 |
Sponsored and Facilitated by: Briscoe County Office Texas Cooperative Extension The Texas A&M University System |
Introduction
This report presents the results of the Briscoe County Forum
conducted February 12, 2004 and February 26, 2004 in Silverton and Quitaque. This Forum is part of the
Briscoe County Futures Forum coordinated by the Briscoe
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 Briscoe County Forum
On February 12, 2004 and February 26, 2004, 12 individuals attended the Briscoe 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): Brandon McGinty. Other(s) supporting this effort included: Cory Edwards.
Purpose of the Briscoe County Forum
The purpose of the Forum was to solicit and prioritize citizens' opinions about the most important needs and concerns in Briscoe 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 2 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 2 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 Briscoe County Identified by Participants in the County Forum
The following table reports the final rank of items generated by the Briscoe County Forum.
Table 1: Critical Issues and Entities Identified in Briscoe County, February 12, 2004 and February 26, 2004.
| Rank (Vote) | Description | Entities/Organizations Involved |
| 28 | Rural Community Economic Development - community participantion & involvement, develop tourism resources, job opportunities, agricultural diversification, gov't regulation of rural communities, population retention, housing, businesses and industry | Chambers of Commerce, Briscoe County Activities Association, Texas Cooperative Extension, Schools, State Agencies, Lending Institutions, Panhandle Plains Regional Planning Commission, Texas Parks & Wildlife, Office of Rural & Community Affairs, Rural Business Development Center, Texas Department of Agriculture, State Government Tourism office, Natural Resource Conservation Service, Rural Conservation & Development, PTMC, Regulatory Cooperative Efforts, Texas Health Commission |
| 24 | Water Quality & Quantity - gov't regulation of rural communities | TCEQ (TNRCC), Panhandle Regional Planning Commission, Office of Rural & Community Affairs, Natural Resource Conservation Service, Texas Department of Agriculture, Texas Legislators, Local, District, or Regional Water Boards, Farm Service Agency, Texas Cooperative Extension, City Governments |
| 23 | School Sustainability & Quality - gov't regulation of rural communities, community participation and involvement, youth recreation & activities - mentor programs, parental involvement, community institutions, school support, continued improvement | Texas Cooperative Extension, Texas Parks & Wildlife, Schools, Education Resource Center, Texas Education Agency, Texas Legislators, Civic Clubs, Churches, Non-profit youth organizations, School Boards, Texas State Teachers Association, local community, youth |
| 19 | Health Resources - recruit & retain, geriatric care - nursing homes, in-home care, gov't regulation of rural communities, senior meals & social activities, fire/EMS volunteers, community participation & involvement, continued health services, | Panhandle Regional Planning Commission, Texas Department of Agriculture, Texas Tech University, Rural Health Services (South Plains Health Provider), American Association of Retired Persons, Texas Cooperative Extension, Hospitals, Clinic Board, Ambulance Service, Fire Department, Health Insurance companies, Insurance Board |
| 7 | Utility Costs | Texas Railroad Commission, PEC, Atmos Energy, Xcel Energy, TV/Cable companies |
| 7 | Infrastructure Maintenance - sewage, buildings, pavement, community participation & involvement, gov't regulation of rural communities | Panhandle Regional Planning Commission, Office of Rural & Community Affairs, City governments, county governments, Texas Department of Transportation, We the Women, Civic Clubs, Utility companies |
| 6 | Community Pride & Involvement - community activities, apathy | County Officials, Local business people, Chamber of Commerce, Briscoe County Activities Association, Schools, Churches, Commissioners, School Board, 4-H, FFA, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, School Kids, Church Kids |
| 4 | Wireless Internet & Local calls in county | |
| 3 | Character Building (Parenting) | |
| 1 | Housing - Affordable homes, new homes, available financing, gov't regulation of rural communities | Office of Rural & Community Affairs, Panhandle Regional Planning Commission, Local lending institutions, Federal Housing Authority, Producation Credit Association, Federal Land Bank, VA, HGTV, HUD |
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 Briscoe County Community Futures Forum
The Futures Forum process gives residents of Briscoe 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), Briscoe County Forum, February 12, 2004 and February 26, 2004.
| Small Group # |
Vote | Description |
| 1 | 20 | Amount of Water; lack of water. |
| 1 | 16 | Economics - population retention, housing, jobs, schools, businesses, industry. |
| 1 | 16 | Quality of school - funding, continued improvement, number of youth enrolled. |
| 1 | 10 | Health care - volunteer services, improving and continueing health services, senior citizen care. |
| 1 | 7 | Utility costs |
| 1 | 6 | Community Pride and Involvement - activities, apathy. |
| 1 | 4 | Wireless internet; local calls in county. |
| 1 | 3 | Character Building; parenting. |
| 2 | 8 | Rural Community Economic Development - community participation & involvment, develop tourism resources, job opportunities, agricultural diversification, government regulation of rural communities |
| 2 | 5 | Health resources - recruit & retain, geriatric care, gov't regulation of rural communities, senior meals and social activities, nursing homes, in-home care |
| 2 | 3 | Fire/EMS Volunteer Services - government regulation of rural communities, community participation and involvement |
| 2 | 4 | School Sustainability and Quality - government regulation of rural communities, community participation and involvement |
| 2 | 5 | Youth Recreation & Activities - mentor programs, parental involvement, community institutions, community partnerships and involvement |
| 2 | 5 | Infrastruture Maintenance - sewage, buildings, pavement, gov't regulation of rural communities, community participation and involvement |
| 2 | 6 | Water Quality and Quantity - gov't regulation of rural communities |
| 2 | 4 | Housing - affordable homes, new homes, available financing, gov't regulation of rural communities |