Communicating Regional Indicators with Scenarios

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Communicating Regional Indicators with Scenarios
ARS National ForumNovember 11, 2004Salt Lake
City, Utah Richard CummingsThe Great Valley
CenterModesto, California
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SALT LAKE CITY
BAKERSFIELD
450 miles long
MODESTO
SAN FRANCISCO
50 miles wide
REDDING
Californias Great Central Valley from space
Source NASA
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Growth in the Valley has prompted focus on
social, economic, environmental indicators
1925
Source Assessment of Urban Growth in the
Central Valley USGS and Great Valley Center
(2000).
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Population Growth will change the regionValley
will be larger than SF Bay Area by 2020 Almost
12 million people by 2040
Source Public Policy Institute of California
Calif. Dept. of Finance
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There are other challenges as wellHigh
unemployment, poverty and poorer air
Those of us who live here have learned to drive
on the right roads so we dont have to look at
this.
Visalia Times Delta, June 6, 2004
2003 Associated Press photo of conditions in
Tulare County
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The Great Valley Center is nonprofit,
nonpartisan and Valley-focused

• Founded in 1997
• Based in Modesto, California
• 29 person staff
• Supported by major California foundations and
  hundreds of smaller individual and corporate
  contributions

The Great Valley Centers Headquarters in Modesto
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The Great Valley Centers Mission
Support activities and organizations that
promote the economic, social environmental
well-being of Californias Great Central
Valley
NIMBLE 11 Innovative Programs
CREDIBLE Reliable, prompt information and media
source
WELL-CONNECTED Trusted convener, grantmaker and
capacity builder
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The Great Valley Center tracks 30 different
indicators each year in a five-year cycle
2003 Education
2002 Health Care
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Great Valley Center indicators reports use a
familiar formatbut there are limits

• 30-40 pages
• One page overview of each issue
• Centerpiece essay
• Graphs, charts
• Online component
• General impact
• 15-20 newspaper stories upon release
• Occasional use by reporters, businesses and
  nonprofits

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(No Transcript)
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To encapsulate these issues, GVC developed
alternative scenarios to start a discussion about
the futureThese are New Myths for the Valley
through 2025
Are
Are Not
They are available online at www.valleyfutures.org
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Workshops were held in three subregions
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Four alternative scenarios were created for the
San Joaquin Valley in 2025 using indicators
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Each subregion created creatively titled
scenarios informed by local indicators
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The Scenario Lesson for Indicators Talk about
the future and use multiple formats

• Three 6-minute films
• 12 short form radio
• dramatizations
• Web content valleyfutures.org
• Serialized print campaign in 7 Valley
  newspapers (More than 3 million media hits)
• High School Curriculum
• Bilingual DVD and Discussion Guide

Are Not
Actors on the set during filming of a scenario
for the North Valley
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Richard CummingsGreat Valley Center201 Needham
StreetModesto, Californiarichard_at_greatvalley.or
gwww.greatvalley.org