Highland County Community Market Survey Now Available
The Community Market Survey for Highland County is now available. The survey will help provide guidance for community development and revitalization projects in the county. This survey is part of the Economic Development Authority’s work with the Rural Community Development Initiative, or RCDI.
The survey results will be presented at the Highland Strategic Market Planning Workshop on Tuesday, December 14, at The Highland Center from 5 until 8 pm.
Betty Mitchell is the Economic Development Officer for the Highland EDA.
“So, the meeting on the 14th will be a report out on the results of the survey and all of this is being done to create a work plan that we all can use to implement things that we deem important for Highland County’s future and growth,” says Mitchell. “So, we want to make sure that we’re reflective of what our local capacity is, what our resources are, and where we are in current revitalization activities. So, on the 14th the National Main Street Program Director will be here with us and he’s going to be facilitating the discussion of the stakeholders who attend and review the findings that we did earlier in the project, as well as the survey results. Then we’ll talk about any challenges, both short term and long term, within those scope of work elements that we’ve identified and then try to come up with key areas of focus that we can do to implement the plan, once we’re all in agreement that these are ways that we should try to move forward.”
This is your chance to make known what you think is important for Highland’s future. Everyone is welcome to attend the workshop and to participate in the discussion.
“We’re not trying to see if we could brainstorm every possible idea that has ever been thought about for Highland,” says Mitchell. “We know we don’t have the capacity to carry that out. If big things come to mind or ways that people could imagine their group, or themselves personally, plugging into things that they’ve heard discussed, we’d love to hear from them.”
The survey does have a short time frame. It will be open until 6pm on December 13.
The survey is digital. The Highland County Public Library is providing assistance with completing the survey online. There are also a few hard copies of the survey available at the library.
For more information and for the link to the survey, you can visit the Chamber of Commerce website at www.highlandcounty.org or email highlandeda@htcnet.org
Here’s the link to the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/XJW9LJL
“I think this is just a great opportunity for all the conversations that it seems like people had throughout the county for a number of years to talk about things that they’d like to see happen,” says Mitchell. “This is a great forum for them to come out and make those desires known and talk about what they’d be willing to do to step up to the plate to make some of these things happen.”
To hear an earlier story about the Highland EDA’s work with RCDI, visit our Facebook page or our website www.alleghenymountainradio.org.
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