By Clayton Kraby

The Strom Center and the Bush Foundation are happy to finally be able to share with you the report on the results of the Prospects & Possibilities conversations for North Dakota’s future held in 28 communities from October through December 2010. Also integrated into the report are results of a random, statewide polling survey to households across the state completed this year. The results validated many of the themes and concerns that emerged from the Prospects & Possibilities sessions, all of which are discussed in detail in the report. We welcome your feedback on the report and any additional suggestions and ideas that the report might inspire. You can go to http://svy.mk/prospectsandpossibilities to fill out the feedback survey.

The top concerns expressed in North Dakota were the changing demographics of the state, K-12 education and access to higher education, and access to and cost of quality health care. While we hope the report itself will make a difference, it is not intended to be the end of the process.

It’s the start of what we hope will be an ongoing dialogue about local, regional and state actions to strengthen the community capacity and courageous leadership needed for these transformative times.

Meeting participants agreed that more people need to get involved in discussions like these, and many expressed regret that they didn’t have more time to discuss the issues. They also thought that the state’s elected and appointed leaders would benefit from tapping into the collective energy and wisdom of people across the state. The Bush Foundation has already shared the findings with many policy makers, including the Governor’s office, and is distributing this report to all legislators and key appointed officials. We encourage you to share the report as well.

As for the continuation of the Prospects & Possibilities process, we have some next step ideas in mind: face-to-face follow-up gatherings, increasing awareness of and connections to existing resources and expertise, and design labs and community pilots to dig into more depth on issues and solutions raised, as examples. Before we take any next steps though, we want to hear your feedback and suggestions at http://svy.mk/prospectsandpossibilities. Please keep moving forward with your own next steps in your community and we would love to hear about those, too.

View the Full Report

By Clay Kraby