The Bourbon County Economic Development Authority connected with UK Extension through CEDIK to facilitate an update of their county economic development plan. Dan Kahl, Extension Faculty in Community Leadership and Development and Alison Davis, Professor of Agricultural Economics, worked with the County EDA Board to develop a public engagement strategy to encourage broad community involvement in the development and adoption of a 5 year plan. The devised plan included hosting a series of public meetings mixed with EDA board planning meetings.

A successful first meeting involved more than 50 community partner representatives from across the County gathering in the small community of Millarsburg, KY. The first meeting invited partners to celebrate shared goal accomplishments from the previous strategic plan, to participate in a community assessment, and set vision themes for the upcoming plan. After local news covered the first meeting, a second forum gathered 40 community representatives to review and affirm the vision and establish goal themes for the plan. The core team then met several times with Dr. Kahl to refine goals, strategies, and action plans for the next five years.

A final meeting again brought over 50 community partners together to introduce the detailed plan and identify ways in which the community governments, businesses, industries, civic groups, schools and community programs could participate in moving the shared goals forward.  CEDIK collected the community partner commitments from that meeting and compiled them into a partnership guide for the county EDA.

While this was deemed a success by the Bourbon County EDA, it also met Extension Community Development goals of:

• Facilitating a formal plan for community organizational development. (1 formal Strategic planning document)
• Formal adoption of a strategic plan by a community organization (Adoption and implementation of action plans)
• Effective engagement of community members in collaborative efforts (Approximately 40 consistent partners)
• Establishment of new collaborative partnerships (12 organizational commitments of collaboration)