Rewealth (asset renewal): The most successful revitalization initiatives make the shift from a "deconomy" to a "reconomy". This enables communities to grow non-destructively while increasing—rather than decreasing—their natural, built, and socioeconomic assets. Community revitalization initiatives formed by our Renewal Capacity Program rely on redevelopment vs. development, replenishment vs. depletion, remediation vs. degradation, and restoration vs. destruction.  The renew what they already have, rather than compulsively creating more and more of what no one wants more of.

• This is the prime factor: without renewal activities, the other three factors have nothing to design, fund, or implement.

• The de/re shift alters the basis of wealth-creation from that of extractive pioneers to restorative residents. In other words, it's a shift from "dewealth" to "rewealth", as described in Storm Cunningham's new book, ReWealth.

Integration: The most successful revitalization initiatives abandon outdated planning and policymaking that detaches the natural, built, and socioeconomic environments from each other. Community revitalization initiatives formed by our Renewal Capacity Program integrate these environments into a healthy system.

• Integrating the renewal of your natural, built, and socioeconomic environments makes an area whole again. The resulting synergies make programs and projects more efficient.

• Integration increases the flow of opportunities and resources via the ripple effect, whereby each renewal project makes adjacent properties more valuable.

Engagement: The most successful revitalization initiatives abandon non-transparent, command-and-control, “decree” styles of redevelopment. Community revitalization initiatives formed by our Renewal Capacity Program engage business, government, academic, non-profit, and citizen stakeholders in their revitalized future.

• Effective stakeholder engagement creates appropriate, achievable visions, strategies, and plans. It generates greater public and political support for those plans, and helps eliminate expensive, last-minute project delays caused by stakeholders who become aware of designs and plans too late in the process.

• That said, there are situations in which enlightened leaders must temporarily bypass such engagement to kick-start a vitally-important revitalization project or program when political, jurisdictional, cultural, or bureaucratic obstacles are otherwise insurmountable. The renewal program itself should then be used to enhance stakeholder harmony and cooperation while removing legislative and administrative barriers to renewal.

Turning those rules into solutions requires the 3 Renewal Processes.  These are the key functions of a renewal engine:

Visioning: Visions drive strategies and plans, but only if they survive long enough to do so.  The survival of visions relies on two key factors.  First, the vision should be created and communicated by all key stakeholders: government, business, academics, non-profits, and citizens.  Second, the vision must be maintained by feedback from projects, and protected from outside influences, such as changes of political administration or the arrival of 'big money."

Culturing: Creating a culture of renewal that attracts and nurtures investments in your renewal means imbedding the 3 Rules of Renewal in your policies, regulations, legislation, etc.

Partnering: The most successful large-scale revitalization initiatives are based on effective, equitable renewal partnerships of public and private entities. Nothing substantial will be accomplished without sufficient money, but public agencies seldom have enough funding in isolation. Community revitalization initiatives formed by our Renewal Capacity Program partner public and private resources to achieve rapid, resilient, regional renewal.

• The public good must remain the primary goal, even when the vast majority of the funding is private. Communities must tap the right resources from the right partners in the right place at the right times.

• The partnership entity should be permanent—although the specific partners may change over time—because renewal should be an ongoing process. Many community revitalization efforts fail to achieve their larger goals because they focus excessively on a specific one-time project. Others fail to follow-through on initial success because the process of creating a partnership for each project takes too much time or effort.

• Successful restorative public-private partnerships occur when all partners apply all three Rules of Renewal.

Turning those solutions into action--that is, funded projects--requires a Renewal Engine^™.  This is a permanent, non-profit organization established on a local or regional basis to drive rapid, resilient renewal.  It's described in more detail in Rewealth!.