COMMUNITY ACTION PLANNING SESSIONS (C.A.P.S.)
Overview:
In the past, Genesee County residents and stakeholders were encouraged to participate in Community Challenge by gathering at a central location in order to identify and address county-wide issues. The Community Challenge Operations committee has decided to expand upon this concept by facilitating community visioning and problem solving discussions that lead to change on the local level through the process of Community Action Planning. By taking this approach, the committee aims to:
- Empower residents to lead problem solving and community improvement initiatives
- Demonstrate the power of citizen participation at the local level and thereby motivate residents to engage in problem solving at the regional level
- Discover the community priorities within local communities and learn whether there are common areas of interest between local communities
Process:
The Community Action Planning Process takes place over an eight to twelve week period and requires approximately four, two-hour sessions. Community Challenge will partner with local stakeholders to coordinate these sessions. Community Challenge will provide trained facilitators to guide community members as they envision their ideal community and take specific steps to more closely align the community’s current state with that vision.
The process starts with a visioning session. Participants will address such questions as, "How do we define community? What are the most important things necessary for a thriving community? Why is that important to us?” The group will then determine how their vision is different from present reality and what needs to happen to create the kind of community they want.
The community members prioritize areas for improvement and select a specific issue to tackle. Once the issue is identified, individuals from the group volunteer to continue to work on the issue. The work group will select a specific action to take that directly impacts the issue at hand. The group develops an action plan which identifies the steps to take to complete the action. Members began to implement the plan.
The Community Challenge Facilitator solicits individuals from the group or community to be trained as facilitators themselves in order to provide long-term support to the current or subsequent efforts. Community Challenge will continually monitor, recommend adjustments and report the on-going work and progress of this community using the Community Challenge website and e-newsletter.
The CAPP is flexible and can be tailored to meet the unique needs of individual communities.
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