On Tuesday, January 19th, JARI's community development consultants Walter Burlack and Ryan Kieta facilitated the first of three Circle Work Sessions to help advance Johnstown's Vision 2025 community development program.
Over 100 people attended the event, which was hosted at JWF Industries. The theme of the event was "Strong Sense of Community," and the goal was to begin the process of building Capture Teams around community development project ideas. After an energetic brainstorming discussion, participants signed up for about a dozen proposed project teams.
Project ideas included Neighborhood Block Parties, Youth Engagement Activities, and Ethnic Celebrations. The next step for each project team is to develop an Action Plan in order to formalize its process, timeline, goals, and objectives.
Three more Circle Work Sessions are scheduled through the end of January. On January 21st, a work session will be held around the theme of "Vibrant and Open Local Economy." On January 26th, a "Life-Sustaining Landscapes" session will occur. On January 28th, a morning catch-all session will be held for participants who are unable to attend the evening meetings. For more details about each event, please see the panel on the side of this newsletter.
