visioning

What is Charting?
	Charting the Future of Our Community is a tool that local citizens can use to build consensus for planning their community's future. The program brings community leaders and interested citizens together who are willing to commit time and energy toward discovering their vision and a plan of action to achieve it. CHARTING involves four sessions in which citizens and community leaders create a workable plan of action for enhancing the quality of life in our community.
Why was Charting developed?
	Change is inevitable. For many Pennsylvania communities, the type of change that occurred during the 1990s was less than favorable. Some of these changes included declining population and income and closing businesses. Limited employment opportunities in some areas contributed to family stress and forced young people to pursue their dreams somewhere else. Rapid population and economic growth led to overtaxed infrastructure and sprawl in other communities. Successful communities illustrate creative local efforts in the past that were often fueled by a positive attitude and guided by a shared vision for the future. The CHARTING program helps define a vision and find direction.
Does strategic visioning differ from traditional planning methods?
	YES! Traditional strategic planning often finds its roots in the mission statement, a concise description of what the community organization does. A vision statement created through the CHARTING process, describes what a community hopes to become! CHARTING programs help lift the self-imposed limits of traditional planning by allowing participants to explore their ideas for the community . . . even if the resources to turn the dream into a reality do not exist yet.
Who participates?
	Ideally, 30 to 40 local residents should participate in the CHARTING sessions. The group should include business leaders, educators, parents, youth, elected officials, health care providers, civic organizers, and an array of other interested citizens . . . including the loyal opposition! Participants are expected to attend four strategic visioning sessions and assume a leadership role for implementing the community action plan.
What do communities gain by using the Charting process?
	New perspectives and direction. The Penn State Cooperative Extension staff will help local leaders assess the community's readiness for community development and prepare for the visioning sessions. Extension staff guide the community through four, 3-hour visioning sessions and an optional fifth meeting to help organize local project teams. As "outsiders", the facilitators offer fresh perspectives on local issues and ask participants questions that they might not ask themselves. After the fifth session, Penn State Cooperative Extension provides community level technical assistance for the long run.
Is there a cost for Charting?
	Yes. The community is asked to provide a suitable meeting place, refreshments for the meetings and printing participant workbooks. A typical Charting program costs between $500 and $1,000.
Is your community ready for Charting?
	Step One: Program Application After contacting Penn State Cooperative Extension, the community will receive an information packet and an application form for the Charting program. The application form is also available on-line in a Microsoft Word and PDF format. Without further obligation, a local steering committee (at least 3 to 5 community residents) should complete the application and return it to Penn State Cooperative Extension. Extension staff will then visit the community, answer questions, and assess the community's readiness for Charting. Applications for CHARTING programs may be submitted at any time. Sessions will be scheduled on a first come basis and depending on the community’s readiness.
	Step Two: Preparing for CHARTING Sessions Upon acceptance into the program, the steering committee will designate a local coordinator and a spokesperson, identify potential sponsors, and compile a list of leaders who will commit to the visioning program. The coordinator and primary sponsor(s) invite the participants, arrange the meeting place, provide refreshments, and make provisions for handling other nominal expenses (e.g., refreshments, supplies, etc.)
	Step Three: Community Orientation Session Community leaders may opt for a pre-visioning orientation session with local participants and other interested citizens. This meeting provides an opportunity for the Extension staff to describe the community development process, answer questions, or address any concerns that people have before starting the visioning program.
	Step Four: The Strategic Visioning Sessions The CHARTING program assembles local participants in four, 3-hour sessions (commonly held at night from 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM). It is important for every participant to attend all four meetings. Each session is interrelated. Sessions are normally held in the community over an eight-week period (i.e., sessions one and two are held in two consecutive weeks, the third session occurs in week four, and the fourth session is conducted about one month later).
What are the Charting sessions?
		Session One: Setting Our Course. This session begins with an around-the-table discussion of what local people like about their community today. This information will ultimately represent a vital part of the community’s vision. The Penn State staff present information on a variety of local family and children issues, population characteristics, land use trends and key socioeconomic trends. Current statistical information provides each participant with a common baseline for proposing future standards in the community. Session One also includes examples of successful community development strategies used in other communities. Knowledge of these approaches helps participants improve their assessment of the community's preparedness for long-term community well-being. Consequently, community members are more empowered to discover new resources or develop the tools that will be needed for initiating local action.
		Session Two: Where do we want to be? This session consists of a brainstorming exercise where participants propose long-range (5- 10 year) goals for community development. Facilitators provide the basic ground rules for building a consensus and challenge participants to break away from their old ways of thinking and exercise their creativity. Each participant is given an equal amount of time to contribute their ideas. . . every idea is valuable. It is not uncommon for even the smallest communities to come up with more than 40 different ideas. Consensus regarding the top 5-10 long-range goals provides a platform for discussion in session three.
		Sessions Three and Four: How do we get there? The community vision becomes clearer as specific projects (action-oriented activities that can be completed in 12 to 18 months) are identified and responsibilities for achieving long range goals are determined. Although an acceptable vision statement is eventually word smithed by a small group of CHARTING participants, long-term satisfaction most often results from the journey, rather than from the actual vision itself. Community volunteers thrive in a learning environment and should celebrate small successful initiatives that occur over time. Session three underscores the community action plan and begins to unfold the community's road map to success. Every participant is encouraged to find her/his place along the community development journey. Grouped by major goal, participants form project teams to implement local action. Team members are encouraged to contact the Penn State Cooperative Extension staff whenever questions arise or when they need technical assistance. Key resource agencies from outside the community are invited to the third session to address concerns and offer helpful insights.
		Session Five: How do we keep going? Penn State Cooperative Extension staff continue to support the community’s efforts with information, education, and technical assistance. During the fourth CHARTING session, a draft of the community action plan is presented for local review and comment. Issues regarding institutional frameworks are also addressed. Community volunteers are asked to provide periodic updates so potential resource agencies can be alerted to current needs in the community. More technical assistance and follow up. The Penn State Cooperative Extension, Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program, Ben Franklin Technology Center, Pennsylvania Rural Development Council, and numerous other public and private agencies offer assistance to CHARTING communities. Although implementation of the action plan is of paramount importance, development groups are encouraged to continue the visioning and planning effort well beyond Session Four. Leaders are encouraged to design acceptable time lines and methods for monitoring progress. While key performance measures help guide community development teams along the path of progress, periodic benchmarking activities ensure that state-of-the-art strategies are incorporated into the overall visioning and planning effort. The Penn State Extension staff will help local development groups obtain technical assistance and, by invitation, return to the community for a "refresher" visioning session (usually after at least 6 months have passed). No additional sponsorship fees are attached to the CHARTING program after Session Four unless specified in advance. Collaboration among community leaders outside the community is encouraged. Multi-community development beyond traditional borders is often regarded as a necessary condition for a successful visioning program.
Are Charting programs compatible with other planning initiatives?
	YES! The CHARTING process allows local citizens to explore the future before committing time and resources to more detailed, more costly planning activities. As a prelude to preparing an Overall Community Development Plan, CHARTING can help obtain grass-root direction and give citizens a chance to express specific needs and desires for their community’s well-being.
How was the Charting program developed?
	The Charting program is closely patterned after the Illinois approach called Mapping the Future of Your Community, and draws upon a variety of proven strategic planning techniques. It has been used in a variety of Pennsylvania communities.
Where have Charting programs been done in Pennsylvania?
	Charting was conducted in Jefferson County focusing on Welfare Reform. Charting programs focusing on community well-being issues have been conducted in Brookville, Punxsutawney, the Moshannon Valley and the Harmony School District