Jaime Kinder and the grassroots revolution in Meadville

By Lucy Corrie-Tannen (PA Humanities intern, Haverford College )

Meadville mayor Jaime Kinder is very clear about one thing: the PA Heart & Soul process was not a magical solution to her town’s problems. 

In fact, when it first wrapped up, it sparked difficult conversations and challenged the status quo. But Meadville’s response demonstrated that residents had begun to take agency in shaping their community. Their understanding of what it means to be part of a community had shifted, revealing what can happen when people truly believe their voices deserve to be heard.

“The Heart and Soul process shifted the mindset of people,” Kinder said. “All those people that have never been listened to, all those people who didn’t know they were valued or had a say, because of this process realized that they were as important as everyone else, they were as important as the council members.”

In 2016, Jaime Kinder wasn’t yet mayor. She wasn’t involved in Meadville politics at all; like many in her hometown, she was just trying to make ends meet. She felt very little sense of community, and disconnected from the city council.

“Oftentimes we are just living our lives and don’t know about a lot because all of the capacity is just surviving… just making sure my kids are okay, just making sure we have a roof over our heads,” Kinder explained. “I didn’t pay much attention to our local government because it didn’t pay attention to people like me.”

Then PA Heart & Soul came to Meadville. Heart & Soul is a resident-driven process designed to help towns build stronger, healthier, and more economically vibrant futures. At its core, Heart & Soul relies on stories. Volunteer team members go out into the community and talk to residents to find out what they love about their town and what their hopes and dreams are for the future. Then, they determine how they can build that future together through the collection and prioritization of action ideas and plans that reflect their shared values. 

Kinder admits that she started attending the Heart & Soul story gathering and listening sessions out of simple nosiness. As she continued participating in the sessions, she became one of many community members who shared their opinions on Meadville’s present and future. As weeks turned to months, she became more and more involved in the community, joining boosters and the local chapter of the NAACP. Slowly, Kinder and Meadville learned what they wanted their town to look like.

When the Meadville Heart & Soul team released their Community Action Plan, however, things did not go according to plan. Among the values it identified as central to Meadville residents were health and safety, education, nature, and inclusion. It was this last item that created new challenges. 

Kinder recalls the pushback from Meadville leadership when the status quo was challenged. Though the town had welcomed the idea of Heart & Soul, Kinder said they resisted the action plan when its results pointed to difficulties with inclusion within the community. That resistance ended up inspiring transformation within town leadership. 

In the next election cycle, Heart & Soul coordinator Autumn Vogel and bus driver Larry McKnight ran for City Council with a platform based on the action report. They won. Hoping to ignite even more policy change in Meadville, they were inspired to ask others they had met through Heart & Soul to run for office. 

Kinder was their choice for mayor, which surprised her. In her mind, she was just a regular person, someone who made mistakes, someone who wasn’t perfect. But Kinder won the mayoral race, becoming the first Black woman to be elected mayor of Meadville. It turned out a regular person who wasn’t perfect– but who cared deeply about making Meadville a better place for everyone– was exactly what the town wanted and needed.

“When you put people first, it does move your bottom line, and that’s what comes out of Heart & Soul. You see how this process is absolutely revolutionary in bringing people together and bringing community back to municipalities.”

Meadville mayor Jamie Kinder

Changes in elected officials aside, the biggest change in Meadville has been that “we stopped planning for someone to come and save us,” Kinder reflects. Instead, Kinder and the rest of the Meadville City Council took their cues from the Heart & Soul report and a new system of cogovernance to proactively introduce a range of new policies and programs aimed at improving the quality of life in Meadville. Since Kinder’s election, Meadville has implemented a climate action plan and a rental inspection agency, restored pension payments to firemen and police, and passed Pennsylvania’s first non-retaliation ordinance between tenants and landlords. The program Kinder is most proud of is their municipal ambulance program: today, every ambulance ride is free for Meadville residents.

Meadville also refocused their efforts on drawing residents into community life instead of trying to attract tourists, making Meadville work for those who walked its streets every day.

“Poor people, people who need to buy everything here, that’s who pushes the economy,” Kinder explained.

In fact, these new programs have allowed Meadville to balance its budget these past three years, a feat Kinder is proud of after decades spent in a deficit. It’s a feat that proves effective budgeting can still be people-centered.

“When you put people first, it does move your bottom line, and that’s what comes out of Heart & Soul,” Kinder said. “You see how this process is absolutely revolutionary in bringing people together and bringing community back to municipalities.”

Kinder is running for reelection this year. She was unopposed in the Democratic primaries this spring and is now looking toward the future of Meadville. One area she wants to focus on more is expanding access to green spaces. 

Overall, though, what Kinder most wants is to maintain the momentum of the moment in Meadville.

Today, the community finally has a voice, and the government is finally working for the community. The feeling of living in Meadville has finally changed. Residents now know local government is theirs for the shaping. They know they share struggles, hopes, and dreams with their neighbors. Even if they, like Jaime Kinder in 2016, are just making ends meet, they have a “feeling” – as Kinder describes it – that things are better than before.

Though it wasn’t straightforward or easy, Kinder is adamant that PA Heart & Soul was transformative in getting Meadville to where they are today. 

“Every single community should have to go through this process,” she said.

PA Heart & Soul is made possible by generous funding from Community Heart & Soul, the PA Department of Community & Economic Development, the PA Department of Conversation and Natural Resources, Route 6 Alliance and the National Endowment for the Humanities.