Building Our Future: A Guide to Community Visioning by Gary Green, Anna Haines, and Stephen Halebsky (published by the Cooperative Extension of the University of Wisconsin, 2000) Purchase Now! Summary: Do you ever dream of what your community or neighborhood could be? Let Green, Haines, and Halebsky help you to make your dream a reality! In this exhaustive, systematic, and practical guide, the authors take the principles of strategic planning and apply them to community development. This “community visioning” provides residents with “a process of thinking about and planning for their shared future” as well as providing local officials with a system for encouraging and organizing public participation. The first chapter of the guide describes the visioning process: holding a visioning workshop, gathering and analyzing data, and then developing an action plan. The remaining chapters examine such important topics as downtown revitalization, economic development, job training, and land use. Why does FASTEN recommend this resource? It’s hard to imagine a more comprehensive guide to community development than this! Written in understandable language and using a practical format, this is a must-have for any community serious about realizing its full potential. |
