Our Vision: PIKES PEAK REGION IN 2020

Imagine a new approach to charting our community's future. Imagine people of every walk of life getting together to discuss what we want our community to be like in the year 2020.

And imagine children and people just like you leading the way.

The Gazette, Leadership Pikes Peak, Pikes Peak Library District and COPPeR (Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region) have come together to invite you to join in this landmark visioning project. Your ideas about our future as a region are just as important as anyone else's, and together we can inspire, educate and mobilize this community to create a better place for us all to live, work and play.

Welcome to Dream City: Vision 2020.

The project will be divided into three categories: Inspiration, Education and Engagement.
 
INSPIRATION: Dream City will launch summer 2008 with art, photography, film, poetry and essay contests for kids and adults. The theme: draw, paint, sculpt or write about what you want your community to look like in 2020. Various art institutions will join the project as partners by planning their own Dream City-related programming.
 
EDUCATION:  The Gazette coverage will begin with a series of history pieces about how our region took form, and how we got to where we are today. They'll write about past visionaries and look at old master plans. Dream City will also solicit information about every planning process that has happened in the region in recent years, encapsulating them in the pages of The Gazette and posting everything here on the Dream City Web site. Dream City will also look at cool things other cities have done and how they did them. Education partners will build their own programs around the Dream City theme, and you will be invited to share your vision of what you want your community to be in 2020.
 
ENGAGEMENT: With help from Everyday Democracy (formerly Study Circles Resource Center) Dream City will present a series of discussion groups throughout the region, reaching people in all parts of our community. Everyday Democracy helps communities throughout the country find ways for people to think, talk and work together to share visions for the future and to solve problems. Leadership Pikes Peak will enlist and train groups of citizens to conduct community interviews and facilitate group discussions about the next chapter in our region's history. These community conversations will be captured here and you will have the opportunity to participate electronically. As elements of our collective vision start to crystallize, everyone will be invited to participate in a summit planned for the spring of 2009 (kids included). This event will refine the themes of our collective vision and mark a new beginning as we move forward with our plans and dreams. A collaboration with the Quality of Life Indicators project will play the key role of linking the community vision with measurable outcomes and community action. Pikes Peak Library District's 2009 All Pikes Peak Reads project will reflect and continue this process.