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Phillips County plans for Community Assessment with Statewide Resource Team

On Tuesday, October 21 and Wednesday, October 22, many Phillips County residents participated in a Community Assessment. The Community Assessment is a planning process that brought a team of resource providers and economic development specialists from across the State to Malta for one and half days to tour the community and listen to its residents and turn what they learn into an action plan to help Malta and Phillips County identify and reach identified economic development goals.

The PhillCo Economic Growth Council in cooperation with the Montana Economic Developers Association (MEDA) and the Montana Department of Commerce sponsored a resource team to visit Phillips County and Malta and ask three questions of the community members…

• What are your community’s major strengths and assets?

• What are your community’s problems and challenges?

• What projects would you like to see in your community? Your vision? Your preferred future?

Around 100 people attended one or several of the listening sessions throughout Tuesday and Wednesday. The resounding response heard throughout the sessions was Phillips County is a great place to live and raise a family. The resource team was very appreciative of the pride the people of Phillips County showed in their hometown.

At the end of the busy two days of meetings, a town hall session was held at the Malta High School. The resource team presented all of the information they heard from residents at the listening sessions. They also presented the plan moving forward. The resource team will now write up a report for Malta and Phillips County. In this report, the team will address all of the reoccurring issues they heard. They will provide insight on other similar situations from around the state and provide information on what other communities did to address these needs. The resource team will return to Malta in early December. This next meeting is very vital. Everyone is asked to attend to hear the options the resource team presents. At this meeting, a plan will be developed to move forward with projects to improve Malta and Phillips County.

The PhillCo Economic Growth Council would like to thank everyone who took the time to attend the Community Needs Assessment. We appreciate your dedication to improving Phillips County!

For information on the Community Needs Assessment and the upcoming session in December contact: Julianne Snedigar (PhillCo Economic Growth Council) at 406.654.1776 or [email protected].

 

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