The Community Plan for Terre Haute, Indiana, two years in development, was unveiled today by Terre Haute Tomorrow, a committee of community leaders and citizens promoting growth and opportunity for Terre Haute.
The new 10-year strategic plan sets goals, objectives and strategies for action in several critical areas – quality of life/community image, economic development, workforce readiness, leadership development and infrastructure. Plan details are available at the committee’s new website, www.terrehautetomorrow.com, which launched today.
Terre Haute Tomorrow member Steve Witt said, “These strategies are fluid and can be expected to change and be added to as progress is made, but this plan definitely gives us a starting point to move the community forward. The goals will be periodically reevaluated and revised. Some will probably be dropped, but others will emerge and be added.”
Terre Haute Tomorrow was created in 2001 when the Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce and the Terre Haute Economic Development Corporation (THEDC, then known as the Alliance for Growth and Progress) brought together a handful of volunteers to participate in a planning initiative. The group was set up to provide the leadership and coordination necessary to develop, implement and update a long-term plan for the city.
That effort produced substantive results over the next decade, including creation of greenspaces, trails, recreation and Wabash riverfront planning; the “Terre Haute - A Level Above” integrated marketing effort; progress with downtown redevelopment and establishing the THEDC as the community’s lead agency for attracting and retaining business.
To continue to move the city forward, the Chamber and the THEDC initiated Terre Haute Tomorrow Phase II in 2011 with a comprehensive community research study. The results of the study were unveiled in May 2013 at an all-day, long-range planning work session.
“Where Phase I began with fewer than 10 community leaders,” said committee member David Haynes, “the forum to begin Phase II drew nearly 100 leaders from many sectors of the community, demonstrating the energy and enthusiasm generated by those proven successes from the last 10 years.”
Since that time, five work committees and numerous subcommittees have been writing work plans, which make up the Community Plan that was unveiled today, Haynes said. “This plan will continue to engage more people as the committees work to carry out their goals.”
