Volunteers help craft plan to improve community
LISA BISBEE Star-Tribune correspondent | Posted: Monday, November 19, 2007 12:00 am
SHERIDAN -- When Cissy Dillon heard the county's economic development organization, Forward Sheridan, was developing a strategic plan, she was a bit skeptical.
After all, hours of work had already gone into several plans during the past 10 years that spelled out a vision and a list of goals for the city.
"I thought, 'Why are we doing this again?'" Dillon said.
Dillon's doubt stemmed from the lack of measurable outcomes for specific initiatives in previous community development plans. Dillon had volunteered many hours to help create these plans, only to see little implementation in the community afterward.
But after visiting with Philippe Chino, Forward Sheridan president and CEO, Dillon learned how different Forward Sheridan's approach was compared to previously established plans. Forward Sheridan's strategic plan wasn't just a set of goals or a vision for the county; instead, it was an approach that implemented strategies to overcome current and potential challenges the community will face.
It wasn't just about economic development. It was also about work force and community development.
As her skepticism faded, her participation grew. Dillon became one of more than 100 volunteers who spent time identifying challenges, strengths, threats and opportunities for Sheridan County.
"It's a process that has some accountability built in," she said.
Forward Sheridan has now rolled out its strategic plan for the next five years that establishes direction for Sheridan County's short- and long-term economic development, setting forth strategic goals and actions. The plan identifies challenges to economic development in Sheridan County and outlines initiatives to address those challenges in order to enhance business retention, expansion and attraction efforts, Chino said.
By leveraging the area's existing strengths and working to address its challenges, this strategic plan aims to create a vital, diverse economy.
Though the planning phase is complete, Chino said the most critical work -- implementing those solutions identified in the planning phase -- still lies ahead.
"For the economic challenges, we now have task forces and have created strategies to meet the goals," he said.
Challenges, strengths
Work on the strategic plan started more than a year ago. That's when a cross-section of people, from elected officials to business owners to ordinary citizens, gathered for a series of in-depth workshops and meetings to identify Sheridan's assets and determine areas in the community that could be improved upon.
Melissa Butcher, who was the director of the Sheridan County Chamber of Commerce when she started volunteering her time and has since started her own business, said the meetings were extensive, but they also were focused to make sure that something happened after identifying strengths and weaknesses.
"If we were looking at health care, we called in health care experts to help us identify challenges and strengths of the health care industry," she said.
The group identified challenges ranging from lack of opportunities for young professionals to drug and substance abuse to work force housing to airline service. They saw the location of Sheridan, the arts community, the health care system and the tax structure as some of the economic development strengths for Sheridan.
"We came up with 10 most pressing challenges and 10 greatest strengths, but there are other strengths and weaknesses," Butcher said. "But you have to start somewhere."
Once identified, these strengths and challenges were quantified or identified as to why they were on the top 10 list. A task force of 25 people spent hours dissecting and identifying specific strategies for keeping the strengths strong and eliminating challenges or turning them into strengths. For example, child care was identified as a major weakness in the community. But Butcher said they then had to list why it was a weakness, from expense to the lack of availability. Then the task force listed goals as well as strategies to rectify the problem.
Now, Chino said, the real work begins.
During the next five years, Forward Sheridan staff will oversee the formation of issue-specific task forces that will execute solutions identified in the strategic plan. The strategic plan contains an implementation plan, which will be updated regularly on Forward Sheridan's Web site, {M7www.forwardsheridan.com.
Tackling issues
As the plan was being created, some areas needing improvement were tackled right away. The task force didn't wait until the plan was finished to seize some opportunities to enhance the community, Chino said.
With child care identified as a weakness -- with the need for a 24-hour facility that accepts infants and preschoolers -- Forward Sheridan already secured a $1.5 million state grant to build a child care center that will meet the needs of a growing community.
"It'll be a 24/7 child care center for both infants and older children," Chino said.
As the community continues to face a work force shortage, Chino said the group is looking at solutions ranging from encouraging retired workers to return to work part-time to providing technical trade training for high school youth who do not plan to attend college.
The Big Horn Mountains and the close-knit community and a thriving downtown area all seem to draw people from across the country, but if newcomers don't feel at home here, they may not stay, Chino said. Already, a young professionals group was formed through Forward Sheridan.
Through Helping Young People Engage, or HYPE, Chino said they hope to help retain and recruit young workers and professionals by giving them a place to meet other young people as well as a way to improve the community they are calling home. Through HYPE, a committee has been formed to look at what new and different restaurants would attract and retain young workers. It's just one step to make the area more attractive to the younger generation, Chino said.
Though health care was identified as a strength, Mike McCafferty, CEO of Sheridan Memorial Hospital, said action still needs to be taken to assure that it remains strong in the community. McCafferty said there are improvement opportunities including physician recruitment in the areas of psychiatric services, gastroenterology and cardiology, along with a transitional/halfway house for the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center's patients.
'Citizens made it a success'
As the challenges are addressed and converted to strengths, Butcher expects a new set of challenges will be identified.
"The strategic plan is intended to be a dynamic document," Butcher said. "It's not intended to be static."
Dillon agrees.
"I think it's going to be an ongoing process," she said. "As you take care or identify one of the issues, other issues are going to emerge. As the community grows, the issues are going to morph into something different."
Chino is quick to point out that this process was not intended to dismiss or discount previous community planning efforts, such as the Community Assessment and Vision 20/20 plan created previously. In fact, Chino said, some of the information is still valuable and was re-examined from an economic development perspective as Forward Sheridan set out this new road map.
Pleased with the progress that has already been made with the strategic plan, Chino's also eager to implement more of the solutions. And he's confident the plan will be successful because of the dedication of the citizens themselves and their commitment to make positive changes in the community.
"The beauty of it is that the citizens themselves stuck with it and became an integral part of the process," Chino said. "It was a success because of the people."