GRINNELL, Iowa – The Build a Better Grinnell 2030 Community Visioning Project is kicking-off and is seeking broad community input. The Visioning Project is an effort to assess Grinnell’s strengths, community needs, and priorities. The project will use a collaborative approach focusing on community input and engagement to identify and enhance quality-of-life improvement endeavors for people who live and work in the community, or rely on resources within Grinnell.
Seeking Input for Community Visions of Grinnell
Right now, project leaders are asking community members, individuals who work in Grinnell, and those who depend on Grinnell for key resources to participate and provide input by answering a set of questions posed in our community-engagement tool: “Community Visions of Grinnell.” This can be done as a self-guided focus group interview or completed individually. The input requested, covers topics of needs, community assets, values, strengths and visions of Grinnell.
The questions are available in digital and printed formats. A digital form version of the Workbook is available on the website, the project’s social media accounts (@buildabettergrinnell) and through a QR code on posters around town. Printed copies will be available at the following locations: Saints Rest Coffeehouse (917 Broad St), and Drake Community Library (930 Park St.) also where the finished written toolkits can be returned to.
If you or your group would like to participate, but prefer that someone else conduct the interview or focus group, a trained research assistant will be provided.
About the Project and Timeline
In early September a steering committee made up of community members representing diverse backgrounds, along with 21 public and private organizations representing a cross-section of the community and a range of resources was formed. Following a period of organizing and preliminary research, through existing documentation, the project is now entering the first phase of community-engaged research. This involves identification of existing community strengths, values, and key assets, as well the fullest possible range of community members concerns, needs, and visions. Subsequent research phases will involve working within the community to prioritize those visions and needs and explore them in more detail.
The research portion of the project will be completed by the end of 2023, at which time the project will transition to the action planning phase, intending to help facilitate members of the community and relevant institutions to come together into working groups and create action plans around prioritized visions and needs.
Goals of the project
- Identify community strengths – both self-assessed and comparative, to build community pride
- Enhance organizational connections and community cohesion with a commitment to action
- Facilitate community growth and development for the next decade
- Initiate implementation on the set of identified needs by organizing relevant key stakeholders and developing concrete action plans
Follow Along and Learn More
Individuals who want to stay appraised of the project, receive updates, get involved or provide further input, can join the email list, either by signing up on the website at buildabettergrinnell.org or email Bel Kugel, Project Coordinator at bel@buildabettergrinnell.org.
To learn more about the project visit the website at buildabettergrinnell.org , follow on social media @buildabettergrinnell or contact the Project Coordinator: Bel Kugel at bel@buildabettergrinnell.org
