Greetings All!
The implementation phase of the Vision West ND project is well underway throughout western North Dakota. Plan Directors in nearly all of the nineteen Vision West ND counties are working to coordinate their steering committees and complete their countywide strategic plans. County Plan Directors are reminded to create a Drop Box folder through the invitation email sent directly to them and Steering Committee members on May 22nd. The Drop Box folder contains Plan Implementation Workbooks and the action steps that were created by each county's Steering Committee for the selected economic strategies and quality of life initiatives in each county plan. Also included in the Drop Box folder is a copy of the latest version of each county's Strategic Plan. In addition to their own Drop Box activation, it's also recommended that all Vision West ND Plan Directors contact their Steering Committee members and urge them to accept the Drop Box invitation if they have not already. Many have done so, but a majority have not. Those that do not have their own Drop Box folder already established, don't worry. You may contact Vision West ND Plan Facilitator Brian Cole at bc@buildingcommunities.us, and the process of getting one started is quite easy! In terms of the Vision West ND Regional Plan, five of the top issues identified through county strategic planning sessions will be focused on in greater detail during regional symposiums. Those issues include housing, child care, transportation and roads, emergency services, and water. Child care will be the first issue to take center stage at a Child Care Symposium in Four Bears on July 17, 2013. According to Vision West ND Project Director Shirley Brentrup, the Child Care Symposium will allow participants to review what the state legislature did during the 2013 legislative session and further address the continued needs associated with child care services in western North Dakota. Anyone interested in child care, including employers, current providers, and those looking to create solutions for the child care provider shortage, are all encouraged to attend, she said. In other news, webinarsonenergy boom states, including population estimates for ND Bakken counties are available free on-line. One of the latest webinars, entitled "Emergency Response", was presented by Craig Konkle and Wilmer Gay III last December and deals with emergency service distance and isolation issues. Wilmer Gay described the distances to any EMS service and especially to hospitals in his region of Lycoming, Pennsylvania.Industry and county collaboratively built a new facility with a new ambulance at Sand Draw, PA in order to shorten response times. A recent study of emergency services by the NDAOGPC revealed that distance and isolation were factors in some of the ND Bakken counties as well. Click here to view all of the Vision West ND webinars. Thanks for reading this week's edition of the Vision West ND Newsletter. Please stay tuned for future news on how the counties of western North Dakota are working toward a completed regional plan.
Have a great rest of the week!
The Vision West ND Team
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