Over the past three months, more than 400 Brown County residents and workers answered a survey on how their community could be improved.

Two weeks ago, about 50 of them gathered to make sense of the data and suggest specific projects.

The ones that got the most votes: creating a youth center or community gathering place, extending and connecting trails, expanding broadband internet and other infrastructure like sewers, and improving the communication and collaboration skills of local leaders.

The public forum March 7 at Brown County Intermediate School was a part of the Hometown Collaboration Initiative. Last year, Brown County won a mostly grant-funded HCI fellowship led by Purdue University, Ball State University and the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs.

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The program is designed to teach communities of 25,000 people or less a new way of looking at decision making and community development — through a grassroots approach versus more of a top-down approach.

“A core principle of HCI is that broad-based input and buy-in is vital to the long-term success and sustainability of all community development initiatives,” the program website says.

Later in the process, Brown County’s HCI coordinating team will choose a “building block” to focus on. The building block options are leadership development, economy or placemaking — a creative, quality-of-life project or program.

After a building block is chosen, a specific project will be chosen, such as one of the ones suggested at the forum.

Those suggestions were based on data from a community survey, which was conducted online from December through February. It asked people to rate their level of agreement with statements such as “There are a number of things for children, teens and families to do for a community of our size,” “Our community seems to care about keeping and growing existing businesses” and “Local leaders are responsive to the needs of all people who live in our community.”

Each table of residents at the forum was asked to study the data and come up with ideas for projects that would help fill the biggest needs or gaps that the data identified, under each of the three building block topics: leadership, economy and placemaking.

Then, participants were asked to place a sticker next to the idea that they would support the most under the placemaking and economy topics.

For the leadership topic, all tables were asked to write suggestions for how to “form leadership networks,” “promote a culture of inclusivity,” “expand awareness and appreciation of diversity” and “improve interpersonal skills of current leaders.

“Improve interpersonal skills of current leaders” was the highest-ranked recommendation on the entire survey.

Some of the specific leadership skills that forum participants identified as needing improvement included planning, collaboration, communication, transparency, civility, listening and patience, electronic connectivity, preparation, visioning, knowledge of position, responsibility, respect and “plays well with others.”

Only one elected official, Brown County Council President Keith Baker, attended the forum; several more candidates for political office also were there.

The HCI process is intended to pull in people that haven’t traditionally been part of decision-making processes, but all are welcome to participate.

The HCI group meets each second Monday at 6 p.m. at the Brown County Public Library. Meetings are open to the public.

Forum leader Torrie Rae of Brown County said the HCI group will continue to talk about the data they’ve gathered from the survey and the forum, led by facilitators from Purdue, Ball State and OCRA. “That’s going to help guide our selection of a building block … and from that point we will choose and launch a pathway project,” Rae said.

Other projects might eventually get done, too, said facilitator Tanya Hall. But the community needs to come together around one to start with, she said.

“The HCI team will continue to meet on what we discussed tonight,” said local team member Yolanda Toschlog. “Come to the meetings. Be a part of it.”

The HCI process is playing out at the same time as another community development project called the ROI — Regional Opportunities Initiative. The ROI is mostly focused on the schools community, but people in the business community and other residents also have been surveyed.

Christy Wrightsman, local ROI coordinator, participated in the HCI forum and said she saw many connections and opportunities for collaboration between the two groups that she hasn’t seen before.

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Survey responses

• 457 — 428 who live in Brown County and 180 who work or go to school in Brown County. Some respondents fit into both categories.
• 45 percent of respondents work full time and 21 percent were retired, with the rest being a mix of part-time workers, stay-at-home parents, students or “unknown”

Top “placemaking” answers

• 79 people ranked “access to local foods” as the No. 1 placemaking item they would like to see improved in Brown County.
• 76 people ranked “other” as No. 1. (The choices were local foods, parks and trails, other public spaces, downtown, and art/cultural activities.)
• 58 people ranked “parks and trails” as No. 1.
• The categories with the most total responses were “access to local foods,” “parks and trails” and “other public spaces,” in that order.

Top “economy” answers

• 110 people ranked “create an economic development plan” as the No. 1 economy item they would like to see improved in Brown County.
• 53 people ranked “other” as No. 1. (The choices listed were create an economic development plan, retain existing businesses, access to technical resources, promote local businesses and improve local business climate.)
• 44 people ranked “retain existing businesses” as No. 1.
• The categories with the most total responses were “create an economic development plan,” “promote local businesses,” and a tie between “retain existing businesses” and “improve local business climate.”

Top “leadership” answers

• 147 people ranked “improve interpersonal skills of current leaders” as the No. 1 leadership item them would like to see improved in Brown County
• 56 people ranked “promote a culture of inclusivity” as No. 1.
• 45 people ranked “expand awareness and appreciation of diversity” as No. 1.
• The categories with the most total responses were “improve interpersonal skills of current leaders,” “expand awareness and appreciation of diversity” and “build skills of emerging leaders.”

Data packages:

• Community survey results, including answers to specific questions (below)

[embeddoc url=”http://www.bcdemocrat.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/03/Brown-County-Survey-3-20-18.pdf” download=”all”]

• The “data snapshot,” which includes information about Brown County such as demographics, jobs and industries, income and poverty, the labor force, commuting patterns and unemployment (below)

[embeddoc url=”http://www.bcdemocrat.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/03/Brown-County-August-2017-Data-Snapshot.pdf” download=”all”]

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Participants at the March 7 Hometown Collaboration Initiative forum came up with the following possible projects to improve Brown County:

Placemaking

• Strengthen downtown Nashville: More internships and volunteer opportunities, like with the Pioneer Village; establish a downtown association; emphasize early Brown County history and culture and the Art Colony of the Midwest concept.
• Create a central activity hub/community resource area: Maybe not a physical place, but some way to form relationships and bring people together versus having individual pockets of activities.
• Create a youth center/gathering place: Survey youth to find out what they want; solicit sponsorships or check with Brown County Community Foundation for funding.
• Improve parks and public spaces: Extend the Salt Creek Trail to the state park and Deer Run Park; link the Hawthorne Drive shopping area with residential areas to encourage walking; add to or enhance the farmers markets and Community Garden at Deer Run; offer places for kids to have organized, safe free time; coordinate existing programs and opportunities to avoid duplication.
• Improve access to local foods: Encourage restaurants and grocery stores to sell/serve a variety of fresh, local food; make local food accessible to all income levels; improve access to special dietary needs such as gluten-free, vegan or organic without having to travel out of county; expand community gardens; encourage stores to offer sales or discounts for locals; market Brown County as a destination for foodies and agritourism.

Economy

• Develop networks of business owners. Form a mentorship program for new entrepreneurs, teaching things like legal basics and web design. Establish a business bureau.
• Market local businesses as much as we do tourism.
• Establish economic development zones with appropriate zoning, infrastructure, sewer and broadband access. Clear the way for businesses to locate here without cleaning so many initial hurdles. Offer tax incentives as necessary.
• Encourage chamber of commerce membership and participation.
• Make job shadowing opportunities available for high school students. Partner with other companies in the region to offer internships, such as in skilled trades.
• Form a “popup business incubator” to help entrepreneurs.
• Survey businesses to learn their specific needs and frustrations.
• Extend sewers, broadband internet access and other infrastructure. Map areas that currently have these services and where they are planned to go in order to plan for future development.
• Develop/enhance a community welcome website with links to all other websites that would be helpful to entrepreneurs.
• Recognize gaps in businesses that would specifically serve Brown County residents and go out and recruit those types of businesses.
• Promote ecotourism and agritourism.

Leadership

• Improve the interpersonal skills of current leaders: Planning, collaboration, communication, transparency, civility, listening and patience, electronic connectivity, preparation, visioning, knowledge of position, responsibility, respect and “play(ing) well with others.”
• Form leadership networks: Develop a county business bureau; combine the town and county into “unigov”; make a unified artist network; revive quarterly meetings between government entities; encourage youth participation in Leadership Brown County and interaction with government officials; increase the level of knowledge of local government for all citizens; provide more leadership opportunities and an alumni group for Leadership Brown County grads; rebuild/reorganize the Brown County Partnership; create a volunteer network for local fire departments; have more ad hoc meetings among representatives of county organizations; encourage social/civic/government partnerships.
• Promote a culture of inclusivity: Develop a master plan, including a communication plan and master calendar; collaborate more among groups and leaders; host workshops; conduct a survey of communication needs and preferences; host “happy hour” gatherings; train students in leadership opportunities; improve collaboration between town and county leaders; break down gender/age/income/educational attainment/community tenure/ethnicity barriers; hold government meetings at schools and around the county to encourage diverse participation; designate different culture days for all people to attend; provide mentorship opportunities across age groups and with longtime locals/new residents; invite town and county residents to meet together; welcome newcomers to the community.
• Expand awareness and appreciation of diversity: Host food festivals; have dance and music venues/performances and sports competitions; hang multinational flags back at Flags of the Nations on Bear Wallow Road; host storytelling from other cultures; display art history and photographs; list and feature local artists; promote intergenerational appreciation; expand the school curriculum to include diversity education; encourage cross-group interaction.

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