Luke Planning: October 2004 Newsletter

Henry Luke- Newsletter #44 - COMMUNITY VISIONING RESULTS
Oct 2004

WICHITA, KANSAS- the draft "Visioneering Wichita-Creating the Future for Our Regional Community" was completed on October 11 and Vision Task Force members are making presentations for input. Over 2,000 people have already been involved in the process that began in May 2004. Over 160,000 copies of the draft will be inserted in the Wichita Eagle on November 7th seeking input. You can access the draft at http://www.visioneeringwichita.com./

The Wichita MSA population is over 580,000. Link to articles about Visioneering Wichita in the Wichita Eagle at http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/special_packages/vision/

POLK COUNTY, FLORIDA- POLK VISION was completed in early August 2004. The draft Vision was circulated in June and July for input. Over 4,000 people were present at presentations for input and newspapers distributed over 120,000 copies of the draft for input. This input resulted in a POLK VISION that is supported by a majority of Polk County's 520,00 residents. You can access POLK VISION at http://www.polkvision.com/. Link to articles about POLK VISION by inserting "Polk Vision " in the search engine of the Winter Haven newspaper http://www.polkonline.com/and Lakeland newspaper http://www.lakelandledger.com/

Implementation began immediately, but then three hurricanes hit Polk County and caused $1.2 billion in damage there. Despite these adverse circumstances, POLK VISION implementation is moving forward vigorously. They already have 98 organizations endorsing the Vision and agreeing to help with implementation. Henry Luke was back for a 2nd implementation meeting October 18th and they set a target for 250 organizations to help with implementation by December 15, 2005.

POLK VISION selected 6 Key Strategies requiring the establishment of Strategic Alliances. The Vision partners for these alliances are being recruited and the alliances will begin work the3rdweekinJanuary. Presentations will be made by December 15th to elected officials in the county and 17 municipalities seeking their commitment during implementation.

Existing alliances and coalitions are also being encouraged to endorse the Vision and adopt appropriate strategies. For example, The Health Care Alliance of Polk adopted the Key Health Care Strategy. The alliance recently secured a $903,570 federal grant for better coordination of health programs for the poor, uninsured, and underinsured. Patients will able to go to one place to check whether they are eligible for a variety of health programs. The grant may be extended another $1.4 million over the next three years.

http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041016/NEWS/410160362&SearchID=73188334810937

PAULDING, GA-The PLANNING FOR PAULDING Vision was completed in March 2004 and implementation is underway. In August, four Strategic Alliances began implementation on Key Strategies. In the recent election, a 1% special option sales tax for school construction passed with a large margin. This was important because Paulding is a very high growth rate county with a population of over 100,000. http://www.planningforpaulding.org/

OTHER COMMUNITIES-Progress on Vision implementation in other communities will follow in the November newsletter.

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