Strategic Planning at the Grassroots Level
In recent years the National Extension Service has come under increasing pressure and scrutiny from funding agencies and the public about its relevancy and role in addressing rural and urban problems. Today America faces perhaps the greatest domestic challenge it has known in recent times. That challenge deals with the well-being of children, families, and communities. The solution requires the cooperation of many groups and individuals.
One problem with our society deals with children and families in an economic way. It affects the ability of communities to adequately provide jobs for their citizens. Typically, economic problems deal with education, training, and infrastructure issues. Taken together, these issues are forcing rural Americans to think in broad terms to solve local problems. This publication looks at the Extension Service s role in strategic planning for community development in rural Mississippi. It also describes how Extension can help form partnerships among key agencies, organizations, and citizens in the community. Such partnerships are necessary in successful strategic planning. Especially important is the potential role of the Extension Service at the state and county levels. Extension s unbiased involvement in strategic planning can greatly improve the success of the planning. Choctaw County, Mississippi is a recent example where the Extension agriculture agent played a major role in coordinating and facilitating the planning process. In that process the county Extension office rediscovered its role as an organizer, facilitator, and change agent in community development. Extension must once again embrace this varied role that was mandated by the Smith-Lever Act if it is to remain a viable and effective organization.
¥ How do we stimulate new development with a depressed economy? ¥ How do we improve our situation in the short term, given that economic development is a long-term process?
Preparing for Action
Successful strategic planning depends on widespread community involvement, which is best handled by forming a resource or support group to make critical decisions about the planning process. Decisions about whom to involve, type of process to use, where to hold meetings, and how often to hold meetings are important in community-assessment and strategicplanning efforts. The resource group should be diverse, including residents of all ages, elected and appointed officials, and private industry officials. (Anyone left out of the process likely will not support the conclusions or recommendations of the plan.) Public and private involvement is essential, especially if the plan involves spending public funds or seeking grants from local industry. To limit the omission of key people and ideas the resource group and local Extension staff can jointly identify major players in the planning process. Extension s Community Development Department conducts needs-assessment studies that focus on important community and economic issues in the area. The local economic development and planning and development districts (EDs, PDDs) can develop community and county economic profiles to help identify emerging needs. Economic-assessment studies should focus on the three main areas in the community: social and demographic trends, economy, and public infrastructure. The study also needs to assess the current situations and conditions in the community and identify important strengths and concerns among local residents. These strengths and concerns identify future conditions and outcomes local community leaders can consider. The studies can serve as planning documents to enhance the community s economic situation.
SITUATION
Communities and counties generally conduct internal assessments as a result of depressed social and economic conditions. Local officials see the community s distressed situation and seek to cope and react to crisis issues raised by local citizens. Many times the prevailing view is that the community lacks vision and does not know where it is going and local officials feeling powerless to do anything about the situation. Here are typical questions facing local leaders: ¥ How do we generate support for economic development? ¥ How do we capitalize on our local resources?
Community assessment differs from strategic planning in that community assessment identifies major issues without prescribing solutions and the strategic planning process diagnoses and prescribes solutions. Issues identified using community assessment, however, can form the basis for strategic planning by highlighting the goals and directions for the community. Examples of this might include employment and employee training, cultural arts and tourism, infrastructure development (such as water, fire protection, police/sheriff protection, entertainment, streets and roads, public transportation, health care, and economic and retail development), and community beautification programs. Assessments provide planning groups, local citizens, development foundations, and local government officials with input and ideas about community trends and needs. Since this also requires broad-based participation from citizens, local leaders tend to favor planning made up of existing and emerging leaders from all segments of the community.
BUILDING COALITIONS
The Extension Service is known for its ability to assemble different groups to work on common issues in the community. In one rural Mississippi county, the Extension agent informally coordinated presentations and visits by resource people and agencies to gain information about community planning. The Extension Community Development Department provided technical assistance to local developers and officials on the fundamentals of strategic planning. Local and state Extension professionals can help get financial and human resources from regional and local agencies such as the Tennessee Valley Authority s (TVA) Community Development departments in Knoxville, Tennessee and Tupelo, Mississippi. The local planning and development district also can provide support for the planning process by developing important issues and identifying key groups to involve in strategic planning. Local and state Extension professionals can organize resource groups and help guide the design process. Extension s ability to organize and work with resources and volunteers from many different backgrounds is unmatched by other agencies. Thus, Extension and strategic planning are compatible because this process requires the marshaling of many resources to be effective. Extension s ties to the land-grant system give local communities access to Mississippi State University and 12 other land-grant institutions in the southern region. These institutions frequently share ideas, publications, and other resources with Extension specialists across the region, reducing the need to duplicate or reinvent programs.
Company s (MPL) Seven Habits of Highly Effective Communities can serve as guides for communities conducting strategic planning efforts. Local Extension staffs can help identify various groups to invite to a planning meeting to ensure broad representation from all segments of the community. Open and diverse processes encourage new membership and service for the community. Extension can help local organizations and leaders identify expectations of the planning process and also serve as a resource to the planning group, evaluate meeting results, and help develop summary reports for the community. Extension also can help with formulating key questions the strategic planning process might address, for example: ¥ What do I like about my community? ¥ What do I dislike about my community? ¥ Which of the dislikes would I most want to improve in the next several years? Depending on the community s size, at least 200 randomly selected citizens should participate in helping to identify local concerns and needs. These concerns and needs should become a part of the strategic planning process in the form of issues and recommendations for local action.
RECEIVING AND VALIDATING INPUT
Results from community assessments and community meetings should reveal similar priority needs in the local area. Different methodologies should be used to obtain citizens feedback. The first methods can be administered through the mail. The second method will probably be personal interviews with citizens in the community. Regardless of the approach, major issues resulting from these processes should resemble the five issues listed. A dual-track approach to validating input is good for determining consistency in community opinions and filling data gaps when information from one of the approaches is not complete or is unclear.
Developing a Vision
A resource group made up of organizations such as the Extension Service (ES), Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Electric Power Associations (EPAs), and Planning and Developing Districts (PDDs) can guide communities through a planning and visioning workshop, helping to summarize and build input from the community. A smaller group made up of residents from the overall planning team could develop the vision statement and determine priority issues for later consideration by everyone. The vision statement should be broad in scope and far-reaching in its implications. In other words, it should make everyone feel as if he or she feels part of the community s vision for the future.
INVOLVING THE COMMUNITY
Programs in Extension Community Development, TVA s Quality Communities, and Mississippi Power and Light
ESTABLISHING PRIORITIES
Input from community meetings can help identify diverse and related areas of concern for local officials. Local, state, and
regional agencies and organizations such as PDDs, EPAs, ES, and TVA can facilitate consensus-building sessions, using focus group and rating techniques to prioritize local issues. Typical issues emerging from strategic planning efforts include economic development, education, leadership, recreation, health care, and quality of life, which embodies the previous five issues. Some of the issues identified from a prioritization process will be short- and long-term in nature. To produce immediate success, the planning group should identify issues that are relatively easy to accomplish within a short period. The idea that success is contagious will help to convince others to participate in the planning process.
BENEFITS OF STRATEGIC PLANNING
Strategic planning helps to improve communication between city and county officials and their constituents in the area. The process can verify perceived concerns and issues and help communities focus on the needs and priorities of the community or county as a whole. Strategic planning identifies issues and prescribes solutions. These solutions are often stated in terms of goals, strategies, and anticipated outcomes. Strategic planning also helps local officials focus on current and future issues by providing a road map for the community to follow in the next three to five years. Benefits frequently associated with strategic planning include 1)promoting efficient use of scare resources, 2)improving coordination, 3)building community consensus, 4)increasing public awareness, 5)strengthening the community s competitive position, 6)encouraging forward thinking, and 7)focusing community efforts on key issues. However, the most obvious benefit of strategic planning is its bringing people together from diverse backgrounds to discuss common issues affecting the community. In some cases, these people live in the same neighborhoods but never communicate or socialize with each other.
DEVELOPING RECOMMENDATIONS
Strategic planning and community assessment approaches produce priority areas and recommendations for local officials. Each issue and recommendation should reflect the priorities of the two approaches. It is good to list the issue and corresponding recommendation on the same page. This makes it easier for those responsible for implementing the strategic plan to follow. Here are some examples of how this might be done:
Sample Issues and Recommendations
ISSUE 1 Economic Development Recommendation Local officials should recruit jobs for community residents and train local workers to help them take advantage of emerging businesses and industry. ISSUE 2 Education Recommendation School administrators and concerned citizens should develop an education system that produces students with career goals and job-related skills, using a business and industry curriculum. ISSUE 3 Recreation and Cultural Development Recommendation Local officials should develop additional recreational areas and meeting facilities in the community to encourage more wholesome activities and citizen involvement. ISSUE 4 Health Care and Human Services Recommendation Community health professionals should conduct a comprehensive study to identify the actions that would most improve the health and longevity of county residents. The study should address local hospital services and needs and support services such as emergency vehicles and preventive health programs, including health screening and exercise opportunities such as a walking trail. ISSUE 5 Unity and Leadership Recommendation City and county officials should develop unified solutions and approaches to addressing local problems. Primary consideration should be given to developing cooperation and unity among communities and their leaders and among county leadership. Forming an Elected Leaders Breakfast Program would enhance these efforts.
www.ext.msstate.edu By Al Myles, Ph.D., Extension Community Resource Development specialist
Mississippi State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, or veteran status.
Publication 2280 Extension Service of Mississippi State University, cooperating with U.S. Department of Agriculture. Published in furtherance of Acts of Congress, May 8 and June 30, 1914. RONALD A. BROWN, Director (500-11-00)