Flint & Genesee County, MI
Economic Vitality Plan

The City of Flint, Genesee County and the Flint & Genesee Chamber of Commerce have partnered with Planning NEXT to create a county-wide vision for economic vitality. This planning effort, Forward Together, will establish a common economic vision that will drive Genesee County communities forward and will focus on promoting systematic and long-term change in such a way that existing institutions (government, civic groups, non-profits, etc.) can be more responsive to the community’s needs and aspirations.

Facilitating an ambition process.

The process started in February 2019 with an anticipated project completion in the first quarter of 2020. The process offered multiple chances for community members to get involved through in-person meetings and online engagement opportunities. The general public had two in-person rounds of participation opportunities, the Visioning Summit and the Open House.

Focusing on economic vitality and action.

The final product of the process, the Economic Vitality Action Agenda, includes a community-derived vision statement for economic vitality. It seeks to integrate the findings, goals, and recommendations from other community planning processes while also filling gaps in research and analysis that has not been performed. This Action Agenda includes a collection of recommendations (projects, policies and programs) that, when taken together, that help drive the community toward its vision for economic prosperity.

Reaching to be a top community.

Project leadership put forth a bold and ambitious vision: to be a top community in the State of Michigan. To achieve this, they determined that the plan must be implementation-focused and launch a renewed effort to cultivate collaboration among partners. The final plan includes a dashboard and scorecard to track progress, which promises to be a critical tool to help turn recommendations into action.

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Tags

Project Type: Vision and Strategic Plan
Community Type: County
Client: City of Flint, Genesee County and Flint & Genesee Chamber of Commerce
Services: public engagement, online engagement, plan development