Karen Foley is the Neighborhood Services Coordinator for the City of Bowling Green. For over 20 years, it has been her mission and goal to help neighbors in the City of Bowling Green to create the kind of neighborhoods that we all would want to live in.
“In doing that, I’ve seized upon two really uncomplicated ideas,” Karen says. “One, It truly is important to engage in good “neighboring” which is just another way to say ‘to love one’s neighbor as themselves.’ And two, everyone leads, whether they think of themselves as a leader or not. When you apply both of these ideas where people intersect with place, you can mobilize neighbors who care about one another and about the place where they live together in a strategic way to effect the kind of change we wish to see, one block at a time, one neighborhood at a time.”
Karen explains that she has been so fortunate to have family, teachers, mentors, bosses, and peers all along the way who always seemed to guide and shape her with wisdom, skills, ethics, and attitudes. “But if I am going to point to one great influence, I would have to say faith. I need to clarify that I am frequently wayward. I wander off the path and try to do things my own way. Ultimately, though, the faith of my parents, the faith of my family and friends, and the lifelong study of what it means to LOVE GOD and LOVE PEOPLE continues to shape how I view the world and my place in it. My faith gets shaken and rocked sometimes. Like a lot of people, I can be fickle. And sometimes I behave badly. Yet somehow, I still return to find refuge in God’s grace and in the grace extended to me by others along my journey.”
When asked about her greatest accomplishment, Karen said, “It sounds cliché to say, but I’m going to say my family. My husband, Jason, and I just had our 25th wedding anniversary, and we have three energetic kids who we love fiercely. We have endured and been strengthened by some really tough situations: first, as a couple, and later on, as a family, and we just keep making sure that we work hard, play harder, and love hardest. I hesitate to even call it an accomplishment, because we’re still so much a work in progress with our fair share of messes along the way. But WOW.
There’s nothing better.”
Karen's advice for our readers is, “Sometimes you have to just go for it, and take a chance on going after that important goal or thing that you want. Otherwise you tell yourself no.”
Most recently, Karen has been motivated and inspired by the work of The Lupton Center in the South Atlanta neighborhood of Atlanta, GA. The Lupton Center is the training and development arm of Focused Community Strategies (FCS), which was founded by “Toxic Charity” author and community developer practitioner, Bob Lupton. The Lupton Center offers twice-weekly Facebook Live conversations, a “Seeking Shalom” course of study, a leadership training cohort, and other curricula to train and develop community leaders to utilize their place-based model of community development. Check them out online at www.luptoncenter.org or on Facebook as “The Lupton Center.”
Karen recently celebrated her 25th year of service working for the City of Bowling Green. “After 21 years of organizing neighborhood trainings and facilitating in person neighborhood meetings and other events, I am working with several peers to sort out what engaging with the community looks like now in the age of COVID-19. Accessibility to quality high speed internet and ability to utilize different virtual platforms are both barriers for some neighbors when we need everyone to be able to participate now more than ever. We are social creatures by nature, so this challenge is by far the most unique of my lifetime.”
Moving forward, Karen wants to learn and listen more in her community work. Karen explains, “I believe that the pandemic has laid bare so much frailty and vulnerability in our country, but I think it also has presented us with a MOMENT upon which things can actually turn for the better. IF we can harness our frustrations, our concerns, our disappointments and our pain into energy to seek understanding and make positive change, it’s important for us to do so! And I know I’m committed to learning and listening more to help make that happen.”
In closing, Karen shares this anecdote, “Several years ago, I was at a working lunch with three vibrant women as we worked on launching Age Friendly Bowling Green, an initiative that I now facilitate on behalf of the City of Bowling Green. As we talked, one of us noted there was exactly a ten year age difference between the oldest two of us; then we figured out there was exactly ten years between each one of us, stair-stepping down from the oldest to the youngest (me). At a single table sat four decades of generational differences and richness upon which each of us could draw encouragement, insight and inspiration. The value of the friendships shared at the table was immeasurable, and it motivated me to seek out meaningful, fully reciprocal relationships with women in the decade behind me, and the one after that, all the way to my own two daughters, both in their teens. I would encourage anyone to be intentional in seeking out age-spanning relationships for themselves as well!”
In her free time, Karen enjoys camping and boating with her kids: Jae (WKU freshman), Cora (BGHS Junior) and Clay Austin (1st grader at McNeill). She adds, “We spend a lot of time watching our kids do the things that they enjoy like sports or music or filming TikToks.”
Karen can be contacted via
email: karen.foley@bgky.org
Twitter: @folek13
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