1963-2013: The Rensselaerville Institute is Celebrating 50 Years Achieving Human Gain Through Individuals and Innovation 

Community Sparkplugs Make all the Difference

The Community Sparkplugs initiative helps community members with a passion to make things better. Sparkplugs exist in all communities.  They have one thing in common – they would rather do something about a problem than complain about it. With the right set of circumstances and support, they step up to leadership roles and make a difference for their communities. The Community Sparkplugs program provides just that set of circumstances and support.

A Proven Approach

For more than 20 years, The Rensselaerville Institute has made it possible for over 350 communities to help themselves chart their own course, fix their own problems and develop their own assets – including their leaders. 75% of these communities achieved the community betterment targets they set out in their projects and more than 70% of them continued with additional and larger projects. This extremely cost-effective approach goes beyond investing in community improvement to investing in community capacity and leadership. The compressed six month time frame of the projects helps build energy and drive action while the $3,000 mini-investments attract additional resources.