FORT FRANCES—The First Impressions Community Exchange is finalizing plans to visit Dryden, and is looking for more people to join the Fort Frances team.
An orientation meeting will be held next Tuesday (Sept. 18) at 4:30 p.m. at the Fort Frances Museum. The team plans to visit Dryden on Oct. 5.
“We need more community members to come forward and say they’re interested,” museum curator Pam Hawley noted Monday, adding next week’s orientation meeting is a perfect time to get involved.
Fort Frances and Dryden have arranged an exchange and through the process will learn about their strengths and shortcomings through the eyes of first-time visitors.
Volunteer teams from both towns will undertake unannounced incognito visits, record their observations, and give constructive feedback to their exchange community.
The exchange will offer a fresh perspective on the appearance, services, and infrastructure of each community—and help the communities learn about their strengths and shortcomings.
To assess the exchange community from various perspectives, team members role-play during the visit.
The roles could include everything from a new resident, someone considering moving to the area, or someone looking to set up a business in the community to simply a shopper looking for some good buys.
Developed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, the First Impressions Community Exchange includes a community assessment questionnaire completed during the visit, the compiling of a report summarizing the visiting team’s observations, and the presentation of a slide show reporting findings to the exchange community.
The knowledge gained through a First Impressions Community Exchange can be the basis for positive community action, focused on downtown revitalization, tourism development, investment attraction, quality service improvement, or broader community strategic planning efforts.
“When you live in a place, there’s lots of things you don’t even notice,” said Hawley. “This provides a new set of eyes—input from a different point of view.”
Hawley noted a trip to Dryden also would tie in to the heritage tourism project going on here.
“They’ve just done some development on their downtown, with bannering and all that. We’ll see ideas there,” she remarked. “And although we’re just getting started, they can evaluate us and make sure we’re headed in the right direction.
“They can tell us what we’re missing.”
If you are interested in joining the Fort Frances visiting team or require more information, contact Hawley by calling 274-7891 or via e-mail at phawley@fort-frances.com
(Fort Frances Times)
Fort Frances Times
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