Thank you to all of you who have given feedback throughout the strategic planning process, either in interviews or by taking the survey. Our strategic planning consultant, Barbara Raye at the Center for Policy, Planning, and Performance, met with our board last week to continue our strategic planning process.
We learned from surveying and interviewing our community and engaging a broad swath of residents, business representatives, non-profits, students, school administrators and more that the Community Council has several effective tools to reach our community. Survey respondents identified our e-Newsletter as an effective and clear tool for sharing community news and heightening community engagement. We also learned that although our committees carry out many tasks involved in land use, transportation, and environment, that we can do a better job highlighting the incredible work these committees do. With a deeper understanding of our perception in the community, we are able to sculpt a strategy to build deeper community connections and broaden our reach in our neighborhood.
The board is currently working on developing a strategic vision for our Community Council to guide our work over the next several years. By articulating core values and functions of the Community Council, we will help define our role in our neighborhood and city into the future. We will continue our strategic planning process this summer based on the feedback our community gave us. We will update you, our community members and partner organizations, as we undertake our strategic vision.
A huge thank you to St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church for offering us space in St. Anthony Park for our planning retreat and to Afro Deli for catering the event. Thank you to Barbara Raye for leading the process (barbara.raye@effective.org).