Regional Revitalization is a long journey of learning. From fighting for government subsidies to no need for one. The result requires "a group of fools" to show their passions and love of the local community and have the courage to hit the wall.

A Return Hometown Couple Launches Overall Community Building
In 1994, Mrs. Su-qiu Wu with her husband Mr. Guang-jin Li, now the Chairman of Dayou Community Development Association, moved back from Taipei to Puyan Township in Changhua County. They felt disappointment to the dirty streets and inconvenient traffics. Mrs. Wu was born in Chiayi and cherishes the memory of people's mutual helps in the rural area, so she applied to organize a community. With the concept of community life circle, she wants the warmth farming life back. Next year, a community of more than 400 households and 1,400 people was established in Dayou.

The fastest way to assemble loose sand is with water. The "Water" of Dayou Development Association is the continuous events, the basic five are Year-end Party, Lantern Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and Double Ninth Festival. With free meals and self-made programs, step by step to gather the residents.

Starting from cleaning the garbage, the residents first restoring the community a clean environment. Second, they want to transform the construction. In 2005, a land lord who donated a free land for the Association to "Try their business". So, the staff tried to apply the government's budget. Mrs. Wu, the current Honorary Chairman, recalled since they have no experience for the application, so the Association had been rejected again and again and finally been approved NT$450,000 by efforts. It finally built up a beautiful community park as the first trigger of the overall Community Building. Today, Dayou Community is the model of Community Revitalization. It is well planned for more than 20 historical sites and receives over 300 tour carloads throughout the year.   

The Stagnant Biochar Grows "JIN TAN GOLDEN RICE" by Coincident 
The second opportunity revealed in 2010, a year of an unstable international economic. The staff of the Association realized that they cannot always rely on the government subsidies and must earn the money by themselves. The Association looked around for natural farming techniques and coordinated one acre of free land for experimental rice cultivation donated by three local farmers. However, the rice growing transition from using pesticides and chemical fertilizers to free pesticide and fertilizer was not"pretty"at all. Mrs. Wu said "Most of the rice were die in the first year, the lefts were tiny, ugly, and bad in tastes without business values."

The staff once invited Assistant Professor Tzu-chien Chang of TransWorld University to visit the Association, Prof. Chang told them the abandoned tree branches and rice stalks on the roadside were "wasteful treasures". The staff just realized those "wastes" can make into biochar that could sale for thousands of dollars per kilogram and immediately asked for the authorized technology.

After twists and turns, the Association learned an anaerobic burning method and made a whole warehouse of biochar. However, although the price of the biochar was high but need to be sold abroad for that good price. The Association did not have related talents and resources for it. Therefore, Mr. Li was disappointed to spread the biochar into the rice fields as organic fertilizer.  
"God has been very kind to us," Mrs. Wu said. "A few months later, the rice on the field grew ever bigger and beautiful than the rice that had been fertilized and dosed with medicine." The Association took the soil and water for testing and realized that the biochar had neutralized the fertilized with medicine acidic soil. The neutral to alkaline soil are the best growing soil for rice.
In order to promote the rice, first, the Association first applied for the "JIN TAN GOLDEN RICE" patent as an organic and high-quality rice brand. Through winning awards from competitions to competitions, the brand gradually be famous and was selected by Golden Horse Awards in 2019 as the VIP gift to open up the sales.

Make the Goal to be a Social Enterprise and develop Three Major Revenue Sources  
Mrs. Wu recalled the 26 years of learning by doing since Dayou Community has established, the Association affirmed the direction of transforming into a social Enterprise by "From the government subsidy to self-operation, and end to give experience and create its own business".
First, she admitted that since Dayou Community was established in 1995, it once wanted to apply government subsidies. "However, if the Association did not have any respectful achievements, who else would give it a hand?" Therefore, the previous Chairman focused on mobilizing local residents to achieve "Community Revitalization". The Community has been promoting programs to mobilize local residents such as environmental volunteer teams, meal cooking teams, student counseling classes, and elderly clubs, etc.
It was not until 2005 to fund the first Community Building Project, The Green Park back to Zhu-tou-jiao. The Park was transformed from an abandoned pigsty into a green corridor park by the local elders and their junior volunteers. 
Fortunately, the park was awarded 2nd place in the Tree Planting and Revegetation Event for two continuous years, and the Outstanding Award of the 16th National Environmental Protection Model Community Competition. The park project became a model for other communities and stimulated the Association for two businesses.
The first one is continuing to beautify and upgrade the spatial planning and living functions of the community, then taking related competitions to win the prizes as budgets for future expansion projects. According to the records, Dayou Community had awarded at least 40 Outstanding Community Awards in the past 15 years. The second one is receiving tour groups for fees. Mrs. Wu roughly estimates the basic annual income is NT$600,000 from the average fee of NT2,000 per tour car, and the revenue could let the Association hire at least one more young staff.   
In 2010, Dayou Community Association developed its own organic “JIN TAN Golden Rice” without toxins and chemical fertilizers. The rice became the third income source and was made into a gift box as a high-quality product. All the efforts became the “Confirmation” of the 2019 Golden Horse Awards. Therefore, the Association’s revenue gradually turns better in 2020, and even trying not to apply the government’s subsidy project in 2021. The Association hopes the community residents could make more efforts to realize permanent self-operation. 

Build Community Culture like an Enterprise and Work with Innovation Spirit
The characteristics that made Dayou Community a regular winner of many competitions are its complete, diversified, and well-established business operations. In addition to elderly and children caring, it also includes revitalizing local industries, revitalizing community spaces, and environmental sustainability into Community Revitalization. There are many communities doing the same tasks but cannot compare to Dayou Community for two reasons.
The first one is Dayou Community has Its own culture. Just like an enterprise has its own culture, Dayou's residents have a very strong unity. As Mrs. Wu mentioned many times in the interview, it's because of the Passing Love from many community elders made Dayou be a model community and have been recognized for years. The Association's staff know deeply the importance of "Legacy" and continue to cultivate the next generation who are committed to the local development.
For example, CEO Mr. Yu-Chung Chen in his 50s is the second generation of Dayou Community. He worked as the Association's volunteer when he was young and now as the CEO. He retired from a school director few years ago before moving to the Association's CEO. There are even three generations of doing community volunteers in the same family.

The second one is the spirit of Innovation without drawing lines and crossing them if there is a way. The members of Dayou Community Development always call themselves "a group of fools". They try everything if there is hope, even fail in the end but worth it. By the faith, although the staff had no idea of Community Building and only received half of the expected funding. But they still made it into an award-winning park. Even the biochar business opportunity once lost, they did not give it up and grow the Golden Rice by Coincident.
There are many Community Revitalization organizations doing the same tasks as Dayou in Taiwan's Township, but it is not easy to unite all levels of community residents in one vision. Maybe Dayou's two characteristics are the first tasks that Community Building organizations should do in the beginning of promoting Community Revitalization for a better result.   

▲Business Model

▲Dayou Community rebuild the traditional hut used called "Cage". It is said that in the past, Pingpu tribe women would live in the huts and peek men passing by through the small windows. If they see and like each other, the women would let the man enter for a"trial marriage".

▲Dayou Community receives about 300 tour carloads every year as the major income source.

▲Dayou Community values the legacy of the elders and often organizes activities to unite the residents

▲The rebuild scene becomes the best place to promote experiential activities. (Picture Provider: Dayou Community Development Association)

Domestic Case Story

Interviewee: Changhua Puyan Township Dayou Community Development Association

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Please attribute this article to “Workforce Development Agency, Ministry of Labor.”