2021.07.16--Falmouth Focus, Volume 3, Issue 16--Special Vision & Values Issue

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Welcome to the Vision & Values Dedicated Newsletter

Welcome to our first Vision & Values dedicated special issue of The Falmouth Focus. This new newsletter will run every other Friday (in between regular editions of The Falmouth Focus) and focus exclusively on Falmouth's Vision & Values project. Here we will explore future trends and present some of the questions of trade-offs that we will undoubtedly tackle as a community in upcoming discussions about Falmouth's future. This week we will provide an update on the Falmouth Vision & Values project to date and where we are headed in the coming months. 

There's a lot of news in this issue! Here are the highlights!  

• We've gathered a lot of information from residents through the Community Survey and Future Summits. Check out the background of the project and our accomplishments to date here.
• From this information and additional research, we've identified 10 discussion topics for further exploration.
• We'll be launching online discussion boards for each of these topics where residents can weigh in with their thoughts and perspectives.
• Mark your calendars for September 13-24 when we will hold a variety of in-person forums, meetings, and a think tank to gather even more community input.
• Meet some of your neighbors and learn about why they are engaged in the Vision & Values Project.

Please note the hyper links above to sections within this document may not be supported by all browser platforms. 

How did we get here?

The Vision & Values project is especially important to Falmouth, as it is clearly a community experiencing change and evolution. Most communities undertake an update of their local vision about every ten years. The pandemic has only added extra importance to using this occasion and process to think more deeply about our community future, direction, and evolution. The Council has made this a critical priority for 2021.

• The Town of Falmouth initiated the process to develop a Town Vision & Values statement, in late 2020. They contracted Future iQ, a specialist research and consulting firm to design and lead the process which will conclude in late 2021.
• The process of creating the Town of Falmouth Vision & Values statement requires deep and wide community engagement which is inclusive and transparent. Surveys, focus groups, scenario-based think-tank, neighborhood sessions, and future summits are all methods Future iQ are bringing to ensure maximum community input.
• The resulting Vision & Values statement will provide a critical context prior to the Town of Falmouth embarking on the update of its 2013 Comprehensive Plan. The Comprehensive Plan will guide future evolution of the community.

We've Come So Far in a Challenging Year!

In late 2020, the Vision & Values Community Survey #1 was launched. This survey intended to explore what the people of Falmouth thought about a range of issues, within a visioning framework. This community survey resulted in over 1700 responses from Falmouth residents. The photo above shows the efforts of some residents to encourage their neighbors to join the conversation! This level of participation was exceptional and the detail of responses/time taken by each participant was much appreciated as we moved into the next phase of the project. All results from the survey can be found on the Vision & Values online portal. The portal is the “go-to place” for any information regarding the project and process.

VISION & VALUES COMMUNITY SURVEY #1

After the hugely successful Community Survey, Future iQ posted the results onto a data visualization platform. This is a platform where people can filter on many levels and dig deep into the data. Future iQ has produced a short video to explain how to use the platform. You will be fascinated by the results! 

FUTURE SUMMITS

The Vision & Values Future Summit was held on Monday, March 1, 2021. The Summit reviewed the project and survey data, provided interactive live polling on a series of key questions, and involved community comment in a moderated Q&A session. An additional Vision & Values Future Summit was held in late March, for those who couldn’t attend the original event.

• View the Vision & Values Future Summit recording.
• View the Vision & Values Future Summit Slide Deck
• View the Vision & Values Future Summit Revisit in late March

DISCUSSION BOARDS

Future iQ has also been inviting Falmouth community members to take part in discussion boards on the “go to” platform for the Vision & Values process. If you haven’t seen these yet, please review on the dedicated section of the portal.

COMMUNITY CONNECTORS

Future iQ has worked extensively with a group of Community Connectors who volunteered to encourage broader community members to take the community survey. The Community Connectors have been so dedicated and engaged. They continued to meet regularly with Future iQ to help synthesize the survey results into a series of focus group discussion topics.

AN ENGAGED COMMUNITY

Future iQ believes that the work to date has highlighted fantastic and committed community engagement from a community that really cares about the future of Falmouth. It has been a pleasure to work in so much depth and thoughtfulness with community members, Town Council and Town Staff as we embark on this exciting process.

Future iQ would like to thank the Community Connectors for their recent input into relevant themes for the focus group topics. This sets the project up for the next important step.

These Next Steps Are Crucial! 

The first main step in the Falmouth Vision & Values project was the Community Survey. The second step is hosting Focus Group discussions on key themes and topics that have emerged from the survey, Discussion Boards, and the Future Summits. Future iQ will host facilitated groups that focus on specific topics and work to build a deeper understanding of each topic and its implications for Falmouth's future. The exact dates and venues for the focus groups are still being determined, so stay tuned for additional details.

IDENTIFYING AND EXPLORING TOPICS

Key topics have been identified from a review of the results from Community Survey #1, macro trends research, and dedicated Discussion Boards. The list has been refined with Council and community input via the Community Connectors (as a reference group). The focus group topics will be:

• Residential development 
• Non-residential development and future Town Center
• Housing affordability
• Shared community areas, green and open spaces
• Connectivity, walkability, and recreation
• Community diversity, inclusivity, and resident experience
• Lifelong community learning opportunities and our school system
• Environmental focus
• Governance and collaboration
• Cost of living in Falmouth

DISCUSSION BOARDS

Discussion Boards will be hosted on the Vision & Values portal for each topic to allow for community input on expected impacts and implications. The boards will be posted online beginning in August. We invite the community to visit the discussion boards often. Here they can provide input on each topic and gain an understanding about their neighbors' perspectives by reading comments posted by other community members. 

FOCUS GROUPS

Focus Groups will be established for each topic. Community members will be able to express interest in which focus groups would be of interest to them. The Focus Groups' task will be to help synthesize community input from Discussion Board and Survey #1 and explore a set of crucial questions. Focus Groups will examine and speculate about the topic's current understanding, potential impacts and implications, and future options. As we are thankfully moving out of the pandemic and embracing “in-person” events, we are delighted to be able to host in person Focus Groups. These will take place from September 13-24. We will update you very soon on the dates, venues, times. We are really encouraging you, as committed Falmouth residents, to attend!

What are Focus Groups? Have a look at the Future iQ’s outline of Focus Group Methodology.

FALMOUTH VISION AND VALUES THINK TANK

Once the community survey and focus groups are completed, we will working out potential scenarios for the future of Falmouth. This is where we really mean business! This will be an in-person community event to work out what the preferred future for Falmouth will look like. Falmouth's Vision & Values Think Tank is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, September 25. More details to follow as we firm up arrangements. 

Join the Discussion

We'd like to leave you with some perspectives from Falmouth community members on why this project--and YOUR voice--is so important to Falmouth's future. The Falmouth Vision & Values project is built on community participation. The initial phase of the project has demonstrated this by the excellent result in the community survey. The Community Connector group played a huge role in the success of the Community Survey #1. Perspectives from some of the Community Connectors are outlined below.

• Lisa Joy from Middle Road, who has been participating as a Community Connector, kindly interviewed a number of the other connectors to gather their perspectives. Lisa also said, “We’ve been consulted on all key points to date and have helped chart the course ahead. Whether you’ve lived here all your life or are brand new to town, we invite you to get on board for the variable and exciting waters ahead”.

• Emily Bugbee has found the connector role more and more meaningful as time’s gone by. “We worked hard to begin the outreach process,” she said, which everyone was very enthusiastic about. “Since then, I’ve gotten to know people I didn’t know before, and found real connections through hearing from them what we should do in the future. It’s exciting. We don’t always agree, but we’ve respected each other’s opinions,” she said. Emily attended K-12 in Falmouth, and after living years away, returned to her family home on the Foreside in 2017. “Certain social and demographic issues and perceptions are what I remember living here as a kid,” she said. “Specific arguments and anxieties are different now, but emotional reactions are similar.”

• Pam Vose from the Pleasant Hill neighborhood believes that divergent resident views can yield really good results. “The more participation, the better,” she said, adding that she’d like to see high schoolers, young parents and single people get involved, comment on posted discussion boards, and sign up for focus groups in September. “They will benefit the most from the good ideas that come out of this,” she said, “and also be the ones to deal with mistakes we may make.”

• Lois Lengyl of the Woodlands also wants as much resident engagement as possible and for all voices to be heard. What she’s discovered within the process has been energizing. “I’m very uplifted and impressed by the continued energy I feel through the connectors,” she said.  “People really care about what goes on here and have strong ideas about how they want to see things move forward. Even in discussions with diverse opinions, the energy and caring is there to work through it.” She looks forward to maintaining that high amount of commitment on behalf of community members.

• John Adelman wants to see more residents to get involved in the visioning process. “We need more people lending their voice,” he said, “from the east side and from the west. I want to hear from those who live on busy roads like mine (Falmouth Road) and from those on woodsy dead ends like Paddock Way. We need to hear what you’re feeling about how easy or not it is to get to the store or get your kids to school and back,” he said. Overall, he’s positive on the visioning process to date. “The people who have stepped up with passion to make this thing viable and meaningful represent a good slice of the community,” he said. “Our strengths are that solid cross section and that David (Beurle) is a worker.” John is also looking forward to group discussions, which, from his perspective to date, will be rich with ideas and questions. “Once those focus groups are done,” he said, “the real work begins.”

• Danielle Tracey from the Flats likes the connectors’ diverse geographic representation best. “Our different neighborhoods and interest groups are not only the best part, but also going to help us get into tougher conversations,” she said. “In theory, we’ll have a group of friends and neighbors around us that we’ve encouraged to join in.” She loves the speed at which the process is moving. “The pace of it has been in our favor – deliberately slow. We’ve had time to think about things, talk to people, and consider their perspectives,” she said. Danielle is excited that focus groups will attract new voices who haven’t necessarily filled out a survey or spoken up at town meetings. “Since we’ve been advertising, it’s on people’s minds,” she said. “The in-person groups will literally help focus people who may be up in the clouds about what’s going on,” she said. “I hope they come, hear it all put together, and say, ‘Now I understand, and here’s my perspective.’”

In the next issue we'll feature even more perspectives from additional Community Connectors.  

Future iQ has been contracted by the Town of Falmouth to conduct the Town of Falmouth Vision and Values process. You can learn more about the project lead David Beurle, CEO of Future iQ, who is leading the process with assistance from the Future iQ team, or Future iQ by visiting the website www.future-iq.com.