Support groups are built on trust and are the basis for a strong sense of community, often coming together from a striking emotional issue.  Just look at what hurricanes and other selected disasters do for building community in small towns.  Count rage-generating traffic congestion and massive job hemorrhages among them.

The need for CoolTown-oriented support groups arises in four areas, all manifested by the need for building a CoolTown itself:

Creatives, entrepreneurs, progressives:  These are the future tenants who want to live/work/play in anything but their current choices, and get together to discuss and dream of what they could be.

Municipalities:  They see jobs and talent leaving in droves, and form ad hoc groups of economic development, planning and business leaders to stop the bleeding.

Universities:  Similar to above, they see students (ie potential donors, graduate school income, research park talent) leaving the ‘boring college town’ in waves, and thereby establish cross-department ad hoc groups to find the answers.

Private investors/developers:  These are the people who literally build the CoolTowns, and they realize they need a team of world class designers, retail consultants, economists and market development experts to effectively understand how to build them.

Yet these support groups just about refuse to talk to one another.  See image.

A common phrase in commerce is that business is all about relationships.  On the residential end, a sense of community is also all about relationships.  The CoolTown process relies on building such relationships from planning to reality, and the key to success its fostering constant conversation.

In the CoolTown planning phase, these conversations are facilitated through support groups.  That is, people who share a common cause, often dealing with a common problem.  There’s a resulting sense of bonding among the participants as they dialogue with one another to overcome their common problem and achieve their individual goals.

CoolTown business-oriented support groups are referred to as guilds, while social-oriented support groups are referred to as circles.

How are these support groups created?  Do you know of any effective business support groups you’re in?