Communities of Excellence National Conference at Elms Hotel and Spa

Communities of Excellence is holding its national spring conference at the Elms Hotel and Spa this week. Communities of Excellence is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that hosts a national learning collaborative of communities across the country, trains communities in the Baldrige-based Communities of Excellence Framework, and provides opportunities for communities to work together, share successes, challenges, ideas, and best practices, and learn from each other on their performance excellence journey. There are approximately 24 communities across the country participating in the program and Excelsior Springs was the first community to reach the “silver level” of achievement within the organization.

According to the organization’s website, the conference is for anyone interested in forming a community excellence group and learning how to apply the Baldrige-based Communities of Excellence Framework to improve economic vitality, educational attainment, health outcomes, and quality of life in their community. Many of Excelsior Springs’ civic leaders were in attendance at the conference including City Manager, Molly McGovern, Economic Develeloper, Melinda Mehaffey, City Councilpeople, Stephen Spear and Mark Spohn, Hospital CEO, Kristen DeHart, and Chamber Director, Michael Fitzpatrick to name a few. Previous conferences have been held in major metropolitan areas such as Phoenix and Nashville. Stephanie Norling, Executive Director for the organization said this is the first time they’ve held a conference in one of their partnering communities. She added that she felt Excelsior Springs offered charm and character that made it the perfect place to hold their conference.