Imagine 2020 is a total community visioning process whereby EVERYONE will have the opportunity to submit ideas and participate in planning our future. How do you want Dyersville to look 10-12 years from now? More recreational opportunities, better transportation systems, be on the forefront of technological advances, build a band shell, provide additional senior citizen services, or "insert wish list here". You remember what your teacher told you, "There is no such thing as a bad idea," right!

Imagine 2020 is a process that will guide us to think in a long-range fashion, to be open to change and establish a "road-map" to implement several key priorities.

In a nutshell, here is our mission:

Imagine 2020 will engage community members in a collaborative, community wide visioning process to identify five ideas for community betterment that will be implemented by the year 2020.

First of all, we need to get the word out. What makes this process unique is that we want to hear from everybody. You will begin to see news articles, radio announcements, direct mail pieces and of course advertisements encouraging you to visit this site to "get involved".

Mark this date in your calendars: October 22, 2008. That is the Imagine 2020 Kickoff Event at the Commercial Club Park Pavilion. This is an important date: this is your first opportunity to submit ideas and get on the list. Laurie Guest, a well known community planner and motivational speaker will be on hand to explain the program, set some ground rules and start listing your ideas on how to make Dyersville a better place to live, work and play.

Then over the next several (three) months, we will have many ways in which you can submit ideas and help bring your friends and colleagues into the process. Our goal is to develop a very comprehensive list of ideas and to make sure as many people as possible have the opportunity for input. To brainstorm, we will organize focus groups, attend meetings of service clubs, speak in classrooms and have suggestion boxes in many public places. We will encourage you to talk about it on bowling league night and get ideas from all your friends and relatives about what they would like to see in Dyersville. You can submit the ideas by mail, on a cocktail napkin, in one of the suggestion boxes or on this web site (click on "Submit Ideas")

Meanwhile, submit an application to be on the "Idea Selection Committee" if that interests you. The Steering Committee will choose the Selection Committee anonymously and every attempt will be made to get a very broad cross section of people. Once the idea generation segment of the process has ended, the Selection Committee will begin to organize the ideas into categories and begin to prioritize.

The general public will then have the opportunity to view the top ideas (30) and vote on their favorite ideas to pursue. The Selection Committee will unveil the Top Five Bright Ideas to be implemented by the year 2020.

At this point, the real work begins. We will need to identify funding sources, leadership, volunteers and action steps for each of the Top Five.

A wise Richard C. Cushing once said "Always plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark."

Imagine 2020 will help our community create a shared vision or plan for the future (Dyersville's Ark). Here are some other benefits of the Imagine 2020 process:

• Provides a "road map" for our community to get to the best possible future.
• Increase cooperative efforts among government, businesses, organizations and individuals in working towards common goals.
• Involves new people, new ideas and new priorities
• Provides renewed energy and motivation for volunteers and leaders
• Improves quality of life assets of the community
• Finds common ground for shared goals and promotes greater success in attracting outside financing because funding agencies can see linkages with an integrated community plan.