Jacksonville residents are being asked to share their ideas for the continued improvement of downtown.
Jacksonville Main Street is continuing with the strategic planning process for downtown with a plan to develop transformational strategies based on community input.
Main Street Executive Director Judy Tighe says every few years Main Street revisits the strategic planning process to develop the next five-year plan as a guide for the organization, its committees, and volunteers in planning and executing new projects and events for downtown.
Tighe says residents are asked to complete a survey where they can share their dreams and goals for the downtown Jacksonville area.
“These surveys are basically to get community feedback and input as to their thoughts and ideas about downtown in general, the type of businesses, the type of events, the type of activities, what do they do, where do they do it, that kind of stuff. From that we can begin to hone some of our ideas, and operating within our mission, of course, to see what we can do to help bring some of these ideas into reality.”
Tighe says the survey can be accessed via an online link or by snapping a picture of a QR code. “I don’t see these actual results, the surveys go directly to National Main Street, and Illinois Main Street, and their staff are who is going through and analyze the data. Then we will get a report and then there will be some follow-up work on March 10th and 11th So we will look forward to that and then we will have all of our data and should be able to move forward.”
Tighe says the surveys and strategic planning overall are critical in Jacksonville Main Street’s accreditation process. Main Street has been a nationally accredited program for more than twenty years, and Tighe says recent changes made to the process by National Main Street means that having things like detailed work plans for every project and transformational strategies are vital.
The survey will remain open until March 1, 2022, and will be followed by in-person interviews and assessments conducted on March 10-11 by Illinois Main Street and National Main Street Center staff.
To access the survey click the link, or snap the QR code below. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/jacksonvilleIL-feb2022
