For Grand Valley’s 20/20 community visioning endeavor, area municipalities hired James Kent Associates (JKA) to perform a visioning process to identify strategies for achieving the vision and to consider specific actions relevant to each strategy.
JKA carried out a unified visioning process for Colorado's Grand Valley, an area that includes several municipalities and large tracts of unincorporated land, with the help of a citizens' steering committee.
The Discovery Process is a specific methodology developed by JKA for community visioning. It involves a wide range of community information sources, including books, newspaper articles, interviews, focus groups, surveys, and behavior mapping. JKA pays particular attention to the informal networks—neighborhoods, recreational groups, etc.—that hold communities together.
Data and stories for Grand Valley 20/20 were collated and analyzed to reveal several broad strengths. For example, the region’s long history as an isolated outpost and rugged frontier town are critical elements of character ("self-sufficiency").
JKA then developed five strategies for maintaining or improving community stability: honoring civic protocols, building capacity, developing social capital, enhancing diversity, and ensuring predictability. While the strategies did not specifically address community character, JKA theorized that protection of community character will follow from adherence to these strategies.
Finally, JKA considered actions to move the strategies forward, at several different “action levels”: removing barriers, generating momentum, engaging, and integrating. Many of the action steps addressed specific issues of character that emerged from interviews and value statements, such as prohibiting truck traffic through an important historic district. Many of the steps are designed specifically to encourage civic entrepreneurs and other citizens.
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