Vision, Opportunity, and Inspiration through Civic Engagement (VOICES)
VOICE takes a regional approach to community development and civic engagement. Community development means building personal and community capacity through skill development, action planning, shared decision-making, and outcome development. Community engagement refers to an advocacy and citizen activation model whereby the voice of the average citizen is sought and activated to create community change. Under the Center’s VOICE project three or more rural communities work together on a community engagement process. A regional work group, called a community coalition task force, is formed from a cross section of people from all the participating communities. The community coalition is responsible for implementing a community needs assessment, hosting community dialogues, and developing an action plan based on community input that is focused on building a healthier region. The community coalition receives a small start-up grant to assist with the implementation of the plan. The Center for Rural Health is providing technical assistance to the community coalition in the form of workshops, facilitation techniques, needs assessment development and implementation, and other capacity building activities.
Partners
The University of North Dakota Conflict Resolution Center is a partner in providing capacity building skills in the area of change management and communications.
