Community Visioning and Strategic Planning

Community Services has extensive experience facilitating community-wide strategic planning processes across the United States. CS works closely with communities to develop and implement action plans to address specific community needs. CS has a proven track record for helping communities identify, recruit and keep people with diverse perspectives at the table. From the beginning, we will assist you in addressing all of the specific logistics required to make your community-based visioning and strategic planning effort a success. Our approach facilitates the building of trust in your community and the ability to work together throughout the process and in the future.

We have pioneered the development and implementation of long-range, community-based planning processes. Our team of skilled facilitators can help your community by:

• Designing a customized and effective visioning and strategic planning process to match the unique qualities of your community.

• Providing skilled facilitation in large and small group settings

• Using a variety of tools to identify, recruit, and keep individuals that reflect the diversity of the community a the table

• Providing success stories and models of other communities that have engaged in our strategic planning process.

Why Create a Strategic Plan for the Future?

Some communities allow the future to happen to them. Successful communities decide the future is something they can create. More than ever, communities are recognizing that they need to find new and creative ways to meet the complex challenges they face. They realize that they must cross community lines and build new partnerships; that they must take the time to collaboratively plan for the future they desire.

Tools and Services of Strategic Planning

The training and technical assistance of the National Civic League could include all or any combination of the tools and skills listed below. Our many years of community-building experience tell us that there is no one way, process or tool that works in every community. We work hard with all of our communities in the early stages of their projects to create a process that best suits their community and desired outcomes.

Stakeholder Analysis

As Chris Gates, President of the National Civic League, says, "The only way to affect real change is to include everybody." And that's what we do when we work with communities that want to improve the quality of life for all its citizens. Using our Stakeholder Analysis tools and process, we help communities identify the many interests and perspectives of their community. We then bring all of those perspectives to the table to participate in the creation of a plan for the community's future.

Visioning

In 1961, seeking increased funding for space exploration, President John F. Kennedy described a most ambitious vision: to land a man on the moon and return him safely to Earth before the end of the decade. In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. addressed the masses at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. His "I have a dream speech stirs as many souls today as it did on that memorable day. Some of the most important events and movements start with a compelling vision for the future. In our work, we've found that communities that create a shared, ambitious vision for their future stand a much greater chance of achieving desired results and changing the course of their future from uncertainty to success. NCL community-builders have the tools and experience to help community's create such a vision.

Civic Index

If you were to walk around your town and ask people what are the top ten issues in your community, you'd get pretty good agreement on what they are. So why can't we solve them? Because in many cases, we don't have the kinds of skills and approach required to solve today's complex issues. The Civic Index (CI) centers on how communities come together to solve problems. It measures civic infrastructure; that is, the capacities, formal and informal processes and networks through which communities make decisions and attempt to solve problems. The CI looks at the relationships and responsibilities of citizens, local government, business and non-profits in addressing community challenges.

Assessing Our Reality

In order to move forward, you first have to know where you are. NCL assists communities in pulling together information that gives them a snapshot of their current situation. This community profile is made up of hard data, community perceptions and an assessment of a community's political will to move forward.

Action Planning

Winston Churchill once said, "Planning is essential, plans are useless." The last thing a community wants to do is create a plan that sits on a shelf and gathers dust. That only frustrates participants and discourages future collaborative work. At NCL, we assist communities to develop nuts and bolts plans that reflect their shared vision and lead to action.

Implementation

Where many communities fall short is moving from planning into implementation. The primary reason is because their action plan is not specific enough about the resources, people, time and commitment required to implement their plan. Our action planning techniques set the stage for success in implementation. Further, we assist communities to establish an entity that will take on the responsibility of overseeing the work of implementation and monitoring progress.