In order to get input from members of your community, you may want to use a survey.  They could be provided as an insert in a local paper to be mailed back, or to be picked up at an area Festival with a box to drop them in when finished.

It doesn’t need to be extensive or time consuming (maybe 3-5 questions?)  Think of what information you will need from the community and target your questions to obtain the types of information you are looking for. 

Ideas for questions (choose some or make up your own)

What are three things you like about our town?

What are the most important improvements our community needs to make in the next 5 years?

Tell about a time when you were proud of our community.

Tell about a time when volunteers came together for a community wide improvement.

If there were no constraints (time, money, volunteers, etc) what would you like to see happen in our community?

The year is now 2015 …. What does our town look like?

What would make you feel more comfortable in our town? (How can we make people feel like they “belong” in this community?)

What could this community do to help…

• Low Income families?
• Youth?
• Seniors?

If you could change one thing about our town to make it better, what would it be?

How can we help businesses succeed in our community?

Include a few Demographic questions – no names - but how long have you lived in the town, age, gender, etc.