Strategic Plan To-Do List: Encouraging Community
Decatur Metro | February 15, 2011Sorry. Have fallen a bit behind on these! Onto Goal #7 of the 2010 Decatur Strategic Plan!
Goal 7: Support, expand, and develop programs, services, events, and opportunities that respond to diverse interests, encourage community interaction, and promote a stronger sense of community
Task 7a: Continue to provide volunteer support services and maintain programs like the MLK Day service project, Season of giving, and special event support.
Task 7b: Explore the opportunity for an event that educates citizens about their community and connects them with community, institutional, and nonprofit organizations to promote community pride, volunteerism, neighborhood interaction, and communication with the public.
Task 7c: Expand the Decatur 101 program to reach as many citizens as possible.
Task 7d: Consider using public funds to create a neighborhood mini- grant program that encourages grass roots community improvement projects such as neighborhood kiosks, public art, tree plantings, neighborhood signs, and park improvements, and builds a stronger partnership between city government and neighborhood organizations.
Task 7e: Partner with City Schools of Decatur to establish a Decatur youth council to advise on Strategic Plan implementation and how the city government can best meet the needs of local youth.
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I’m enormously excited about this strategic plan. The interactive process had another benefit, too: Lots of us learned great practical techniques for generating dialogue and forming action plans within neighborhoods, faith communities, nonprofits, and more. I hope that the city may offer more training and networking forums in the future to help Decatur groups build skills and network to identify common interests. Hats off to the roundtable and community academy organizers!
On a related note (hope it’s okay to add this here):
Oakhurst Presbyterian Church will co-host a forum on Saturday 2/26, 10:00-Noon, to discuss community needs and begin to develop volunteer action plans. Breakout sessions will feature four topic areas: aging-in-place, youth services, immigrant family support, and neighborhood development. For more information about the event and related projects, contact Oakhurst Presbyterian at (404) 378-6284 or visit the church on the Web at http://www.OakhurstPresbyterian.org
At the Aging In Place session, our group all agreed that we’d love to see regular Decatur volunteering opportunities highlighted. It’d also be cool to have an online site for schools, churches, nonprofits, and neighborhoods to post one time needs– cleaning, yardwork, painting, etc. (Sorta like a mini Hands On Atlanta.) A one stop site would make it so simple for folks who want to pitch in, but don’t know exactly how to get started. And all the Decatur blogs could link to to it to boost efforts even more!