The Antioch Vision Committee was created to promote balanced consideration of the broad range of perspectives and topics that would be voiced through the community visioning process. Some committee members were selected to broadly represent institutional and social perspectives of the community. Others were selected because of their long standing involvement in the community and experience observing Antioch’s evolution and maturation over time.
During the first phase of the Vision development the committee served as an important conduit of information to community members, interest groups, and other organizations in an effort to encourage broad participation. Members provided input on the community-wide survey, helped identify stakeholders to be interviewed and attended workshops to get a first-hand sense of the values and needs of the community. Members piloted, reviewed, and offered feedback at each of the incremental stages of the report and process, including the analysis of core values and emerging themes from each component of the visioning process. The Committee provided continuity and feedback through the various phases and aspects of the Vision Process.
Community Workshops
Another component of the process involved a series of four community workshops. Stakeholder meetings, student focus groups, and open houses were designed to engage the attention, interest, and involvement of a broad spectrum of Antioch community members, and provide opportunities for group discussion and meaningful input into the community’s vision. The format used for the workshops allowed community members to participate in a series of small group discussions of short duration, followed by identification of common themes in a larger group setting.
Community-wide Survey
Based on feedback from the steering committee and input provided at the community workshops, core values were developed and set the foundation for a community-wide survey. Surveys were mailed township wide to offer each community member an opportunity to provide input. The survey was also made available on the internet. Residents were asked to answer 15 questions that focused on Antioch’s quality of life, local economy, the natural environment, social setting, education and volunteer programs.
Over 670 responses were received and evaluated by the Vision Steering Committee to broaden the perspective of the identified core values at a greater level of specificity and detail. The survey data was summarized and pictographs were generated to help tell the story of the background data that served to form the basis of the Antioch Community Vision.