Facilitating a Community Vision for Economic Development

Success Stories

This presentation will describe how a rural, isolated western Kentucky county engaged community members to create a shared vision for economic development. Kentucky State University's Community Resource & Economic Development Specialist worked with an asset-based curriculum to train county residents as facilitators to establish the community visioning process that was implemented in three phases: a series of town meetings, community conversations, and a county-wide forum. Altogether, more than 150 people from all around the county participated in these events-a first for this small, rural county. An initial report has been made to the Industrial Board and an action plan is now being implemented. Details about the training procedures and facilitation guidelines that were developed will be shared. A brief video presentation of the participants' experiences will be shown.