Kick-off Event:
Community Conversation and Forums
Johnson Elementary School
Mon, July 22, 2024
4:30-9:00pm
Community members will develop a self assessment of resiliency then share assets, challenges, and ideas in focus forums.
Johnson Elementary School
Tues, Sept 10, 2024
5:00-9:00 pm
Community members will see and discuss the communities self assessment of resiliency outcomes and champion and prioritize action items.
Task forces create action plans and work with a Resource Team to identify next steps.
What is Re-Imagine Johnson?
Re-Imagine Johnson is a 3-part process that brings community members together to actively participate in identifying strategies for long-term flood recovery, decide top priorities, and develop action plans for the future resilience and vitality of the town. Step 1 will happen on July 22, step 2 on September 10, and step 3 on October 9, 2024; see https://sites.google.com/
Who is organizing the event?
The Vermont Council on Rural Development (VCRD), which is an actively nonpartisan, independent nonprofit committed to the facilitation of community processes that are inclusive, equitable, and bring together as many voices as possible in every community where we work. We strive to engage the voices, leadership, and decision-making of all community members in planning their town’s future.
Who started this process and who is it for?
This process becomes whatever the participants make of it which is why we encourage all members of the Johnson community to attend all three events. VCRD is a neutral and experienced facilitator of community process and discussion in Vermont and we only work where we are invited by town leadership. The Johnson Selectboard invited this process, but VCRD now works for the full Johnson community: no one group, committee, organization or individual “owns” this process. The goal of the process is to get the input of as many residents, businesses and community members as possible. A representative group of community members determined forum topics and volunteered to get the dinner, childcare and outreach set up for the events. Ultimately, people who live in, work in, or care about Johnson and attend the events or provide ideas through our online form are in charge of generating the ideas, setting priorities and taking action!
What are the outcomes?
The three-part process will create a brainstormed list of ideas for flood recovery and future vitality of Johnson, a set of priorities for action and resource plans to set those priorities in motion. We are also providing a community resilience self-assessment which allows participants to give feedback on important areas for future resilience; this is offered through a partnership with Community Resilience Organizations (CROs). Finally, the process will culminate in a Long-Term Recovery Plan and connections to resource providers and support for task forces or existing entities to take action on that plan. In the end, it’s members of the Johnson community that put these outcomes into action.
Who is invited?
Everyone who lives in, works in, or cares about Johnson is invited! We strive to invite all community members, including those displaced from the July 2023 flooding, to participate with targeted outreach that includes a mailing to every resident, phone calls, flyers posted around town, local group listservs, social media channels, local TV and radio shows, and through written surveys for those that may be uncomfortable, unwilling, or unable to attend the community forums.