Vision 20/20 was a very successful community strategic plan, from my estimation. It literally changed the landscape of Springfield.
But if we called our new plan Vision 20/30, and then the next one Vision 20/40, our vision would appear to be blurring, and we would eventually go blind. So the resident-based Strategic Plan Coordinating Committee elected to change the name of the new Springfield metropolitan plan to Field Guide 2030.
The Field Guide is a new type of plan, serving as a broad blueprint with 13 chapters, four themes that apply to each chapter – regionalism, civic engagement, minimizing poverty and sustainability – and two foundation principles – community leadership development and building social capital and resident trust. Culled from five recent community report cards, the chapters, themes and foundation principles will shape our community.
Hundreds of residents were involved in the plan, and it’s an aggressive set of stretch goals designed to cause our community to reach toward a better future. Hundreds more reviewed the plan, in whole or in part, and provided feedback to the coordinating committee and chapter planning committees.
Inter-related fabricOne key emphasis in Field Guide is the inter-relationships between the various chapters and themes. Some of those relationships are strong, while others are weak. In the end, we discovered everything is inter-related and woven together into a fabric that creates our community.
The world is complex. The arts and public health impact early childhood development. Early childhood development impacts public safety. Public safety and education impact economic development. And economic development impacts almost everything. None of these issues stand alone.
And with inter-relationships this strong, how does one pick only a few to emphasize? Should we pick three or four of these areas, emphasize only them, and ignore the rest? One of the unique aspects of this plan is that it is holistic. It also is one that enables residents to mobilize around the issues and activities they deem important.
Will we be able to do everything in the plan? Probably not. But when you look at a map, you probably don’t decide to visit every point on it. Seeing the map, I bet you’ll better understand the context within which your own journey will occur.
As opportunities arise within our community, we will have a yardstick for measuring whether it fits with the direction our community wants to go.
Community priorities will bubble up organically. It’s already happening. The Every Child Promise initiative originated from the work of the Field Guide’s Early Childhood Development Planning Committee. The city already has appointed an existing staff member as our chief sustainability officer, which was a primary recommendation of the Natural Environment Planning Committee. A complete list of these early successes can be found on the plan’s website: FieldGuide2030.com.
Knowing we can’t manage what we don’t measure, we intend to measure progress in each area via key indicators published every other year. Dozens of “adopter” organizations already have signed up to help hold us accountable and offer their perspective on progress toward identified goals.
All of the aboveHow will all of this get done? Via the government? Via businesses? Via residents?
All of the above. This is a community plan, developed by the community, and it will require a partnership to make it happen. But isn’t that the way we do things around here, anyway?
Will it be unanimous? Never. You’ll likely find initiatives in Field Guide 2030 that you fully support, and maybe some that you don’t. That’s OK.
I believe we have a unique opportunity that, if harnessed, can be a game-changer.
As the first wave of baby boomers retire, what will they do? And what does that mean for our community? How can their skills, experience, resources and desire to give back to their community impact us all?
I believe communities that figure out the best answers will have a significant competitive advantage and will move the needle on the issues facing their community.
How do we do that?
The city is planning to develop an online matchmaking tool connecting residents with their passions. By answering just a few fun questions on a website, we will allow residents to create a civic profile to connect them with civic opportunities matching their stated passions. Stay tuned.
The entire intent is to improve a variety of areas where progress is needed – public safety, early childhood development, economic development, education and workforce development, public health, arts, culture and tourism, and transportation. We won’t just pick a few winners and ignore the other needs in our community.
I see our community at a tipping point in its history. In the maturation of cities, we are going through our adolescence, and that can be a tough time. We could easily shrink back from the difficult issues we face or we can take them head on. The latter is more our style.
I truly believe if we continue to focus on building civic engagement by matching residents with their passions, we will move the needle in all of those areas at the same time, just as we’re already doing.
So what’s your passion?
Springfield City Manager Greg Burris can be reached at gburris@springfieldmo.gov.
