On Thursday, July 15th, over 40 Jasper County residents attended the second summit meeting sponsored by the United Way of Jasper County. United Way Director Megan Crawford provided information on the United Way’s focus on supporting the community in implementing the “community impact” process. This process focuses on the collaboration of various entities in the community coming together to tackle community goals for improvement.
Deb Burnight, a professional facilitator with Burnight Facilitated Resources, then reviewed the work products and decisions made at the first community summit meeting on June 15. Jasper County United Way board member Kala Shipley presented a model entitled the “Socio-Ecological Model” (SEM) to use as a framework for community planning. Click here to view the model.
The participants were led in an exercise designed to analyze Jasper County’s current capacity to address each of the three priority community impact areas (Positive Parenting, Substance Abuse and Financial Stability), identify 2-3 year success indicators for each and determine possible 12-month milestone accomplishments.
During the analysis, some volunteers indicated an interest in participation in community projects and initiatives related to these three focus areas. Following the analysis discussions, it was decided by consensus that another summit session was warranted to prioritize actions to be taken and design an ongoing community planning model for Jasper County.
Please mark your calendars for the next county-wide summit meeting on Tuesday, August 10th at 6:30p.m. at the Innovation Center on the Iowa Telecom/Windstream campus at 403 W. 4th St. N. in Newton. Agenda items will include a discussion around designing a community planning infrastructure for this community impact process and best practices from other similar sized counties and United Ways and prioritization of the objectives and action steps for the three top critical areas of Positive Parenting Skills/Community Support, Substance Abuse, and Economic Stability identified at the second summit meeting. 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.
Thank you for your participation in and support of the Community Impact work being faciliated by the United Way of Jasper County.
Click below to view the work products from the first and second summit meetings.