CDA 2030 Summit this Weekend!

Happy Thursday everyone!

It's hard to believe that it's already the second week in November... where did the time go? And as you may have guessed based on the title of this post, this Saturday is the CDA 2030 community summit. Remember when I talked about it way back when? Well it's here and I hope you guys realize how huge this is.

To help convince you how important it is for everyone to participate, I interviewed emailed Nicole Kahler, the Coeur d’Alene 2030 Visioning Project, Project Manager.

Enjoy!

What is your role with the 2030 project?

Being the project manager for the Coeur d’Alene 2030 Visioning Project is a quite a fun and unpredictable adventure. During the last couple months on the job, I have glued on 75 of our Fourth of July parade thought bubble signs, facilitated a workshop of 60+ high school students all at once (160 students throughout two days), coordinated events, collected and analyzed data, and give the CDA 2030 elevator pitch more times than I can count, just to name a few random tasks.  But it doesn't get old, I really believe in this project.How did you get involved and why were you interested?I learned about the project manager position from Debbie Gray, the program coordinator for the University of Idaho, Office of Community Partnerships. Debbie and I worked together on some community revitalization projects while I completed by undergraduate and graduate degrees in Landscape Architecture. Although I have always been an avid gardener and have enjoyed some residential landscape projects, my real interest lies in working on community projects. I am interested in the careful balance that must be created between the history and culture, economics, etc. I also really enjoy working with passionate groups of community members. When I heard about CDA 2030, I definitely wanted to be involved as an employee or even a participant. I loved that all community members would not only be able to voice their opinions but that they would also have the opportunity to talk with others, hear different perspectives, possibly be enlightened by someone else’s opinion and come to a consistence for the greater good of the community.

What does CdA 2030 mean to you? What would you like to see as part of the vision?

 To me, CDA 2030 is an extraordinary opportunity for our community to work together at the same level no matter you socioeconomic status, education level or job title.Yes, we may not always agree, but this venue gives community members a better way to ask questions, form opinions and compromise for the greater good of the community. I think this respectful dialog is so important for our community rather than unfriendly comments made online blogs for an example.Of course I have my own personal vision for greater Coeur d’Alene, but if my vision solely comes through at the end of the project, then I have failed. As a citizen, I filled out a questionnaire and participated in a workshop. As an employee of the project, it is my charge to see that the community’s opinions are accurately represented.

What will be covered at the summit on Saturday? What can people expect?

The Community Vision Summit is where our community’s vision starts to come into sharper focus. During the Summit, participants will engage in a number of specific activities, including:

• Review key information and vision ideas from the community
• Affirm a statement of core community values
• Work on an overarching vision for greater CDA
• Develop visions and strategies for specific focus areas

The end result – a draft vision statement and a framework for an action plan.Participants can expect to hold a respectful dialog when sharing their opinion, thinking about other opinions and work together for the greater good of the community.Participants may also be surprised by what others have to say. Something that was really rewarding to see was participants network at our workshops last month. For example, a participant realized that he lived in the same neighborhood as another participant.  After the workshop he introduced himself and invited her to the HOA meeting which is about to make some major decisions in their neighborhood. Although this isn't a world-saving example, it was really awesome to see that CDA 2030 is helping community member work together for the greater good of their community.A lot of  people believe their opinion doesn't matter when it comes to big projects like this.  How much does the community's opinion really count in this project?CDA 2030 is all about collecting the community’s opinion. We have collected data through our scientific community survey (http://www.cda2030.org/polls-results/), through questionnaires, workshops, and interviews. This data has given us the top community values, trends, visions, and actions that will be presented at the Community Vision Summit. From there, community members will review the information to make sure that nothing is missing. That we are representing our community in a holistic fashion. Our Vision Drafting Committee, which has been charged with taking the information as it is and not pushing a personal agenda, will then work on finalizing an overarching vision and series of vision statements. To make sure that the community opinion is accurately represented, in the beginning of 2014, we will take this information back out into the community for review and conduct a scientific validation survey.

If someone can't make it to the summit on Saturday, what are some other ways to get involved?Get involved in the process by giving us feedback especially in early 2014 when we will be asking the community to review the visions. Signup on our website or by emailing me to get updates on the project and opportunities for involvement.If someone is unable to attend the Community Vision Summit, but would like to give us input, the results of the Community Vision Summit will be posted on our website (CDA2030.org) following the Summit (tentatively around the 20 of November).  Community members can respond with their opinion about the results by filling out an online survey.  This survey will be available until December 4, then the results will be shared with our Vision Drafting Committee and adjustments will be made.

Do you have to register to participate on Saturday? How?

Registration helps the CDA 2030 team make sure we have enough seating and lunches prepared for the event. Registration is strongly encouraged, however, we do expect and will welcome participants that have not pre-registered. As far as I am concerned, the room capacity will be the only limit on the number of participants.We are asking all able participants to donate a non-perishable food item(s) or a monetary donation to the Community Food Bank in exchange for the lunch provided at the Community Vision Summit. Although it might not be realistic with little notice to the participants, I’d love to say, lets collect 2,030 lbs of food… how cool would that be!Community Vision Summit

November 16, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Located in the Lake Coeur d’Alene Room of the NIC Student Union BuildingLunch provided with pre-registration. Register by contacting Nicole at nicole@cda2030.org or (208) 415-0112.

What are some of the results you've seen so far from the surveys and from community input?

Values and vision ideas will be shared at the Community Vision Summit. Come find out what others have to say!

Here are some results from our scientific community survey:

• 1-in-5 residents believe that the greatest issue facing Coeur d’Alene today is population growth.
• 1 out of 4 residents reported that the greatest issue facing Coeur d’Alene today is a lack of jobs.
• Over 70 percent of respondents feel that it is ‘very important’ for a community to have good relations between people who have different cultural backgrounds.
• 7-out-of-10 respondents also feel that respectful dialogue and cooperation among community leaders and citizens is ‘very important’.
• 1-in-5 respondents believe that population growth will influence the greater Coeur d’Alene as a better or worse place to live.

What is one of the biggest misconceptions about the project?One of the biggest misconceptions is that CDA 2030 is a City of Coeur d’Alene operated and owned project. This project is a community owned project. The intention is when this project is completed, any community member can access our reports and use the information. We encourage the community to use our information because we know that it is representative of the greater Cd'A area.Yes, the city is a sponsor of CDA 2030, but there are a lot of other businesses/companies that have supported CDA 2030 with in-kind donations and monetary support. Our major sponsors include: Avista, City of Coeur d’Alene, Coeur d’Alene Chamber of Commerce, Kootenai Health, Lake City Development Corporation, Lewis-Clark State College- Cd'A, North Idaho College, University of Idaho- Cd'A, Coeur d’Alene Association of Realtors, and Pita Pit.Why should people be excited and get involved?People should be excited that we have a community that is supportive of this process. This process allows everyone’s opinions can be heard.A big thanks to Nicole for answering all of my questions! I hope that you all plan to attend the summit on Saturday. I'll be there with a couple friends (I'll be the dork taking pictures of everything).If you have any questions contact the 2030 group - I'm sure they'd love to hear from you!