Community Collaborative
Next Steps
This report is the just the beginning. Community residents and
leaders need to take the information and use it. Some of the value of
this report will be in continuing to track the indicator data
into the future. Currently, the plan is to update the data every two years.
This time the indicator data was paired with a study of
residents and community leaders perceptions of major issues and adequacy
of resources to address them. Next time, a study focused on
assets would compliment both the ongoing indicator data and the current
issues-focused perception data. 
Key barriers to working together as a county to improve the quality
of life, as identified by community leaders, are lack of:
-
Coordination and collaboration
-
Sufficient economic resources
-
A strong regional focus
Key successful innovations for improving the quality of life, as
identified by community leaders, include:
-
Collaborative efforts to solve health and human service problems
-
Cross sector partnerships (e.g, between funders, nonprofits and businesses)
-
Efforts around open space
Interestingly, collaborative efforts are one of the major barriers,
as well as one of the successes, for working together as a county.
Perhaps this report will serve as a catalyst for developing a
strong regional focus, developing coordinated and collaborative efforts
and investing our economic and social resources in ways that
improve the quality of life for all people throughout the county now and
in the future.
