Goal, Strategies and Initiatives

For Northern Kentucky to grow and prosper we must cultivate the next generation of regional stewards who are civic entrepreneurs, integrators, and coalition builders.  Therefore, Northern Kentucky set a goal to cultivate regional stewardship as a defining quality of our region. 

Four strategies for achieving regional stewardship:

1. Increase the number of women, minorities and young people in key leadership positions
2. Expand leadership development opportunities throughout the region
3. Build and sustain a culture of civic volunteerism and philanthropy
4. Create a Regional Stewardship Council to lead the implementation of Vision 2015 (developed in 2006)

Latest Developments on Related Initiatives 

Volunteer Website   www.NKYHelps.org
NKYHelps.org is a great way to get involved or promote opportunities that need volunteers.  New features have been added to the website to home page, such as links to NKY Helps at Facebook and Twitter.

Here are statistics as of August 2011:

• Total page views since inception: 406,060
• Active volunteer listings as of Aug. 12: 108
• Number of donate/share listings: 171
• Number of registered volunteers: 1,450
• Number of approved organizations: 188
• Number of "clicks" generated to organization Web sites: 49,800

Northern Kentucky Forum   http://civicengagement.nku.edu/involved/forum.php
The NKY Forum is a partnership between Vision 2015, Legacy and the Scripps Howard Center for Civic Engagement. The Forum continues to move forward toward accomplishing all of its 2011 goals. Two events were held in September/October, each attracting more than 100 attendees. The October 11th event, on the local government structure in Kenton County: 1 County, 18 Cities featured Dr. Suzzane Leland, an expert in local government collaboration successes and failures and four panelists from across the state. 

Are you a resident of Kenton County? If so, please take a moment to log into this poll being conducted the Northern Kentucky Forum regarding government structure in the county. There are no right or wrong answers in this poll; the questions are simply designed to gauge public opinion in the county. The poll is a follow-up to the Forum’s Oct. 11 event, “Is the Government Structure in Kenton County Ideal?”  The Forum wants to hear from you. You can take the poll by connecting to this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TDRFJZP
                                           

If you have a topic that you would like the forum to consider, please e-mail the idea to Tara Ford at tford@vision2015.org.

Service Learning   http://servicelearning.childreninc.org/
Service learning has become a defining aspect of creating a culture of regional stewardship among youth in Northern Kentucky.  Children Inc. continues to expand the impact for students participating in service learning in their schools. Recent developments include: Children, Inc. has accepted another school into the partnership and has a waiting list for schools seeking to join this regional service learning network. Junior Achievement and Children, Inc.’s Service Learning division have joined hands to integrate financial literacy, business planning and service learning methods. This year, at least 12 classes in K- grade 12 have the opportunity to increase their own financial literacy while learning how to be social entrepreneurs! Already, students in 81 projects have had the opportunity to learn about business concepts and social entrepreneurship by raising $23,000 in micro enterprises and giving their revenues to worthy causes locally and globally.

Service Learning statistics to date for the 2010-2011 school year:

• Nearly 20,000 students have completed or are currently involved in a service learning project.
• Students in 60+ schools are currently carrying out or have completed 254 projects.
• An additional 91 projects are in the draft (investigation and designing) stage.

Greater Cincinnati Service Learning Network
Vision 2015 and Agenda 360 have partnered with Children, Inc to form The Greater Cincinnati Service Learning Network.  The group has now established its Steering Committee and has begun to meet and formulate goals.  This initiative builds upon the foundation laid by Children, Inc.’s strong Service Learning Program in Northern Kentucky and will link numerous community partners throughout the Greater Cincinnati region that provide service learning and community service programs involving students from kindergarten through college.