COMMUNITY MAPPING: PURPOSE & HISTORY

Purpose

The MAPPING (Management and Planning Programs Involving Nonmetropolitan Groups) THE FUTURE OF YOUR COMMUNITY program is a strategic visioning and planning process whereby local residents of rural communities create a long-range vision for the economic development of their community and a plan of action for achieving it. MAPPING projects enhance local decision-making processes by providing accurate information, effective forums for public dialogue and problem solving, and knowledge of innovative practices that are consistent with a community's vision for growth and change. MAPPING the Future of Your Community is a tool that local leaders and citizens can use to create a shared vision of the community's future and generate momentum to put the plan into action.

History

Governments throughout rural Illinois faced a series of threats and challenges during the 1980s and early 1990s. Employment opportunities in the industrial, manufacturing, and farming sectors were declining. As the number of goods-producing jobs declined, an exodus of young people and other talented individuals occurred in rural Illinois as higher-paying careers were sought in urban areas. Weakened economies, aging populations, and a gradual erosion of public infrastructure systems only accelerated a downward spiral of shrinking property values, limited tax bases, failing schools, and the loss of other public services in rural areas. Crisis prompted action in many towns facing socioeconomic chaos-some thrived, but a few barely survived.

THE MAPPING THE FUTURE OF YOUR COMMUNITY program was created in 1991 at the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs, located at Western Illinois University, Macomb, IL. With initial support from the Office of the Lt. Governor and the Governor's Rural Affairs Council, the MAPPING program was designed to help leaders in small rural communities improve their decision-making process for community and economic development. Since 1996 the support for this program was transferred to the IL Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.