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Sponsored and Facilitated by: Anderson County Office Texas Cooperative Extension The Texas A&M University System |
Introduction
This report presents the results of the Anderson County Forum
conducted Tuesday, February 17, 2004 in Palestine, Texas. This Forum is part of the
Anderson County Futures Forum coordinated by the Anderson
County Extension Office. Such events are being held in every Texas
county as part of the Texas Community Futures Forum, a state-wide needs
assessment sponsored and facilitated by Texas Cooperative Extension.
Texas Community Futures Forum
County-level involvement in the Texas Community Futures Forum began in January 1999, with Texans from all segments of the population participating. Citizens in every county were asked to study, discuss and define their communities' current and future needs. Because the populations of Texas counties vary widely, within the framework of the Futures Forum a "community" may be a neighborhood, town, county or region.
Texas Cooperative Extension facilitated the partnering of county government, state agencies, organizations, businesses and other groups to gather information about local needs and issues, and then helped organize action teams to address them. This was an ambitious undertaking. It was also a unique opportunity for many groups to work together in meeting the needs of Texans in the 21st Century.
The 2004 Texas Community Futures Forum process builds off of the previous effort to once again gather information about local needs and issues in all 254 counties. This information will be shared with all of Extension's partners and used as the basis for Extension's long-range outreach education plan for 2005-2008. Extension educational programs, which are available to all Texas residents, will be developed in response to community needs and in conjunction with participating partners.
The products and benefits of this process will be many. All of the issues identified locally will be posted on the Internet for county government, state agencies and other organizations and groups to review and use in developing their own strategic plans. The results from all counties will also be compiled and analyzed in light of trend data to create a comprehensive report. This report will be available to all partners in the Texas Community Futures Forum and to others on request. The information will help all groups to more directly focus their activities and resources; it also will reveal areas of common interest in which partnering groups can work together to solve community problems.
Participants in the Anderson County Forum
On Tuesday, February 17, 2004, 38 individuals attended the Anderson County Forum. They represent a cross-section of county residents, public agencies and businesses in the area. This forum was facilitated by the following individual(s): Truman Lamb, Leah Smith, Holly Black, Jack White. Other(s) supporting this effort included: Truman Lamb CEA, Leah Smith CEA, Holly Black CEA, Jack White CEA, Greg Atwood, Marvin Thompson, Tony Rohne.
Purpose of the Anderson County Forum
The purpose of the Forum was to solicit and prioritize citizens' opinions about the most important needs and concerns in Anderson County. A modified Nominal Group Technique was used to conduct the forum.
The County Forum Agenda
Introductions and Overview: The Forum began with a general session to review the overall agenda, discuss the facilitation process and rules, and pose the question to be considered. Participants were then divided into 3 small groups.
Small Group Session: Participants were asked to respond to the following question:
Participants recorded their responses on paper. These items were displayed for all small group participants to see. Items were then grouped and edited by participants to eliminate duplicates and combine similarities. In the last step of the small group session, each person was allocated ten votes (represented by adhesive dots) to be used among the items he or she believed to be the most important. The outcome was a group consensus for the relative importance of the items. The top-ranked items from each small group were reported in the large group session. All items generated in small groups are in appendix 1.
Large Group Session: First, duplicate and similar statements from the 3 group(s) were edited to eliminate redundancies. Using the voting procedure described above, participants then voted for the items they considered most important.
A final step in the process gave the participants an opportunity to identify entities in the county which are best positioned to work on the issues identified. Participants were asked to respond to the following question:
Which entities (agencies, organizations, community groups, etc.) are positioned to best address these issues?
Information from this step was recorded for each of the top-ranked issues. Results of this part of the process are provided below.
Priority Needs in Anderson County Identified by Participants in the County Forum
The following table reports the final rank of items generated by the Anderson County Forum.
Table 1: Critical Issues and Entities Identified in Anderson County, Tuesday, February 17, 2004.
| Rank (Vote) | Description | Entities/Organizations Involved |
| 69 | Improve education needs for a qualified work force, public schools, vocational, professional on job training. | Public School systems, local Junior College elected officials, City, County, State, Industry with OJT Programs, Churches, Community Organization and Appraisal District |
| 60 | Economic Development concerning developing industry and business jobs including tax base job training, affordable health care and benefits. Expansion and maintenance on existing business recruitment of new business and infra structure, Texas Workforce Commission. | City, Chamber, Palestine Economic Development Corporation, incorporated cities Financial institutions, utility companys, school districts and Texas Cooperative Extension |
| 57 | Affordable Health Care and Health Education concerning decrease cost hospital, more prevention education, decrease prescription insurance cost. | Elected officials, State Legistators, Health care provider, TCE, Texas Department of Health, WICK, Hospital Dist. |
| 49 | Horticultural including implementation of Master Gardener, Landscape training opportunities. | TCE, Local Junior College |
| 35 | Community attractiveness and Environmental friendly. | Texas Cooperative Extension, Chamber of Commerce, City Government, County Government, NRCS, SRA, County Emergency Management |
| 29 | Improve conditions for Homeless a growing population more shelter and healthcare. | Salvation army, City, County, State Legislators, Civic organizations |
| 24 | Greater commitment by local banks to community investment to assist small business, low to moderate home ownership. | Local financial institutions |
| 17 | Improve afforable housing opportunities | Financial institutions, contractors, Tax Appraisal District, State elected officials, Texas Department of Housing and Community Development, Habitat for Humanity |
| 11 | Countywide info Clearing House informal channel for county information or assistance | Elected officials agency company departments |
Note: Items are the actual and unaltered responses submitted by the participants. Any discrepancy between an item listed here and the same item in the small group listing (see appendices) is due to editing by participants in the general session. The numbers in the Rank column represents the number of votes participants gave to the corresponding item. Higher numbers denote greater importance.
Future Plans for the Anderson County Community Futures Forum
The Futures Forum process gives residents of Anderson County the opportunity to identify critical issues that affect them, their families, and their communities. Many local and area agencies and organizations want input from local residents to better focus their activities and resources. Working together, such groups can plan individual, joint or coordinated actions to effectively address a county's or community's critical needs.
Note: Small group results are reported here as they were submitted; they have not been edited or changed in compiling this report.
Items Identified by Participants of Small Group(s), Anderson County Forum, Tuesday, February 17, 2004.
| Small Group # |
Vote | Description |
| 1 | 17 | Affordable Housing - with Government subsidized, veteran homes, rental with limited income and elderly in mind. |
| 1 | 19 | Affordable health care that includes medical/dental & insurance and prescription with low income and elderly in mind. |
| 1 | 6 | Lack of teen age attraction or activities improvements needed something reasonable in price, kid oriented based on current youth interest. |
| 1 | 2 | Cooperation among agencies, organizations, elected officials and business. |
| 1 | 2 | Environmental issues and clean-up |
| 1 | 12 | Educational improvements concerning Illiteracy, teaching diversity, school district sharing resources and job training. |
| 1 | 10 | County government spending accountability. |
| 1 | 10 | County and State transportation improvements. Roads clean and attractive especially coming into town. |
| 2 | 10 | Parenting classes concerning early childhood/Primary School. |
| 2 | 7 | Car seat safety training for different organizations in the community. |
| 2 | 9 | More education on youths planning for their financial futures and job training for youth. |
| 2 | 9 | Attract winter Texans by inviting them to stop at RV Camps. Providing a place overnight may help local business. Some may be impressed enough with us to retire here. |
| 2 | 8 | Promote better coordination between city, fire department, city police department and sheriff department. |
| 2 | 6 | Create a county with central road maintenance system under the control of one person. |
| 2 | 10 | Improve wildlife conservation education for the youth of Anderson County and recruit more minority youth into hunting and fishing through a Mentoring program. |
| 2 | 15 | Economic Development Job Expansion and creation job that will hold youth. |
| 2 | 14 | Provide access to Health care and Health education to rural and low income population. |
| 2 | 5 | Improve hospital emergency room service, lack of speed and customer service. |
| 2 | 17 | Shelter and assistance for homeless, most homeless are single mothers with children, mothers do not have high school diploma's or a job. |
| 2 | 13 | Greater commitment by local banks to community investment for small business and low to moderate home ownership. |
| 2 | 13 | Improve elementary education to build firm knowledge base before entering high school. |
| 3 | 2 | Computer needs for non profit organization funding and training. |
| 3 | 3 | Technology training for youth and adults. |
| 3 | 15 | County wide information clearing house. |
| 3 | 31 | Recycling program concerning county wide tires, hazardous materials dumping program oil, paint, pesticide, batteries, etc. |
| 3 | 22 | Economic Development concerning developing Industry/Business, Business Expansion, Job Creation, Job Training Diverse Identity oriented. |
| 3 | 5 | After school programs throughout county specifically angle of mercy community center. |
| 3 | 6 | County Septic System code enforcement. |
| 3 | 4 | Increase youth skills training and placement activities. |
| 3 | 14 | Utilizing Retirees talents and skills county wide. |
| 3 | 38 | Horticultural training opportunities including Master Gardener program, Angel of Mercy Community Center and Henry Smith family cultural center, vegetable garden and landscaping. |
| 3 | 1 | Improve protection of homes and property from wildlife. |