Establishing a Working Group & Advisory Group
Our first priority is recruiting a Working Group of keen citizens who will define our strategy and support the implementation of the work plan. We will be looking for people with knowledge and experience within a variety of sectors such as business, health and social services, culture, education, and the environment.
There are many people within our community holding valuable perspectives and information but are unable to commit time to a working group. We hope to engage these citizens in a Resource Group to assist us in accessing data already available in the community, to assist us in networking and connecting with the broader community as we convene community meetings to determine the indicators we will measure, and to provide feedback and recommendations on drafts of the report card.
Reviewing Existing Models and Data & Drafting a Set of Indicators
We have available to us many good examples of Community Well-Being Reports generated in other communities from which to learn. This will help us in drafting a list of indicators, as will a review of reports and data currently produced within our community. We will seek community input in order to make a final determination about the indicators that will be included in report. It is our intent to make this process as inclusive as possible.
Researching and Analyzing the Data
This is a stage of gathering the data on the indicators that we have settled on, analyzing the data, and looking for possible linkages between indicators.
Publish the Report, Explore Recommendations
and Plan for the Future
How creative we are in presenting the data will also contribute to its accessibility to a broad audience. With the launch of the report, we need to provide people with the opportunity to explore the meaning of the data and to set recommendations for future action. This would also be the time to evaluate our process and make plans for repeating it in another 2 years time.
How can you help make this all happen?
As you can see, we will need a variety of skills and a lot of energy to complete this process. We need people who can think strategically, like to connect with others, have access to information, like to work with data, are good at mediating conversations, are creative, have a passion for the environment the economy, or the health and social well being of our community, understand the politics of our communities…etc.
There are so many ways to make a contribution. Any amount of time or energy is valuable. This could be as simple as an email pointing us in a new direction or as involved as working on specific task within the working group. If you see yourself in any of this, please contact us and sign-up for our e-newsletter.
