Ten Things You Can Do Right Now to Improve Your Community

1. Get Involved
   Become active in your community by either joining something going on or starting something. Volunteer for a municipal board. Attend a planning board meeting. Don't wait for others — get involved NOW in shaping your community's future!
2. Get Others Involved
   Make sure everyone in your community has a voice in shaping its future, especially youth. Sponsor a town or neighborhood meeting. Actively promote efforts to improve your community.
3. Inventory Your Community
   Join with your friends and neighbors, write down the things that make your place special. Identify both the good and the bad. Collect old photos showing the changes that have occurred in your community.
4. Understand the Trends Affecting Your Community
   Collect and analyze date on economic and demographic trends affecting your region. Develop three scenerios for the future of your community. Ask residents, business leaders, youth groups, and other what they think of these future scenerios.
5. Develop a Vision
   With as much participation as possible, write down a statement on what your community should look like and function like in ten years. Specify what you would like to see changed and what you want to see preserved.
6. Plan for the Future
   Using the Vision statement, develop a concrete action plan. Identify tasks, assign responsibilities, and develop a time frame for achieving results.
7. Encourage Regional Cooperation
   Help your elected officials see issues in a broader regional context, such as transportation, tourism, economic development, land use planning, water quality, and parks and recreation.
8. Promote Home-Grown Leaders
   Don't wait for the state or federal governments, develop local solutions to local and regional issues. Involve young people by giving them responsibility.
9. Celebrate Successes
   Have fun! Celebrate your community's past and future by organizing events such as street fairs and community awards.
10. Take Action
    Change will occur; it's up to you to guide it. Work with community leaders and your local planning department to ensure that the future of your community will benefit everyone.

January 1999