Last Updated on January 1, 2016 by cassnetwork
A new year brings a fresh start in many respects. It’s a time to look back at what we did or didn’t accomplish, and a chance to look forward at what we’d like to accomplish.
As part of our year-end planning process for Cass County Communication Network, we asked for your input. To date, more than 120 of you have taken the time to answer our questions.
One question we asked was “In your opinion, what were the community’s biggest accomplishments in 2015?
What surprised us? Almost 1/3 of the people who answered said they couldn’t think of anything, or that it was “not applicable.”
And yet, we expect our elected officials to convince outsiders that this is a place where they should bring their business, where their employees will want to live, work and raise their families?
If you look only at that statistic, it’s pretty depressing. But when you look at the glass as 2/3 full, things change.
A handful of the community’s accomplishments in 2015, from your perspective:
“All of the wonderful grants/awards given out by the Cass County Community Foundation”
“The city pool”
“Improvements that have been made at some of the local factories”
“Our schools continue to improve”
“Lewis Cass at the Macy’s Parade”
“A good start at demolishing abandoned and blighted real estate”
“LHS fields”
“Public beautification”
“Honoring Mrs. Minnick with her wishes for the statue in the park.”
United Way’s “listening and learning sessions with Harwood”
The over-arching theme we heard was that you WANT to be proud of this community, and you want others to be, too.
You shared questions you have about things going on in the community, and we’re going to try to find the answers to some of those questions.
For a couple of years now, we’ve started picking up on a phrase that gets tossed around often: “Everybody knows …”
Our observation and research have shown that everybody doesn’t know.
That’s what we’re focusing on for 2016. Our vision is that “Everybody knows what’s going on in Cass County.” That “everybody knows” why this is the community so many of us choose to call home. That “everybody knows” when there’s a community event happening, or an important decision being made or that a company has invested in our community.
That starts with making sure “everybody knows” that Cass County Communication Network is here to help. When you’re planning an event that’s open to the public, add it to CassCountyCalendar.com. When your church, your company or the non-profit you work with is trying to get more people in the doors, remind them that we’d love to help, whether it’s through our many opportunities for free publicity, or through our paid advertising opportunities.
We are a locally-owned business and we are able to offer the services that we do because of other local businesses and organizations who choose to invest their advertising dollars with us. We aren’t funded by grants or tax dollars. We are currently a staff of two who see a need in our community and we hope to be one of those companies that’s able to grow, expand and offer good paying jobs.
We’re invested in this community. We’re looking forward to seeing what 2016 brings and we’ll do our best to make sure “everybody knows.” However, we can’t help share what’s happening in our community if we don’t know about it. You can submit events online at CassCountyCalendar.com, e-mail news releases to us or reach us by phone at 574-721-4636.
Happy 2016! Let’s make it great!