At the February 23 community-wide meeting,
the ideas/solutions identified at the 2/11
meeting were presented in a summary format,
based on focus area. John McKnight, the founder
of the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD)
philosophy explained that for real, sustainable
change to occur, residents must take back ownership
of their community through a grass-roots effort
(inside-out approach), and not expect the government
or other institutions to do this. Newtown neighbors
at this meeting then broke-out into focus groups
based on their area of interest. The first
part of the focus group activity centered on
identifying what ideas/solutions are high,
medium, or low priority, and then which ideas
can be accomplished by citizens alone (inside),
by both citizens and government (together)
and by only government (outside). The second
part of the focus group activity entailed each
group selecting their highest priority idea/solution
and developing an action plan to accomplish
it.
The five focus
areas identified by Newtown stakeholders as
specific
areas to be addressed in order to
bring holistic change
to Newtown are listed below. The links below
each category are the results of brainstorming/focus
groups of Newtown neighbors.