ABOUT US

 

"V" is for Vitality!
Pictured are the Steering Committee and Sector Leaders.
Photo by: Mike Christopherson, Crookston Daily Times.

Steering Committee

 

Sectors and Sector Leaders

 

Values

 

Phase I (complete)
Instead of holding public meetings and expecting people to come to us, we hired a Community Facilitator, Carrie Bang, that reached out to our community and went to them. She asked for input about Crookston in these initial visits and then held the Kick-Off Event on September 27, 2004 to get the community excited about the process.

Phase II (in progress)
The CVP steering committee met with citizens who have agreed to serve as "sector leaders." Citizens who have signed up to be involved in one or more of the sector groups at the September 27th Kick-Off Event, will be contacted regarding their group's first session. The goal of each group will be to develop a vision and a plan for their specific sector area of the community, using the information already gathered from Phase I.

The Northwest Minnesota Foundation awarded the CVP with a $22,500 grant, which will be spent to hire someone to be the project coordinator for Phase II.

Phase II is scheduled to be completed by the end of summer 2005. At that time a presentation will be made to the community.

 

History and Mission of the CVP

League of Women Voters sponsored a project called Towards Better Mental Health in Minnesota, in conjunction with the Minnesota Departments of Health and Human Services. Crookston was selected as one of approximately 10 community sites to sponsor a special initiative. In 2001 a Local Steering Committee convened and identified community strengths and weaknesses related to the emotional and social well being of citizens and quality of life. The issues raised were reviewed in monthly meetings, culminating in a focusing process facilitated by the Wilder Foundation. The project was selected by the League as the site to be showcased at the project wrap up, held at the University Club in St. Paul. At the event, the values with key representatives of several state agencies, and project representatives from the 10 community sites.

The Crookston Development Authority, with an eye on revisiting their Project 2000 completed in the late 1980's, presented a plan to initiate a "Project 2020" concept to address the economic, social, health, educational, retail, housing, cultural and other identified focus areas. In February 2002, the Project 2020 merged with the "Towards Better Mental Health" project to become the Crookston Vitality Project.

In December of 2003, the Project Vitality Committee sponsored a community consortium, including over 45 representatives from community agencies and community projects. The one day event provided an opportunity to share and celebrate the successes and achievements of organizations representing a broad cross section of community interests, as well as to begin the process of identifying the inter-relatedness of community interests and organizational missions. Facilitated by Dan Wolpert, pastor of the Presbyterian Church and one of the original members of the Committee, the event was uniquely successful in generating interest, expanding the project to include a growing circle of community participants, many representing key leaders in the community.

In the early months of 2004, following up on the successful community meeting, Carrie Bang, a long time community activist, was hired as the Community Facilitator to carry out Phase I activities, bringing a familiar face and enthusiasm to the task. Her charge has been to meet with community groups, employee and employers and neighborhood groups of all ages, representing all sectors of the community. From living rooms, to office lunchrooms, to mobile meetings on the city bus, input was invited, facilitated and recorded, representing the collective concerns, hopes and dreams of local citizens.

 

Crookston's Strengths and Opportunities

• Our local healthcare providers initially threatened, are now competing successfully in the larger region, becoming a stronger community resource.
• There is an historic understanding of the environment as a barrier to success (i.e. flat, unattractive for tourists) but recent and current events are underway to take another look at potential strengths.
• There is an emerging understanding of the inter-relatedness and the potential of economic, environmental and human resource strengths within the community of Crookston as well as within communities in the nearby Red Lake River watershed basin.
• There is a renewed and growing interest in putting a better face on the community (i.e. downtown improvements, etc.). This desire to improve aesthetics and usefulness (ex. recreation/bike trails, etc.) is currently extending from the downtown to the outer fringes of the community.
• There is an abundance of good ideas sprinkled throughout the community, but no shared vision among majority of citizens.
• Separate "strength based" initiatives addressing environmental, social, healthcare, and related interests have emerged in recent years, with growing circles of interested and active citizens. Each initiative reflects separate disconnected, only occasionally overlapping participation, with each one lacking sufficient scope or participation to support a community wide change process.

 

Goals of the CVP -
An Emerging Roadmap to the Future

• To improve the quality of living in Crookston and the surrounding area through short and long term strategies that address social, environmental and economic amenities, as well as opportunities, applying "Quality of Place" concepts to a change strategy.
• To develop a vision for the short and long term future that will guide community groups and community leaders as initiatives emerge and strategies are implemented.
• To give a real voice to citizens who may feel under-represented when decisions are made regarding the future direction of the community, through grassroots efforts on a backyard and neighborhood level.
• To enhance "Quality of Place" as it relates to the environmental, natural resource and recreational aspects of our lives and the community in which we live.
• To bring an attitude of renewed optimism among residents of the community and surrounding area who find themselves wondering whey they call this area home, by joining together to develop realistic opportunities for sustaining and improving a shared Quality of Life/Quality of Place.
• To carry out a focused planning and envisioning process that will serve as a community development roadmap for years to come.