Community Focus 2021
A REPORT FOR SPRINGFIELD & GREENE COUNTY

2021 BLUE RIBBONS & RED FLAGS BY TOPIC

Blue Ribbons and Red Flags appearing in the 2019 Community Focus Report are highlighted in bold.

 
BLUE RIBBONS

RED FLAGS
ARTS & CULTURE
  • Strong audience engagement and virtual delivery
  • Strong forward Momentum
  • Collaboration
  • Prolonged shutdown and capacity limitations
  • Diversity and inclusion
  • Chronic funding concerns
BUSINESS & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
  • Strength and growth
  • Welcoming startup environment
  • Strong education system
  • Skilled worker shortage
  • Continued need to address wages
  • Lack of sustained population growth
CITIZEN PARTICIPATION
  • Robust civic engagement
  • Interest in volunteerism and nonprofit support
  • Improved voter outreach and education efforts
  • Low voter turnout
  • Difficult to identify active voters
  • Misinformation affecting participation
COMMUNITY HEALTH
  • Collaboration
  • Strength of health-care infrastructure
  • Tobacco-use prevention
  • Mental-health and substance-use problems
  • Access to care
  • Children's health
EARLY CHILDHOOD
  • Early childhood as community priority
  • Adoption of Conscious Discipline methods
  • Legislative support for funding
  • Economic disparities
  • Child abuse and neglect
  • Lack of support to mitigate post-trauma mental health effects
EDUCATION
  • Graduation rates
  • Expansion of learning opportunities
  • Progress as promised
  • Achievement gaps
  • Pandemic-related learning challenges
  • Teacher shortage and recruitment challenges
HOUSING
  • Collaborative spirit
  • Civic engagement
  • Influx of financial assistance
  • Shortage of safe, affordable housing
  • Aging housing stock
  • Housing instability
NATURAL ENVIRONMENT
  • Economic engine
  • Clean air and water
  • Forward-looking public institutions
  • Extreme weather events
  • Invasive species and diseases
  • Concerns about water sources
PUBLIC ORDER & SAFETY
  • Expanded resources
  • Community collaboration
  • Enhanced technology
  • Rising crime
  • Opioid proliferation
  • Staffing shortages

RECREATION, SPORTS & LEISURE

  • Community collaboration
  • Trails and connections
  • Sports tourism
  • Green space preservation
  • Obesity
  • Parks, trails and sports infrastructure funding
TRANSPORTATION
  • Multimodalism
  • Collaboration, engagement and advocacy
  • Improving existing roadways
  • Traffic safety
  • Consistent funding
  • Public transit
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