WHAT IS THIS?

Better Together is a citizen-led, government supported effort to build deeper connection, understanding, and mutual respect among the Decatur community.

The process will facilitate a substantive community conversation that explores our strengths, weaknesses, perspectives and misunderstandings. Taking shape as a variety of citizen-participation opportunities later this year, it will culminate in the creation of a tangible Community Action Plan focused on cultivating a more just, welcoming, inclusive, equitable and compassionate experience for all who visit, live or work in the City of Decatur.

All the details are still coming together but the entire process will be promoted and documented here on Decatur Next, so stay tuned.

WHY ARE WE DOING IT?

Decatur’s no longer the sleepy, deeply-rooted little town it once was, where everyone invariably knows everyone else. With a broader mix of new and existing residents, it’s now on us to build the next generation connections and mutual trust that will power us through the coming decades.

Principle B from 2010’s Strategic Plan reads, “Encourage a diverse and engaged community.” Associated with this principle are multiple goals to maintain and encourage all manner of diversity, strengthen our connections, foster greater interaction, and promote a stronger sense of community.

That’s where we want to be but are we? Some recent events, particularly ones rooted in race, have called our community commitment into question and spotlighted the fact that not everyone feels equally welcome here. It’s clearly time, perhaps even past time, to get started.

WHO’S BEHIND IT?

The short answer is “all of us” in the sense that Better Together is ingrained in the task list of 2010’s Strategic Plan. But more specifically, it’s a collection of volunteer Decatur residents representing a diverse cross-section of the community who, together with our police chief and a handful of city employees, are serving as the Leadership Circle organizing committee. The city is also on board for logistical and resource support and a non-profit partner, Welcoming America, helped us procure a $25,000 grant to help fund the effort.

One paid consultant is serving as the group’s facilitator and helping to make their conversations productive. And you can meet the volunteer committee here.

WHEN IS IT HAPPENING?

The Leadership Circle’s been working together since late 2014 — getting to know and trust one another and working to define goals and a process for engaging the broader community. Those basic recommendations are expected to be presented to the City Commission sometime between May and mid-summer. Assuming the Commission is receptive to and approves the plan, the Circle will then work through logistics towards a formal, community-wide kick-off. That’s anticipated to occur sometime in August or September, once school has resumed.

A more detailed schedule will be posted as it comes together.

IS THIS A WISE USE OF GOVERNMENT RESOURCES?

Building connections, relationships and trust among neighbors isn’t something that works top-down through government intervention or mandate. It has to happen roots-up, by and among the people who live here. That’s why the city’s on board with Better Together primarily in a support role, where our resources can help empower what the citizen-led Leadership Circle is working to do: engage the broader community in a meaningful, neighbor-to-neighbor dialog and actualize the results in the form of a plan.

It’s a role that makes sense because the Strategic Plan, which reflects the collective desires of a broad spectrum of Decatur residents, calls for the city to take action on diversity and its related issues. That means this isn’t just happening on a whim. It’s on the city commission’s ten-year to-do list, which emerged from an extensive public participation process. In short, we as a community value our differences and welcome municipal effort to ensure an ongoing culture of connection, mutual respect and fairness across the board.

We all want a Decatur that’s welcoming — not just to some but to all those who choose to visit, grow a business, or make a home here. Better Together is an effort to further pursue that goal in a way that’s a realistic and responsible use of government resources.