BVI assessment meeting a success
Shannon Leclair – Times Reporter
Despite the storm which blew into town Wed., April 28, the Business Vitality Initiative, BVI, held its assessment meeting.
Of the 30 people expected to show up, 25 attended the meeting despite the storm.
“We were quite pleased with the 25 people who were able to come out, and we thank them for their participation in the evening,” said Jennifer Brooks, from Community Futures Wild Rose.
It was an assessment meeting and the focus was on the vitality of Strathmore and its businesses.
“With Strathmore being poised for a lot of development we want to engage the community so that they are involved in the decision making as well, and in regards to what makes Strathmore a good place to live and work,” said Brooks.
BVI is looking for guidance from community residents and from people connected with the community. Some of the things being looked at are communities and attitudes, way of life, education and training, innovation, leadership, infrastructure and business.
“Those are some of the focus areas and based on how people responded to that, the information will be summarized and presented back to the community and we can sort of decide on where to go from there,” said Brooks.
BVI’s focus is to allow residents the chance to have a say in their community and take part in developing it further. $10,000 in seed money has been made available to go toward the local initiative.
“Everyday citizens can affect the everyday development of their community and that is something that we certainly want to stress and promote through the Business Vitality Initiative.”
Marcy Field, of the Wheatland Business Women, was pleased with the number of people who were able to still attend the meeting in spite of the storm.
“I think it was really good participation and really good representatives from a lot of people in the business community in Strathmore. It will be interesting to see what they say,” said Field.
The second meeting is a focus and action meeting where residents will determine the best course of action based on the information that came out of the assessment meeting. It is open to the entire community and will take place in about four weeks time.
For anyone who still wants to participate in the survey, there are hardcopies available at the Community Futures office. They must be returned by Friday, May 7.