Hey y’all,
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I’m sure some of y’all already know me, my name is Tony Lee Hernandez. I am interning in my hometown at City of Plainview. Plainview, TX is definitely my hometown, but I didn’t always live here in Plainview. I was born here, then moved to a small town called Waxahachie, TX close to the Dallas area when I was four years old because of my mother’s occupation. I lived there for four years made it through kindergarten to third grade then moved back to Plainview. I’ve been here ever since.
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Citizens of a community often stereotype that because we live in a small town that not all 12 key assets of common wealth are to be found. This however is false. No matter the size of the community all assets of common wealth are sure to be present. They may be hard to identify, but a little reflection on the community can help. Living in the Texas Panhandle area, it is easy to identify certain assets such as: renewable energy, foodshed, art & culture, history, and sense of place. West Texas has always had a large amount of land space between areas where sense of place has been established with agriculture and an alternative source for energy has been found with wind turbines. This type of energy is known as renewable energy.
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Although it is easy to identify some key assets, others are still present but still hard to come by. Some may say Wild life & Natural World, and Water Cycle are not present, however, if you reflect back on your community: Wild Life & Natural World can be found through Palo Duro Canyon, and grasslands on the plains, and even though it’s very dry in the area the key asset, water cycle, can be found through the Ogallala Aquifer.
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“At OC, we believe that no matter the size of your community, whether it has a population of 300 or 30,000, there are 12 key assets present that citizens draw their life from, and can enhance or deplete.” –Ogallala Commons
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From the mind of an intern,
Tony Lee Hernandez
Ogallala Commons Intern, 2017
