Focus groups, surveys guiding process

As Jay County Development Corporation began looking toward its future, it invited experts to share their opinions.

But the group didn’t want to limit its guidance to the thoughts of economists and developers.

So during the fall it turned to the local community. Through an online survey and a series of focus groups, the organization gathered opinions about how best it can serve Jay County in the years to come.

That information, gathered by Purdue University’s Center for Regional Development, is being used to guide discussions at meetings this month — two are already in the books, and the third is scheduled for Monday — as the JCDC board sets priorities for the strategic plan.

“I was glad to get the community input into it,” said JCDC executive director Bill Bradley. “I think it’s good to get the participation, the thoughts, the ideas.”

So, what did Bradley and his board of directors learn from the surveys and focus groups?

In short, the community has its strengths but there is also plenty of room for improvement.

The positives about Jay County focused on family and atmosphere. Focus groups — there were 61 participants split into groups that included industry, general business, young professionals and government — noted a welcoming, small community, the effort on taking care of one another and low taxes and costs of living as positives. Meanwhile, the survey, returned by 92 of the 275 to which it was sent, cited the following as the top four reasons for living in Jay County: have lived here most of my life (18.5 percent), great place to raise a family (13.8 percent), close to family (12.9 percent) and proximity to employment (12.1 percent).

While family, low-cost living and a tight-knit community rated well, the availability of amenities did not. No survey respondents rated recreational, shopping or entertainment opportunities in their top three reasons to live in the community, and quality of services was mentioned just once.

Those issues — places to eat, shop and be entertained — were especially important to the focus group made up of young professionals, Bradley said.

The focus groups also identified a lack of young leaders, an aging workforce, drugs and geographic limitations as areas of concern when looking at Jay County’s future.

Bradley noted an interesting difference he saw in the responses.

“The attitudes of those who have lived her all their lives versus those who have come here from somewhere else, you see a real difference there,” he said. “It’s amazing. A lot of people who come from the outside can bring some ideas about change, but they’re often less critical of the community than a lot of those people who have been here all there lives. I’ve seen that quite a bit.”

After coming up with lists of potential areas JCDC should target in the coming years, focus group participants then ranked them on a scale of most to least important. At the top of the list was housing development. (JCDC commissioned a housing study early this year.) Other priorities included community health and safety, attraction of new business and industry, facilitation of tax abatements and retail development.

The goal for JCDC’s board is to take all of the information that has been gathered and develop a five-year plan for the organization’s priorities. Bradley expects that process to be complete shortly after Christmas, with the plan to be presented at community meetings early in 2018.

“We’re trying to take them away from the typical answers,” he said. “I’d like to have them embrace some originality. I think that’s key.

“I think there’s a recognition, one of the groups said, ‘Well, the only way we’re going to grow our county is by having the best quality of lifestyle that we can have. And then invite people in.’ And honestly, that’s what it’s got to be.”