ENVISION 2020 NEEDS TO HEAR FROM YOU

Editorials are the institutional voice of The Free Press and independent of the newsroom reporting staff

A community is only as good as its residents who care.

The Mankato area has been blessed with the caliber of citizens beyond elected officials who have taken time to volunteer, donate, lend support and help guide the path in which the area is headed.

We have another critical meeting next week that will require that kind of time investment from a wide swath of citizens.

The Envision 2020 community vision plan, crafted eight years ago, spawned a number of initiatives. What arose from that meeting, as well as from visits to other cities, was Riverfront Park, civic center expansion and the remodeling of the YMCA. It noted the importance of serving our senior citizens, which helped cement construction of the VINE center. And it secured the need for a cancer treatment center at now Mayo Clinic Health System of Mankato.

Besides such brick and mortar projects, it laid the framework for such things as the bike and walk advocates group; the Young Professionals initiative, which aims to keep our young leaders in the community; and a Health Improvement Partnership to promote wellness, exercise and healthy lifestyles to prevent chronic illness.

Envision 2020 as a group doesn’t work physically on these projects, but rather signals to those who have decision-making powers and the wherewithal to get it down that such a project is needed and desired helping it see some success.

But the region has grown in recent years and with it some future issues that must be addressed. The next citywide gathering is not only a celebration of what’s been achieved but now helps determine what needs to be done.

Envision 2020 committee chair John Kind told us: “We’ve accomplished a lot and we’re halfway to 2020. We know things are different than they were in 2006. We hope to get some fresh ideas as to what the community sees as important to do by 2020, what are the big things we really need to focus on.”

The gathering will be held 6:30-8 p.m. Oct. 21 at the Verizon Wireless Center. Participants are encouraged to RSVP online: envision-2020.com.

Kind said he doesn’t know what the major unmet goals might be. “I can give my opinions, but we want to hear from as many people as possible on what they think is most important.”

The only way to give your ideas a chance is to participate. Time to pay it forward and donate a little bit of your time, your opinion and maybe even your expertise to help the area — your community — plan for its future.