Starting with the partnership and commitment of WMFE-TV and 90.7 FM Radio, and WKMG-TV the weeklong primetime television series and related news reports outlining four alternative growth scenarios laid the foundation upon which residents could educate themselves and indicate their preferences on how community leaders should address projected population growth in the next fifty years.
One of the primary objectives of the survey was to give everyone – lifelong residents as well as newcomers, elected officials, business and community leaders, environmentalists, transportation experts, educators, builders and developers, retailers and wholesalers, service providers, and many, many more – an equal opportunity to express their opinions about the future.
Whether survey respondents favored Green Areas, Corridors, Town Centers, or the current Trend, each opinion is based on personal experience and a desire to maintain the quality of life, which brings new residents to our region and keeps “lifers” here as well.
While the tabulations of the survey and “where we go from here” are currently being addressed, it is important that we express our appreciation to all the public, private and civic organizations who distributed the “How Shall We Grow?” surveys and/or provided access to the information and the online survey instrument, much in English and in Spanish.
- Over thirty organizations included a link on their websites to www.myregion.org and the online Survey.
- Twelve community partners distributed over 19,000 printed Surveys to their constituents.
- Seven print media partners provided feature articles and/or Editorials on the Survey in their publications.
- The “How Shall We Grow?” television programs were aired on eight television stations in Central Florida. Bright House Networks aired public service announcements on seven of their cable channels and also scrolled information about the campaign on the Weather Channel.
- Twenty organizations provided survey information via email blasts and electronic newsletters to contact lists that totaled more than 36,000 addresses. Because several organizations sent multiple blasts, the total number of electronic touches was more than 100,000.
- Embarq included information on the “How Shall We Grow?” campaign in their January billing that went to more than 300,000 residential and business customers in Central Florida.
And these are just the partners we know about! It would be impossible to guess just what the ripple effect of this community outreach campaign could be given the fact that second-hand and even third-hand distribution is a high probability.
To each and every outreach partner and to each and everyone who took the time to complete the “How Shall We Grow?” Survey because you care about the future of the Central Florida region, we say Thank You!
For a listing of the “How shall We Grow?” Outreach Partners, click here:
“How Shall We Grow? – Creating a Shared Vision for Central Florida” is a fifteen-month process that brings together local, regional and state agencies in a partnership to design our collective future. The Florida Department of Community Affairs, Florida Department of Transportation, the Central Florida MPO Alliance, East Central Florida Regional Planning Council, Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce, and myregion.org have combined their professional talents and resources to take this message to the people of our region.
myregion.org - A Regional Development Program - is an organization of citizens and leaders from public, private and institutional sectors who have launched a program to prepare the Central Florida Region to compete more effectively in the 21st century while enhancing the quality of life of its citizenry.
