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The Region 2020 Visioning Process started in the fall of 1997 with 500 blank sheets of 24- by 30-inch white paper.
Within weeks, those sheets of paper were filled with 4,727 ideas. These ideas were the result of 17 public idea-gathering meetings involving over 1,800 people, who were simply asked what they thought would make the Birmingham region a better place to live. Special meetings were held to target audiences that were traditionally overlooked, such as high school students and senior citizens.
Volunteers sorted the ideas into 34 topic headings such as education, transportation, government and environment.
Following this, 800 citizens participated in goal-setting meetings to translate the ideas in each topic group into 34 goals and 217 strategies aimed at accomplishing these goals.
Region 2020 recruited and trained a racially and culturally diverse pool of 200 facilitators, who worked in the small group sessions that were a part of every public meeting. The final meeting was a Vision Fair, where 1,300 citizens helped prioritize the 217 strategies.
In all, 5,000 citizens participated in the process.
The result of this effort was the creation of a comprehensive community agenda with regional goals and strategies illustrating the connections between economic, environmental and social concerns. Ultimately, the legitimacy and success of the vision was directly related to its development through a broad public-involvement process.
This level of public involvement would not have been possible without the significant contributions of the advertising and public relations community, and the work of an extensive volunteer outreach committee. Outreach volunteers were recruited in each community, and worked through churches, civic clubs, neighborhood associations and schools to invite participation.
The public participated in the process because they knew what, where, why, when and how they could be involved. Region 2020 created a public relations committee of professionals to develop and implement a marketing strategy. Design and production of all collateral materials were donated.
Regional media outlets agreed to promote the meetings and report results as community service projects. Kickoff press conferences were simultaneously held in five regional locations. Local television stations covered each location and then – in an unprecedented move – took their individual tapes to Alabama Power Co., and combined their footage for collaborative use by all.
Radio, television and newspaper ads ran throughout the process, at no charge. Op-ed pieces written and submitted by citizens and leaders were printed in papers across the region.
Region 2020 recruited and trained a speakers’ bureau to speak to groups throughout the 12-county area, with additional press conferences and public gathering being held at various locations throughout the process.
More than 1,000 copies of "The Book on Region 2020," a publication containing the goals and strategies of the process, were distributed throughout the region, and, eventually, a virtual copy was placed on the Region 2020 website.
