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Full Circle's Core Values
- Good planning requires input from
the community. Goals, strategies and priorities of the people who
live in the community must be the foundation of all planning.
- Good Planning requires good
information. We cannot plan for the future until we know what we
have to work with in the present.
- Neighborhood stakeholders are the
best sources for information on many aspects of their community. Those
who live in the neighborhood have the best view of what is happening there.
Public data sources such as the County Assessor data are very important, but
should be combined with locally-gathered data.
- Future development depends on
today's assets. Identifying assets of all kinds is crucial to the
process of community improvement.
Timeline:
The Full Circle project was launched on October 1, 2003 and will continue
through September 30, 2006.
How the program is structured: Two core
components are at the heart of the Full Circle mapping and planning project:
 (a) Wireless hand-held data devices, dispersed throughout the region and always connected to
CMAP's web servers for seamless mapping, data collection and data retrieval.
(b) Face-to-face participatory planning sessions, whereby local
residents and neighborhood leaders will express their goals, concerns and ideas
about the future of their communities.
This combination of cutting-edge technology plus the commitment to community
level participatory planning is what makes the Full Circle model powerful. The
objective is to heighten open conversations that happen around a table at all
levels, and become better informed (and documented via) through the use of
these cutting edge web-based tools.
The Four Phases of Full Circle
Phase 1: Neighborhood
Inventory: what is out there right now?
A detailed inventory of land use,
housing, transportation, jobs, culture, recreation, natural resources and
historic points is compiled by each neighborhood partner through the use of
handheld computers connected to the internet. This information can be updated as
needed. Maps, reports, and statistics are generated based on the
information collected.
Phase 2:
Asset Mapping: what
can we do with what we have?
Using the handheld device computers and
other internet tools, community members can compile an inventory of neighborhood
assets. Assets might include parks and playgrounds, local employers,
transit stations, vacant parcels, historical sites, cultural treasures,
longtime residents with a knowledge of the communities history, youth groups and
many other important factors.
During this phase, neighborhood partner staff and residents will hold a series
of public Asset Mapping sessions, relying on their own knowledge of the
neighborhood as well as the web-based inventory, to catalog assets that will be
valuable in the effort to shape future development. The sessions will be guided
by the
Asset-Based Community Development Institute from the Institute for Policy
Research at Northwestern University.
Phase 3 -
Planning for full potential: how can the hopes and intentions of local residents
be realized?
What kind of future is possible, or
desirable, for local residents? Participatory planning at the neighborhood
level, informed by good data on existing and future assets (including intangible
human assets) is the best way of targeting development efforts towards the
well-being of local residents.
During this phase, CMAP will introduce the participatory planning model embodied
in the
Common Ground initiative. Setting
goals, evaluating priorities, building consensus, and scenario building: all
part of aligning future development with the interests of local residents.
Planning sessions will be held over a period of 18 months.
Phase
4 - Implementation and evaluation
Months of data collection, training and
visioning yield concrete results -- plans for housing, commerce, green space and
cultural sites are finalized. Working with local governments, CMAP's community
partners will set about realizing their plans.
All facets of the Full Circle project will be evaluated, providing feedback to
CMAP and the participating community development agencies.
Funding: Full Circle is funded in part by a
$675,000 grant from the United States Department of Commerce under its
Technology Opportunities Program and the
generous support of the
John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
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