WINNEMUCCA - The Humboldt Development Authority is urging citizens and community leaders to participate in the first Winnemucca Futures Forum at the Winnemucca Convention Center, from 1 p.m. until 8:45 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 22.
The public is encouraged to attend, as are the nearly 200 people that have participated in the Winnemucca Futures Project to date. Refreshments and snacks will be available throughout the afternoon, and a light meal will be provided during the early evening.
During 2010 and 2011, the Humboldt Development Authority carried out an extensive community engagement, visioning and strategic planning process, dubbed the Winnemucca Futures Project. It is now our intention to host an annual forum to bring together community stakeholders from across the county and the region, to explore the progress made in creating a more sustainable future.
The Winnemucca Futures Forum will explore the worldwide trends in economics, science, communications and culture that will impact the area's future. Likewise, national trends in population growth, educational attainment, food production and consumption, global competitiveness and workforce skills, as well as regional trends in income, housing and employment will also be explored.
The Futures Forum is intended to provide an annual opportunity for members of the regional community to get together to think deeply about the future as it will unfold over the next few decades and to ensure that people have taken a serious look at how the prosperity of the area may either benefit or suffer from these changes, so that a consensus-based response can be built.
The afternoon will start with a presentation and Q&A with Steve Hill, Nevada's new executive director of the Governor's Office of Economic Development. Attendees hope to learn more about how rural Nevada communities fit into the just-released state economic development plan titled "Moving Nevada Forward: A Plan for Excellence in Economic Development."
A panel discussion about how Nevada's rural communities and rural businesses add to a healthy state will then take place with a panel of well-known experts from across the state. This panel discussion and a question-and-answer period with the audience will help determine how to best tell the area's stories among urban legislators and city dwellers in Nevada.
The local teams that have been working on building community capacity, developing a more collaborative culture, planning for long-term infrastructure needs and working to develop a more diversified employment base in the community will look back at the challenges they have met and the successes they have achieved.
David Beurle and Juliet Fox, the facilitators for the Winnemucca Futures Project, will be on hand to discuss the findings of the community-wide network mapping survey carried out as a part of the initial project work and discuss how this information can be used to further the local work.
Finally, they will look back to the findings of the community attributes survey carried out in 2010 and explore whether or not progress is being made in changing both the reality and the perceptions of how Winnemucca, Humboldt County and the region are preparing themselves to adapt to change and proactively shape their own futures.
For planning purposes you are asked to let organizers know you are planning to attend. You can RSVP by contacting the Humboldt Development Authority at (775) 623-1064 or send your intentions by e-mail to winnemuccafutures@gmail.com.
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