Letter to the Editor: Invitation to Dubois County for Community Conversations

Like many of you, we are proud of Dubois County’s rich heritage and we believe it has a promising future. In order to position it for success, though, we need your help.

Please join us for a series of events this fall that will lead to open conversations about our people, our communities and our future.

Each session will feature guest speakers and breakout sessions for attendees to discuss ways to maximize Dubois County’s strengths and position it for the future. The three-part series will include a session in Jasper, Ferdinand and Huntingburg.

The series is part of the Community Conversations program, organized and facilitated by Indiana Humanities and the Bowen Center for Public Affairs at Ball State University. After an application period in early 2012, Dubois County was one of five communities in the state of Indiana to be chosen for a Community Conversation. Vincennes University Jasper Campus led the application effort.

It is our goal that we’ll walk away from these sessions with information about what it takes to be a progressive, effective community, and how we can implement our own strategy in Dubois County.

For example, in the first session (Sept. 12, 7:30 a.m. at Jasper’s Arnold F. Habig Community Center), we’ll hear from Professor Michael Hicks, director of the Ball State University Center for Business and Economic Research. Professor Hicks recently published an analysis of data from all Indiana counties with corresponding A-F grades and will provide an in-depth review of Dubois County. As a county, we scored very well in a number of factors, but in others, we have opportunity to grow. Come find out how we can ensure we remain at the top of the class.

In session two (Oct. 17, Ferdinand Community Center), we’ll learn from the best as representatives from the 2012 Indianapolis Super Bowl Host Committee share strategies they implemented to engage communities across the state.

Finally, in the third session (Nov. 14, Huntingburg Event Center), we’ll bring it back home as the Jasper and Ferdinand Hometown Competitiveness teams discuss what they’ve learned from research surveys they have conducted about their communities’ strengths and opportunities for improvement.

All of the events have a small fee (from $10-$25), and includes a meal. You can register online here or by calling Jim McFaul at VUJC at 812.481.5909.

We hope you’ll join us for the entire series, but if you can only make one or two, that’s okay too. What’s important is that you add your voice to the conversation. It’s critical to our community’s success that we hear from everyone – longtime residents and newcomers, young professionals and seasoned veterans, large business owners and entrepreneurs.

Thanks for making Dubois County truly a great place to live. Help us keep it that way for the next generation and beyond.

Sincerely,