On Tuesday, June 15th, Jasper County residents expressed their interest in the future of our county. A number of individuals from communities through the county attended the first of two summit meeting to discuss the findings of the recent County-Wide Needs Assessment Report and to determine the top issues that we, as a county, want to make a positive impact on and improve. Deb Burnight, a certified professional facilitator, along with United Way Board President Andrea Smith and United Way Executive Director Megan Crawford, conducted this work session. Refreshments were generously provided by Hy-Vee.
Meeting participants focused discussion on:
• The community impact model, which describes a shift in how United Way supports the community. An example was provided from another community outlining the collaboration of various entities in the community coming together to tackle a community goal for improvement.
• Components of the ideal Jasper County living experience through an envisioning exercise.
• Survey data and common themes gathered from the needs assessment final report. In this exercise, participants created criteria to guide the process of choosing the top critical needs, which included choosing a critical need that the community could be passionate about, that would impact the most people, that would impact the most vulnerable individuals in the county, and that would have the potential to positively impact the county longer term from generation to generation, to name a few.
Small participant groups identified the top three critical needs that the county needs to be address. Each small group reported their decisions and a consensus was reached within the large group as to the top three most critical needs in Jasper County. Those three areas were: Positive Parenting Skills/Community Support, Substance Abuse, and Economic Stability.
Please mark your calendars for the next county-wide summit meeting on Thursday, July 15th at 6:30p.m. at the Innovation Center on the Iowa Telecom/Windstream Communications campus (403 W 4th St N, Newton). Agenda items will include collaboratively identifying concrete short and long-term goals to address the top critical needs identified at the first summit meeting and to brainstorm methods to reach these goals. All Jasper County residents are encouraged to attend. RSVPs are requested and can be made by contacting the United Way of Jasper County office at unitedway@iowatelecom.net or 641-792-1684.
Click here to view the County Wide Needs Assessment report or contact the United Way office at (641) 792-1684 or unitedway@iowatelecom.net to request a paper copy.