Thank you to the 920 participants from all areas of Kershaw County, who took time to respond to this year’s VisionKershaw 2030 survey! Each year your comments provide excellent feedback to our elected officials and other County leaders as they set priorities for the new budget year.
The VisionKershaw 2030 CORE team had the opportunity to present the results of the 3rd annual Vision survey to Kershaw County Council at its annual strategic planning retreat on Saturday.
In the four years since Kershaw County Council and local municipalities approved the concept of a shared vision for the County, the Vision 2030 project has come to symbolize community engagement, dialogue, trust, and what we as a county can aspire to when we work together. It has also served as an award-winning template for other counties and cities to follow as they prepare for what they want their own futures to look like.
In 2016, ably assisted by the Kershaw County Planning Department, the Santee-Lynches Council of Governments and many others, the VisionKershaw 2030 Guide was published followed by the first survey of 175 respondents. Responses have more than doubled each year since, with 920 respondents in this most recent survey, many as first time respondents.
In 2017, VisionKershaw 2030 was one of three county-wide initiatives the PLAY Foundation, a Kershaw County public-private partnership, described in its application (one of hundreds of applications from around the country) to become an All-America City. Against very stiff competition, Kershaw County earned the distinguished “All-America City 2018” award in its very first attempt -- a unique accomplishment on its own! Many more awards and recognitions for our county are now within our reach because of the collaboration and partnerships that came together during the planning and execution of this honor.
The primary goal of the annual Vision survey is to inform county council and others with what citizens are saying -- their opinions, concerns, wishes, wants, opposition, support, etc. -- about key areas of importance to us all. The team prepares the survey questionnaire, solicits responses via social media, meetings, speaking engagements, and other venues, compiles the information, distills it, then presents it to council, without recommendations or filters.
This year was no different, although it was hard to contain our enthusiasm and appreciation for the level of community engagement it represented and what that means for our county’s future!
During coming weeks, this year’s results will be updated and available at www.visionkershaw2030.org, along with the original VisionKershaw 2030 Guide. We encourage you to take a look at both and participate in future surveys to have your voice heard on the future of our county!
VisionKershaw 2030 Core Committee members: George Gibson, Mark Mason, Kevin Rhodes, Paula Scarborough, Dennis Stuber, Steve Van Horn, Louis Wilson, Susan Witkowski
