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Over
the next three months, Anderson County residents will be invited to share their
ideas for making Anderson not just a good community, but a great place to live,
work and play now and for years to come.
The goal of the Imagine Anderson
initiative, which is being directed by a steering committee made up of nearly
50 Anderson area leaders, is to involve and engage residents in planning the county's
future.
With broad-based citizen-input, project leaders hope to develop
a vision for the "ideal" Anderson, as well as a plan for achieving goals identified
during the "imagining" process.
The information-gathering effort will
include one-on-one meetings with opinion makers and trendsetters from different
businesses, churches, schools, communities and civic groups around the county,
as well as focus groups and town hall meetings. Citizens will also be able to
share their ideas electronically by accessing the initiative's web site at www.imagineanderson.com.
The
individual interviews, the focus-group sessions and the town-hall meetings will
be facilitated by consultants with Carpe Diem Community Solutions, Inc., a Florida-based
firm with extensive experience in helping communities develop a shared image for
their future.
The community forums will allow residents to discuss topics
of interest and concern to them and their families in the areas of business and
economic development, education, the arts, government, diversity and environment.
Using community input, Carpe Diem consultants will work with the steering
committee to develop a list of goals, along with vision statements for each goal.
A proposed vision plan will be presented to the community in early 2007.
An
implementation team will work with groups, churches, organizations and individuals
who agree to support one or more objectives of the vision plan once it's approved.
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