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Where are we going? Moving Forward kicks off

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By Samantha Sommer, Staff Writer Updated 8:51 AM Monday, May 17, 2010

SPRINGFIELD — The Midwest has taken it on the chin.

Its proud, strong industrial past has been lost and communities like Springfield need to find a new way forward, Mayor Warren Copeland said.

“Now where are we going to go to have a positive future?” he asks.

The Greater Springfield Moving Forward initiative is a way for the community to ask itself that question and try to answer it. It kicks off Sunday, May 16.

The visioning project aims to find out what residents treasure about the community and how they would improve it.

To do so, the group is sending out surveys and asking anyone who identifies themselves as part of the Greater Springfield area to fill them out.

It’s an attempt to find out where the area is now and where it should go in the next five years, Greater Springfield Chairman James Peifer said.

Copeland, vice chairman, hopes a lot of people fill out the questionnaires. It’s a chance to have a voice in directing the city’s future, he said.

“Anybody in the community can have a say,” Copeland said.

The surveys will be available in libraries and other places until July 11, as well as online at SpringfieldNewsSun.com/go/movingforward. Organizers also will make presentations and offer the questionnaire to any church, club or group that wants to participate.

The questionnaire is intentionally open-ended, asking participants for their recommendations on what would make Greater Springfield a more vibrant community in the next five years.

It does, though, also ask people to think about five key areas — economic development, education and workforce development, enhancing the area’s internal and external image, revitalizing strategic community areas, and strengthening local resources and leadership.

Beginning today, the Springfield News-Sun will take a look at each one of those five areas over the next several days.

Once the surveys are tallied up, a steering committee will develop actions that can be worked on in the next five years to meet those goals.

The project is a joint effort of the city, county, Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce, Cox Media Group and the Turner and Springfield foundations.

“We have a great opportunity as a community to take some significant strides forward,” said Mike McDorman, chamber president. “But we need a strong, well thought out, collective plan to help make that happen.”