Is there a report from the October 2018 event?
Sure is! Click here to read the 52-page PDF document detailing all of the great ideas we generated and the process we went through.
What is “What’s Next Middlesex?”
"What’s Next Middlesex” was a community-wide celebration on Oct. 26-27, 2018, featuring great food, neighborly conversation, and a chance for people who live, work or own in Middlesex to share their ideas for Middlesex's future. Over 200 Middlesex residents turned out to celebrate our community and explore ideas for the future at the event.
Lots of great ideas, and four action groups emerged from the "What’s Next Middlesex?” process. These groups welcome your participation!
Sure is! Click here to read the 52-page PDF document detailing all of the great ideas we generated and the process we went through.
What is “What’s Next Middlesex?”
"What’s Next Middlesex” was a community-wide celebration on Oct. 26-27, 2018, featuring great food, neighborly conversation, and a chance for people who live, work or own in Middlesex to share their ideas for Middlesex's future. Over 200 Middlesex residents turned out to celebrate our community and explore ideas for the future at the event.
Lots of great ideas, and four action groups emerged from the "What’s Next Middlesex?” process. These groups welcome your participation!
1) Community Communication & Outreach: This group's goal is to strengthen connections and engagement in Middlesex. Its first project was making sure Middlesex has access to a calendar of local events and meetings, and publicizing it through great community-sourced seasonal photos. See “Calendar/Pictures.” The group’s next project is to update the “Middlesex Operator’s Manual,” a guide to our community’s organizations and activities. If you have suggestions, or writing, design, or computer skills you’d be willing to pitch in, please contact Susan Clark: sclarkmountains at gmail.com
2) Economic Development and Infrastructure: This group is exploring ways to support entrepreneurship and businesses throughout the community, as well as enhancing our village infrastructure. It has collaborated with the Middlesex Planning Commission to receive funds for a feasibility study for Village development. See this document for more on this project. For details, contact Theo Kennedy: Theo.Kennedy at otisandkennedy.com
3) Trails: This group is interested in creating more and better trails in Middlesex. It has become an active subcommittee of the Middlesex Conservation Commission. If you’d like to get involved in the hands-on work of trail building and maintenance, or have skills in mapping and other trail-related activities, please contact Mary Nealon at mnealon at myfairpoint.net, or Jon Udis at Jonudis at together.net .
4) Community Spaces and Events: This group worked to create an inventory of Middlesex's event-spaces, and launched a Middlesex event series. The “Middlesex Mud Season Series” included workshops and presentations by community members ranging from yoga to bookkeeping to photo and art presentations. This committee became dormant with the onset of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic.
If you’d like to learn more about October, 2018 “What’s Next Middlesex?” vision-to-action forum where community members shared their ideas for Middlesex’s future, you can read the full report here.
Has anyone else ever done this?
Yes!
You can watch this 4-minute video about how it has worked in Vermont and New Hampshire’s Upper Valley region.
2) Economic Development and Infrastructure: This group is exploring ways to support entrepreneurship and businesses throughout the community, as well as enhancing our village infrastructure. It has collaborated with the Middlesex Planning Commission to receive funds for a feasibility study for Village development. See this document for more on this project. For details, contact Theo Kennedy: Theo.Kennedy at otisandkennedy.com
3) Trails: This group is interested in creating more and better trails in Middlesex. It has become an active subcommittee of the Middlesex Conservation Commission. If you’d like to get involved in the hands-on work of trail building and maintenance, or have skills in mapping and other trail-related activities, please contact Mary Nealon at mnealon at myfairpoint.net, or Jon Udis at Jonudis at together.net .
4) Community Spaces and Events: This group worked to create an inventory of Middlesex's event-spaces, and launched a Middlesex event series. The “Middlesex Mud Season Series” included workshops and presentations by community members ranging from yoga to bookkeeping to photo and art presentations. This committee became dormant with the onset of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic.
If you’d like to learn more about October, 2018 “What’s Next Middlesex?” vision-to-action forum where community members shared their ideas for Middlesex’s future, you can read the full report here.
Has anyone else ever done this?
Yes!
You can watch this 4-minute video about how it has worked in Vermont and New Hampshire’s Upper Valley region.
Called a “Vision-to-Action Forum,” this process has been used successfully in 70+ communities around Vermont, across in New England, and as far away as Alaska and even Central Europe. The Vision-to-Action model was developed by Vital Communities of the Upper Valley (White River Jct., VT) and Antioch New England Institute (Keene, NH). With support from the League of Women Voters, this process draws on models developed by University of Vermont and University of New Hampshire Extension Services. If you’re familiar with the Vermont Council on Rural Development’s “Community Visits” or Orton’s “Heart and Soul” models, you’ll see similarities here too.
If you have a question we haven't answered yet, please feel free to contact us.
Event was sponsored by Capitol Copy