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Frequently Asked Questions

Please find below a list of our most frequently asked questions and their corresponding answers. If you would prefer to download a complete printable list of these questions and answers, please click here.


Why is the MAPPING the Future program needed?
Never has there been a greater need for rural leaders to plan for the future of their communities as there is today. Life in rural communities over the past two decades has become increasingly difficult as the challenges have become more complex, as competition in the global economy has increased, and as federal funding levels diminished. No longer can rural communities look to government agencies to provide for their needs, but, instead, must look to the people and resources within their communities to build their future. To do this, local leaders need an effective process with which to make decisions, to create a strong vision, and to build a clear plan of action with which to meet the challenges in this new environment.

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What is the MAPPING the Future program?
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.

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Why was MAPPING the Future program created?
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, young people and other talented individuals left rural Illinois for higher-paying careers 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. This 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, Ill. 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 Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

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More specifically, how is the MAPPING program structured?
The MAPPING journey begins with the formation of a community Steering Committee. This committee is responsible for working with MAPPING staff to plan the program logistics, invite participants, conduct initial marketing, and so forth. MAPPING staff provide detailed, step-by-step guidance to facilitate the effective planning of the program. Prior to beginning the four visioning sessions, a Kick-off session is held with all of the people who plan to participate in the program. During this meeting MAPPING staff ensures participants understand the program and begin with realistic expectations.

The core of the MAPPING program is a series of four visioning sessions. Each session is organized around a central theme: Where are we now, Where do we want to be, How are we going to get there, Making it happen and Keeping it going! During the course of this process, the participants identify high-priority goals for community economic development, develop a workable action plan, and become organized to begin implementation of projects.

Once the initial MAPPING sessions have been completed, participants plan and host a community-wide town meeting. The town meeting is designed with the assistance of the MAPPING staff to give participants an opportunity to present their ideas, receive public comments, and invite additional volunteers to become involved in areas of special interest.

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Who should participate in MAPPING projects?
Ultimately, anyone with a stake in the community should be able to find a way to contribute to projects that evolve from MAPPING the Future sessions. However, to begin the visioning and planning process, 25 to 40 civic leaders and active volunteer residents are required. The success of the MAPPING program depends on this group representing a cross-section of constituent groups within the communities. In addition, this group should be made up of leaders throughout the community who will subsequently remain active in the process of implementing the action plan. These are the people who will come together to create the vision for economic development, and become the primary goal motivators that push the community vision forward.

The MAPPING participant group should include a wide representation from as many segments of the community as possible: mayor, council representatives and elected officials, business and industry leaders, farmers, school superintendents/educators, health care providers, civic organizers, retirees, clergy, students, and an array of other interested citizens, including the local nay-sayers.

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Where do the visioning and planning sessions take place?
All of the MAPPING sessions are held at sites selected by the community's steering committee and are generally located somewhere in the community (i.e., a civic hall, church basement, or a school).

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How much time is needed?
The MAPPING program requires a significant investment of participant time and motivation. This is a program for communities with a high level of motivation and an intense desire to move proactively into the future. Participants are expected to attend an evening Kick-off session prior to beginning the program. The MAPPING program itself is typically held in four, four-hour sessions over the course of 8-10 weeks. The process culminates in a Town Meeting that is held approximately 4-6 weeks following the visioning sessions. By special request, the scheduling of the MAPPING program can be somewhat flexible to meet unique needs of the community. The content of the MAPPING program has been developed over the last 15 years, and by learning from program shortcomings and successes, the current format design is considered the most successful approach.

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How can I justify taking time away from my job or other daily obligations for this process?
Generally time is the biggest concern when considering participating in the MAPPING process . Requesting time away from daily obligations to participate in a community service project may be new for some people. However, before you automatically dismiss the possibility of participating, consider the following:

The MAPPING process is a tool that local leaders and citizens can use to build consensus for planning their community's future. The program brings community leaders and other interested citizens together who are willing to commit time and energy toward discovering their vision and a plan of action to achieve it.

Planning for your community's future requires a group of alert, well rested, and ready-to-work citizens. MAPPING is not just another public hearing on community issues - it is a commitment to the future of your community.

MAPPING is a participatory approach to community decision-making. Therefore, YOUR DECISIONS will have a profound affect on the economic, social, and cultural future of the community.

Whether you ultimately assume a leadership role in community development or not, you will come away from the MAPPING program with new skills and knowledge. For example, after the program, you will have experience in strategic visioning and goal prioritizing through the nominal group technique. The process will also involve consensus building and teamwork. In addition, you will be introduced to a number of leadership development concepts and practices. And, of course, participants will gain access to an abundance of information about issues affecting rural communities and your community in particular. Not only will you pick up new skills and information, you will have the added bonus of being able to apply your knowledge in a way that serves your community.

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What is the cost for MAPPING the Future programs?
Other than time and motivation, there is no charge to individuals participating in the MAPPING sessions. There is, however, a community sponsorship fee that is set based on the population of the community (2000 census) and the distance from Macomb, Ill. In addition to helping to offset the costs of staff time, materials and preparation for the program, the sponsorship fee serves to bring additional community investment and involvement into the program.

Although many communities may request that their city council funds the costs of the MAPPING program, this is strongly discouraged. Instead, we recommend that the steering committee raise donations toward the sponsorship fee through approaching local businesses, civic organizations, church groups, and the local utility company, in addition to a donation from the city council. It is crucial to the success of the program that there be widespread knowledge of and investment in the program prior to its beginning. MAPPING staff will assist in generating ideas for raising local sponsorships, although the effort is conducted by the steering committee.

Fees are set according to the following two-part formula:

Population: The minimum sponsorship rate is $2,000 for communities with populations of 1,000 or less. For communities over 1,000 the sponsorship increases on a per capita rate as follows:

    $0.50 per capita additional for populations between 1,000 - 9,999
    $0.33 per capita additional for populations over 10,000

Travel: In order to offset the high number of trips that MAPPING staff make to every community, an adjustable sponsorship fee is required areas participating in the MAPPING program. Typically, a minimum of six trips to the community (often several more) are held to guide the steering committee, assist with logistics, conduct the orientation, program sessions and town meeting, and provide follow-up. The total mileage cost is computed for six round trips to the community at the current WIU mileage reimbursement rate. This amount is added to the base sponsorship rate for the total fee. If the number of trips to the community is significantly reduced through innovative scheduling plans, the travel fee will be reduced accordingly.

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Isn't it difficult to keep volunteers motivated and working on community projects? How can we ensure that the effort is sustained after the program?
It is difficult. In fact, most rural communities depend on part-time public officials and a cadre of volunteers to implement projects such as business retention and expansion, downtown revitalization, community beautification, tourism development, and other programs. At the same time, most communities are not sufficiently organized to manage their volunteers, keep them motivated, and recruit new effort as new projects emerge. Once a town meeting is held, numerous volunteers join MAPPING action teams. While these newcomers may be called on once or twice, they are forgotten fairly quickly and the "same ten people" are left doing the work. As a potential answer to this problem, a comprehensive volunteer management program is designed to help community leaders mobilize, motivate, and retain volunteers to accomplish projects.

Following the MAPPING program, a workshop will be provided on Volunteer Management to participating communities. This training will focus on six issues: Job Development, Design, and Description; Recruitment and Retention; Screening and Interviewing; Orientation and Training; Supervision and Motivation; and Rewards and Recognition.

In addition to training on volunteerism, we also help communities build capacity for sustainability through a Maintaining the Momentum session. This is scheduled several months following MAPPING depending on the community's needs. In our 15 years of experience, we have observed that six to twelve months after the town meeting, when the low-hanging fruit projects have been accomplished and the hard work of larger economic development projects begins, excitement starts to fade and volunteer involvement may diminish. The Maintaining the Momentum session reconvenes MAPPING participants to discuss progress toward the community action plan, celebrate accomplishments, and renew commitment and excitement. At the MAPPING group's request this meeting will be tailored to meet specific follow-up needs of the community.

We recognize that sometimes it is difficult to motivate volunteers, but it is much less difficult to motivate people when a well-articulated and exciting vision of the future is shared and communicated with everyone. We do know that great projects can make all the difference in the world. Communities exhibit new energy when residents learn creative strategies and innovative approaches for reaching their goals. The Maintaining the Momentum session helps keep the vision alive.

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What technical assistance do you offer?
In order to help MAPPING community participants sustain the efforts outlined in their action plan, the MAPPING staff, in collaboration with other IIRA programs such as Rural Economic Technical Assistance Center, Rural Housing, and Peace Corps Fellows Program, provide a variety of follow-up services and technical assistance. Frequently MAPPING communities take advantage of the continuum of services at their disposal through the IIRA: Strategic visioning and decision-making through MAPPING, technical assistance on housing, schools, health care, agriculture, transportation and others. This can be followed by the placement of a Peace Corps Fellow for an 11-month community and economic development internship. (For more information on adjunct IIRA programs, see www.iira.org, www.retac.org, and www. peacecorpsfellows-wiu.org). Finally, the MAPPING program sponsors workshops throughout the year on a variety of topics of interest to communities beginning redevelopment efforts. Examples of previous topics include: Funding Resources, Grant Writing and Other Strategies for Successful Community Development; Building School-Community Partnerships for Rural Development; Riverfronts & Storefronts; Ready-but-for-Financing: Project Implementation; E-Business and Transforming Your Community into an E-Community.

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What else can you tell me about the program?
As of December 2007, the MAPPING the Future of Your Community Program has been conducted in 112 communities across 50 counties in Illinois. Since 1991, MAPPING staff have conducted visioning sessions with more than 280,000 rural Illinois residents in communities ranging from 331 to 18,441 in population. Even though the program has been operating since 1991, it remains in high demand. Communities are scheduled on a first come first served basis.

For those who are scheduled into the program, there can be some daunting challenges ahead. These obstacles primarily fall into two categories:

Unrealistic expectations - It is critical to the success of a visioning/planning program that participants are realistic about their community. Communities that begin with unreasonable expectations as to what is feasible are less likely to feel that the program was useful to them. For example, the likelihood that each rural community with a desire to create jobs will be able to recruit a major manufacturer is quite small. However, with a focus on local business retention and expansion and with innovative thinking about viable recruitment many jobs have been created.

Sustainability - From the very beginning of the process, participants are informed that in this program they will participate in creating the high priority goals for the future of their community and participate in the implementation of these goals. The end result of the visioning/planning program is NOT likely to be a grant from state agencies that will fix things (although having a clear community plan adds to the competitiveness of grant applications). Our community, our responsibility is at the heart of the MAPPING the Future program, yet inspiring grassroots leadership, volunteerism, and the level of civic engagement necessary to sustain the effort is a foremost challenge.

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What are examples of MAPPING outcomes and "Success Stories"?
Over the past fifteen years, results from MAPPING community visioning and planning projects have been impressive, spanning the scope of economic and community development initiatives. The achievements include improved housing, small business development, park and recreation improvements, changes in educational systems, increased access to health care services, transportation, and telecommunications, and other widespread, organized efforts for community and economic development.

During Fiscal Year 2004, an extensive telephone survey was conducted to assess the outcomes and impact on rural communities of the MAPPING the Future Program. Sixty-four communities participated in the survey. The results illustrate a variety of community and economic development activities.

In the aggregate, 77 percent of all MAPPING communities surveyed reported that they had created jobs through the MAPPING program, an overall creation of 4,000 jobs. The outcomes experienced by the communities of Havana and Mendota are typical of those in other MAPPING communities. View our printable FAQ for complete details on Havana and Mendota.

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What are some specialized applications of MAPPING?
MAPPING staff will design and facilitate specialized applications of the strategic visioning and planning methodology including programs at the county or regional level, for nonprofit organizations including foundations and for specific sectors of the community such as health, education or business sectors. Specialized program components include a community and economic analysis, volunteer management training, the creation of a mission and vision statement and the development of an action plan with prioritized goals and strategies. Examples of specialized program clients are the Macomb Area Economic Development Corporation (MAEDCO), Rural Partners, the Prairie Tech Learning Center, and the Havana Chamber of Commerce. The MAPPING program is also willing to partner with regional planning commissions, chambers of commerce and Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) organizations on specialized planning applications for comprehensive plans, Overall Economic Development Plans (OEDP) or other development initiatives.

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IIRA Supporting Units
MAPPING was developed to bring a holistic integrated planning and decision-making process to rural communities. The IIRA has related programs for rural community and economic development that support rural communities:

Community Health and Housing: This program provides technical assistance and capacity building to communities, individuals and groups to assess and address health and housing needs in rural Illinois. Health and Housing applies sound social science research practices and community development strategies, which may include organizing community-based task forces or steering committees, analysis of secondary and existing sources of data, conducting surveys, and focus groups or other research methodologies. This program, through high quality research and technical assistance, enhances a community's ability to make informed choices, set priorities, and move toward addressing a housing and health goal that is linked to their community economic goals and improve quality of life.

Data Analysis and Technical Assistance (DATA) Center: The DATA Center consists of three service units located at the IIRA. The units are: The Rural Economic Technical Assistance Center (RETAC), which provides services such as data analysis, economic impact and retain sector analysis, assistance with international marketing, and skills training; Secondly, the Business and Geographic Information Services (BGIS), which provides value-added statistical projects for rural communities; and thirdly, the Survey and Data Analysis Unit, which provides support through survey research and database management.

Illinois Small Business Development Center: The Illinois Small Business Development Center provides confidential business counseling and training to help entrepreneurs start, grow, and sustain their businesses. Counseling appointments may be scheduled at various locations throughout a 12-county service area (Adams, Brown, Fulton, Hancock, Henderson, Knox, Mason, McDonough, Pike, Schuyler, Scott, and Warren). The ISBDC website has detailed information on how to contact the Center.

Illinois Value Added Sustainable Development Center: This center is supported by the Illinois Department of Agriculture and USDA-Rural Development, also draws on this unique decision-making and visioning process. By bringing together agricultural producers, bankers, business leaders, and local citizens involved with the many facets of agriculture, consensus is developed for long-range plans to add value to the local agricultural economy. Successful projects that have emerged out of this program include the development of new ethanol plants in rural Illinois, increased focus on agri-tourism, new generation cooperatives, research on specialty crops and monitoring wind energy potential in rural Illinois.

Rural Transit Assistance Center: The Rural Transit Assistance Center (RTAC) delivers the state's Rural Transit Assistance Program (RTAP), as well as the Interagency Coordinating Committee on Transportation (ICCT) Clearinghouse. RTAC's version of RTAP is one of the most comprehensive, offering traditional services such as training, technical assistance, research, and a paratransit roadeo to managers and staff of existing rural transit agencies. RTAC also provides capital needs assessment for downstate Illinois and participates in public policy bodies such as the Illinois Terrorism Task Force.

Western Illinois Entrepreneurship Center: The Western Illinois Entrepreneurship Center supports economic development in Western Illinois by fostering entrepreneurial activities through workshops, research, business plan competitions, and various client support services.

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Who are the MAPPING program facilitators?
Gisele Hamm, Program Manager - Gisele earned a B.S. in Agricultural Business and a M.A. in Economics from Western Illinois University. She joined the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs in 2003 to manage a study of brownfields in Illinois municipalities. She also worked as a rural technology specialist in the Rural Information Planning Project (RITPP), and managed the Rural Community Development Initiative (RCDI), and AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) program. She has published several articles in national and state outslet on Brownfields and other community development issues and has made numerous presentations to state and national conventions. She is currently engaged in research on rural entrepreneurship, infrastructure, brownfields, and other local government issues.

Frank Antonucci, Economic Development Specialist - Frank began his career in rural community development by serving for two years in Peace Corps Honduras as a Water and Sanitation technician. He worked closely with local villagers on community health initiatives in latrine construction, water system maintenance and trash disposal and did a small reforestation project with a local Middle School. Frank completed a Master's degree in Political Science with a concentration in Public Administration and received a Certificate in Public and Non-profit Management. He served a year-long internship at the Southeastern Illinois Regional Planning and Development Commission. Frank has worked for the IIRA MAPPING program since July 2001 and has completed the coursework for certification in Economic Development from the Economic Development Institute. Frank specializes in nonprofit volunteer management training and planning.

Jeffrey Nemeth, Community and Economic Development Outreach Specialist - Jeffrey has had the unique opportunity to work for three levels of government; a municipality, federal and now state. His work experiences have focused on developing, implementing and evaluating recreational and leisure activities to communities. In 2006, he resigned from federal service to return to school and earn his Master of Business Administration degree from Western Illinois University. During his time as a student, he worked as a graduate assistant for the IIRA, Value Added Sustainability Development Center. Jeffrey has researched ethanol, biodiesel, and biomass sustainability, contributed to multiple publications and co-authored the Rural Research Report on Converting Wind into Opportunity in Illinois. Prior to graduation, he was recognized by the College of Business and Technology as the Howard Davis Outstanding MBA Student for 2008.

Loka Ashwood, Community Outreach Specialist - Loka was raised on a farm in West Central Illinois and has studied agrarian societies and the rural throughout her formal education. She received a bachelor degree in journalism and political science from Northwestern University, during which she worked for the broadcast show U.S. Farm Report and the Lt. Governor Pat Quinn. In 2008, Loka completed her requirements for a Masters in geography at the National University of Ireland, Galway. Loka's studies in Ireland gained her a comparative context of rural communities' global struggles with decline and the shared opportunities to create positive change. In May, she won the European Society of Rural Sociology Fred Buttel scholarship to present at the World Congress of Rural Sociology in South Korea.

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