Creating a shared vision for Rush County

Paul W. Barada

We have now embarked upon an important journey in Rush County. Back on Nov. 10, a “community conversation” meeting was held in the cafeteria at RCHS. Prior to the actual gathering of community members from throughout the county, a steering committee, if you will, had formed and had been working for a few weeks to lay the groundwork for the larger community development meeting. The actual community development meeting was sponsored by the Rush County Commissioners, the City of Rushville, the Rush County Community Foundation, the Carthage Town Board, Rush Memorial Hospital, the Glenwood Town Council, Rush County Schools, and the Rush County Council.

It was billed as a community discussion and was facilitated by Ball State University’s “Building Better Communities” program. The ultimate goal of the exercise was to develop a commonly shared vision of the future for Rush County. The initial exercise was developing a list of community strengths and a list of community challenges, which is really a nice way to avoid saying “community weaknesses.” The exercise is pretty common, and it works if you have the right people in attendance. As far as I could tell, the right people were in attendance in order to get the proverbial ball rolling. It’s way too early to suggest that any sort of consensus was reached. That wasn’t the purpose of the meeting. The purpose was to get perceived strengths and weaknesses on the table so that we could begin prioritizing goals that need to be met that are consistent with a yet-to-be-developed vision that everyone can embrace.

While some may poo-pooh the notion that community development is something any group can successfully undertake, the truth of the matter is it does work! Too many other communities and organizations have successfully started the strategic planning process this same way for it not to work. It does require, however, the time and commitment of the major stakeholders in the community to be successful. (Just for the sake of clarity, I’m using the word “community” in this piece as being synonymous with the word “county.” We really are a county community, regardless of whether anyone likes to think of it that way or not.)

Not all that long ago, in terms of the history of this county, the same thing was done at the close of World War II. A Post-War Planning Committee did almost the exact same thing we’re undertaking today. A group of community leaders sat down and essentially went through this same exercise and set some rather daunting goals for Rush County in the post-war period. Their commonly shared vision included the construction of a new hospital, building a public swimming pool, opening of a Boys Club, and starting a junior college. Guess what? They successfully achieved three of their four goals. The only thing that didn’t get done, but and upon reflection, really should have, was the creation of a junior college. But they did build a new hospital. They did build a community outdoor swimming pool. And they did successfully start a Boys Club. There’s proof for all the skeptics that very good things can happen here when there is a shared vision of what the future should be like. So, was this first step the other night a waste of time? Absolutely not! Rome, as they say, wasn’t built in a day. And a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. That first step was taken at the community development meeting back on Nov. 10.

It would be foolish to think that it will be an easy exercise, but it would also be foolish to presume that coming up with a shared vision for the future of this county can’t be done. Why do I keep using the phrase “shared vision” you ask? Well, whatever we, as a community of people, decide we want “Rush County to be like” in the future have to take the responsibility to not only agree on what that vision will be, but make a genuine effort to take the steps necessary to achieve the goals that are established to make that vision a reality. But the idea is that all the major players, I’ve been calling them “stakeholders” because they are the ones, either by choice or by election, have a stake in what the future holds in store for Rush County. We all have to be on the same page of the proverbial hymnal – that’s what having a shared vision means – that all the groups listed earlier agree with the direction in which we want to go and the goals that are set and that we’re all moving cooperatively in that direction.

Here’s the point. Change happens, whether we want it to or not. Things are either going to get better or they’re going to get worse. Things are not going to stay the same! The question which underlies community development is how that change will take place. Will we control change by developing a shared vision and working toward it, or will we do nothing and watch uncontrolled change cause this county to go to seed?

As was demonstrated back on Nov. 10, there are strengths upon which we can build. And there are also “challenges” that must be met. The first step down the road of community development has been taken. The next task is creating a shared vision of what we all want this county to become.

That’s —30— for this week.



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