Welcome Common Commitment in Action KickOff

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Welcome! Common Commitment in
Action Kick-Off

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Mayor John Godfrey

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Jeff Herrington,Board Chair United Way of
Greater Battle Creek

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Nancy Macfarlane, Vice President of Community
ImpactUnited Way of Greater Battle Creek

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Supporting PartnersCity of Battle
CreekMiller FoundationNon-Profit AllianceW. K.
Kellogg FoundationGreater Battle Creek Area
United WayBattle Creek Community Foundation

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Partner OrganizationsPartner
OrganizationsBattle Creek Area Chamber of
Commerce Battle Creek UnlimitedBattle Creek
Public SchoolsCalhoun County Health Department
Calhoun County Planning Commission Community
Action Agency of South Central MichiganEmmett
TownshipGuardian, IncHabitat for
HumanityLakeview School DistrictLegal
ServicesNeighborhoods, IncVolunteer Center of
Battle CreekWeed and Seed

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Common Commitment in Action
Unique Community Unique Challenges
Unique Process
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A Unique Community, Challenge Process

• A Unique Community
• A wonderfully rich tradition of citizen
  involvement. This is not necessarily the norm
  among communities today.
• A strong sense of community rooted in historic
  traditions.
• Genuine concern with what residents have to say.

One key measure of a community is how it directs
its collective energy - political infighting vs.
consensus-building.
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A Unique Community, Challenge Process

• A Unique Community
• Some specific examples
• Strong partners foundations, non-profits,
  for-profits.
• Neighborhood Planning Councils and Neighborhood
  Associations.
• Semi-annual resident surveys.
• The Common Commitment process 5 years ago.
• Desire to reach higher levels of community
  engagement.

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A Unique Community, Challenge Process

• Unique Challenges
• Given this rich tradition of citizen
  involvement...
• How do we build on what we did before?
• How do we reach the next level and make
  goal-setting efforts as meaningful as possible?
• How do we weave this effort in with the
  development of a Consolidated Plan for Battle
  Creek?
• Some communities view Consolidated Plans as
  simply something they have to do to get their
  CDBG funds for business as usual. Here, we see
  opportunity.

Fortunately we love challenges
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A Unique Community, Challenge Process

• Unique Challenges - Building on The Past
• We are 5 years older and wiser and learned a lot
  last time.
• Its still a Common Commitment but now we build
  on this with Action and
• We pick up our 12 goals and look at them again.
• We reshape them adding some, deleting some,
  rewording some.
• We develop them more fully with much more
  specificity.
• We tackle the tough issue of community
  priorities.

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A Unique Community, Challenge Process

• Unique Challenges More Meaningful Goal-setting
  
• How will we do this..
• Since verbal goals can be vague Common
  Commitment in Action now includes
  indicators and benchmarks to support goals.
• Indicators are increasingly being used by
  forward-thinking communities to
  measure community livability.
• We will confront the issue of - how do we know
  if we are making progress toward community
  goals?

More about this later
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A Unique Community, Challenge Process

• Unique Challenges The Consolidated Plan
• How will we do this..
• To remain eligible for Federal Community
  Development Block Grants (CDBG), a Consolidated
  Plan is needed every 5 years.
• This 5-year Plan will be submitted this May,
  based on community priorities.
• This is an opportunity for Common Commitment in
  Action to immediately impact how millions of
  federal dollars will be spent in the next
  5-years.
• Our process provides useful results for this
  parallel effort.

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A Unique Community, Challenge Process
Process

• Kick-Off (Tonight)
• Beginning the Conversation
• Update Goals and Setting General Priorities
• Measuring Progress
• What indicators should be used to measure
  progress toward goals?
• Setting The Targets
• What are reasonable targets to aim for?
• Celebrating Accomplishment, Commitment
• and Legacy

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Begin the Conversation
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• Update Goals and Setting General Priorities
• Four forums are scheduled Jan. 27, Feb. 2, Feb.
  5, Feb 8.
• At each forum, residents will be asked to review
  the 12 original goals, suggest refinements and
  additions, and recommend priorities.
• Anyone who lives or works in greater Battle Creek
  are invited and encouraged to participate. The
  meal is free.
• There is no need to RSVP, but call the City to
  arrange for free transportation, childcare, or
  language/sign language interpretation.
• People who cant attend should submit their
  opinions via a questionnaire, available in local
  newspapers, from sponsoring or partner
  organizations, or at www.commoncommitment.org.

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Begin the Conversation
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• Update Goals and Setting General Priorities
• At the forums, people will work in groups to
  discuss goals and priorities.
• There will be opportunities to share thoughts
  with everyone and exchange ideas.
• People will have a chance to vote on proposed
  goals.
• Results from all four forums will be assembled
  and common themes and
  priorities will be extracted.
• Results will be included in Battle Creeks
  Consolidated Plan as the
  foundation of strategies and action plans.

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Begin the Conversation
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• Lets Try Not To Forget to Enjoy Ourselves.

Play Nice!
Have Fun!
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• What indicators should be used to measure
  progress?
• If we want to have more focused and meaningful
  goals, we need to work on how to measure progress
  toward goals.
• Increasingly, communities look toward
  indicators to
• Objectively measure community characteristics.
• Provide insight into the overall direction of
  community change.

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3

• What indicators should be used to measure
  progress?
• Given updated goals, we plan to engage in
  discussions about how we can measure progress.
• This means more forums, centered on questions
  such as
• 5 years from now, how will we know if we are
• Encouraging Economic Development?
• Fostering Collaboration and Cooperation?
• Preserving our surroundings?
• Treating everyone with respect?
• Taking Pride in Our Neighborhoods?

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• What indicators should be used to measure
  progress?
• Some possible outcomes from this phase .
• We will measure progress toward cultural goals
  with ..
• Attendance at cultural events.
• Museum visits.
• Cash contributions to arts organizations.
• Numbers of performances at public parks.
• Numbers of protected historic sites and
  districts.
• Variety of cultural events held during the year.

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• What indicators should be used to measure
  progress?
• Other possible outcomes .
• We will measure progress toward prosperity goals
  with ...
• Employment and income growth.
• Property values changes.
• Local business formations.
• New construction and reconstruction activity.
• Numbers of local corporate headquarters.
• Office vacancy rate.

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• What indicators should be used to measure
  progress?
• Other possible outcomes .
• We will measure progress toward neighborhood
  goals with ...
• Code violation complaints.
• Crime rates.
• Property values.
• Vacant structures.
• Park acreage and distance to bike/walking trails.
• Numbers of substandard units.

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• What indicators should be used to measure
  progress?
• Other possible outcomes .
• We will measure progress toward environmental
  goals with ...
• Acres of parkland per capita and proximity to
  each home.
• Tree canopy coverage.
• Air / Water quality measurements.
• Acres of wetlands.
• Acres of developed floodplain.

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Setting Targets
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• What kind of progress toward our goals is
  possible?
• Other possible outcomes .
• We will measure progress toward educational goals
  with ...
• High School drop out rate.
• Numbers of teachers with advanced degrees.
• Teacher salary comparisons.
• Attendance.
• Test scores.

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• Given agreed upon measurements, what are
  reasonable targets to shoot for?
• This means more forums, centered on questions
  such as
• If we agree on how to measure progress toward
  our goals, then what kind of progress can we
  realistically attain (and by when)?
• How do we stack up now in terms of indicators
  that are important to us?
• What are relevant comparisons we should be
  looking at (our region, similar sized
  communities, the whole state, the whole nation)?
• What are the current trends with respect to
  these indicators?

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• Given agreed upon measurements, what are
  reasonable performance measurements?
• Expect to engage involved organizations in
  these discussions to make this effort meaningful
  and useful.
• Emphasis on proposed targets and time frames.
• Emphasis on information organization.

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CelebrateCommitment and Legacy
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• Common Commitment in Action is an ongoing and
  sustaining process.
• In the future, goals and measurements may change
  to reflect new attitudes and accomplishment, but
  two things dont change
• The Common Commitment to a
  better community
• The importance of participation

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Three Ways To Participate in the Next Month
Fill out online survey Fill out and mail back a
postcard survey Attend one of four community
forums
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Saturday, February 5 lunch at noon forum from
1230 to 3 p.m. First United Methodist
Church Tuesday, February 8 dinner at 530 p.m.
forum from 6 to 830 p.m. Northwester Junior
High School
Thursday, January 27 dinner at 530 p.m. forum
from 6 to 830 p.m. Mawby Center / Miller
College   Wednesday, February 2 dinner at 530
p.m. forum from 6 to 830 p.m. Burnham Brook
Childcare and transportation provided by calling
the Community Development Office at 966-3315