April 2015 update memo to the community re: BC Vision

1. Memorandum
Date: March 31, 2015
To: Community of Battle Creek
From: BC Vision Planning Team
Re: BC Vision – Project Update
Dear Battle Creek Community,
Momentum is building to make Battle Creek great. So far more than 5,000 community members have been
involved in the BC Vision planning process through participation in planning sessions about jobs, talent and a
culture of vitality, surveys, social media and community canvassing to identify priorities and specific strategies to
pursue in order to create a vibrant and equitable transformation of Battle Creek.
The five priority areas that have emerged through the community planning process include:
 Increase the number of permanent jobs
 Increase the number of Battle Creek residents prepared for work
 Increase the college and career readiness of students
 Improve kindergarten readiness
 Increase the civic pride, unity, collaboration and trust among everyone who lives, works and plays in Battle
Creek
A number of community-led task forces have been engaged to define how to achieve these priorities. These include
the Business and Resident
Engagement Task Force, which
have been involved in BC
Vision since its launch, as well
as three additional task forces
(Small Business, Workforce
Development and College and
Career Readiness),which met
for the first time in February and
again in mid-March. In addition,
in February we built a more
formal link between BC Vision
and the Great Start
Collaborative, which is already
focused on improving
kindergarten readiness in the
area. The graphic to the right
illustrates the relationship
between these task forces and
the five BC Vision priorities.
Through the task forces,a number of community members have helped define goals, indicators of success,assets,
barriers and recommended strategies to achieve both quick wins and long-term impact in Battle Creek. The next
step for these task forces is to develop a 100-day action plan that helps BC Vision move from planning to
implementation.
Battle Creek
BCVisionTaskForcesareworkingtodefinestrategiesrelatedto
eachofthefiveprioritiesunderjobs,talentandacultureofvitality
Jobs Talent Culture of Vitality
Increase the
number of
permanent
jobs
Increase the
number of
BC residents
connected to
jobs
Increase
college and
career
readiness
Increase
kindergarten
readiness
Increase the civic pride, unity,
collaboration, and trust
among the residents of Battle
Creek
1 2 3 4 5
1
• Business
Task Force
• Small
Business
Task Force
• Workforce
Development
Task Force
• College and
Career
Readiness
Task Force
• Great Start
Collaborative*
• Resident Engagement Task
Force
• Business Task Force
• Small Business Task Force
• Workforce Development
Task Force
• College and Career
Readiness Task Force
• Great Start Collaborative*
* Great Start Collaborative is not a Task Force of BC Vision, but is providing input to the BC Vision plan

2. In addition, multiple efforts are underway to bring additional voices into the planning process, including through
community meetings that have been led by members of the Resident Engagement Task Force and youth leaders in
the community. Finally, BC Vision recently launched a community-wide canvassing effort, which is ongoing
through April 18. The goal of this canvassing effort is to connect with 30,000 households to inform residents about
BC Vision, provide them with an opportunity to have input on the five priorities and get their perspective on how
BC Vision can be most effective.
The BC Vision Steering Committee met for the second time on March 23to provide further guidance on the
community’s plan. In the coming months, they will focus on the integration of recommended strategies from the
task forces and decide on the structure to support ongoing implementation of the plan. In May the plan will be made
public, highlighting key goals, strategies,resources needed and a set of metrics to which we will hold ourselves
accountable in order to measure progress.
As always, please feel free to reach out to bcvision@wkkf.org for any questions. Stay connected at
www.facebook.com/BattleCreekproject and use the hashtag #BCVision on Facebook, Twitter and other social
media platforms to help drive this community change. Thank you for your ongoing commitment to making Battle
Creek great.