THRIVING PEOPLES

Community visioning Many communities begin their visioning project by determining the vision or desired future. Others look at where the community currently finds itself before identifying the desired future. Both approaches have produced quality results in visioning projects around the country.  However, starting with the vision statement is preferred because it sets a positive tone for the process from the very start. This process convenes residents holding very diverse perspectives who come into the process with personal agendas.  By starting the process with the development of visual themes, participants recognize early on that despite the different views, there are many areas on which they all agree. Experiencing such a “win” early on in the process sets the tone for participants to work toward agreement throughout the process . A vision is a “stretch”   In spring 1961, President John F. Kennedy, seeking increased funding for space explorati...

Steps for Initiating Community Development Acquire Knowledge and Execute Each community has its own special characteristics which make it different from another community. The differences may take the form of availability and utilization of resources, culture, attitude, behavior and social development needs. The following are the major steps for initiating community development. Step 1: Goal setting Goal setting is the first step in the initiation of community developmental activities. It comes before planning and implementation. During goal-setting, the CDW should consider the socio, economic, cultural and demographic aspects of the community. In addition, they should also look at the availability of resources like manpower, planners and implementers. The goal should be “simple” in nature. Step 2: Understanding the people in the community Before planning and implementing a community development program, it is important to learn about the people in th...