Two-Year Project Aims to Get Community Input on McComb’s Future
On July 4, McComb Region Heart & Soul formally kicks off a project that aims to involve the community in planning for McComb’s future, Project Coordinator Joe Wasson announced.
The two-year project will launch at July 4 festivities in McComb, where residents from the villages of McComb and Hoytville and the surrounding townships of Jackson, Blanchard, Pleasant, and Portage will be invited to share their input on an idea wall. Ideas will also be gathered by roving youth reporters at Cloe Greiner Park from 1 p.m. – 9 p.m. The idea wall and interviews are the first steps in collecting input from all community voices with a goal of understanding the values shared by the unified community. These shared values will become the foundation for decision making about McComb’s future.
“There is great excitement around this process as demonstrated by volunteers from the McComb region who have donated over 900 hours to the Heart & Soul process already. There are plenty of chances for everyone to become involved,” Wasson said.
The McComb Region Heart & Soul process is funded by a $136,420 grant from the Findlay-Hancock County Community Foundation. This bottom-up, grassroots approach seeks to build on and enhance community values defined by all residents.
Pastor Janeane Hopkins, member of the McComb Region Heart & Soul committee, stated, “We will be in constant contact with McComb Region residents over the coming months in order to gather stories, identify community values, and then make decisions based on our shared values. In order for this project to be successful, we will need to talk to people representing every sector of our community.”
The July 4 festivities will serve as the official kickoff of the McComb Region Heart & Soul story gathering. There will be additional occasions for community members to share input:
• 2nd Annual McComb Business Expo, July 11, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m., 108 E. Main Street, McComb
• Hoytville Youth Ice Cream Social, July 25, 4 p.m. – 7 p.m., 19911 E Church Street, Hoytville
• Annual McComb Cookie Festival, July 31 – August 2, Cloe Greiner Park
Community Heart & Soul is the Orton Family Foundation’s signature approach to community development. Tested in a dozen small towns and developed over more than a decade, Community Heart & Soul is a proven method that helps communities work together toward a vibrant and resilient future rooted in what matters most to the people who live there.
Please contact Joe Wasson, Heart & Soul coordinator, if you are interested in volunteering or sharing your input with McComb Region Heart & Soul at 419-348-2071 or [email protected].
