Vision for Staten Island

• The identification of values, which represents what residents deeply want
• The development of a vision, which articulates the way the region can address those values
• The establishment of policies, which determine how the vision can be implemented

In this way, the vision can delineate an agreed-upon  and comprehensive vision for the future of a community and a blueprint for how that future can be realized.

A vision is neither a top-down nor a bottom-up process. It moves from the center out with an ever-enlarging level of involvement and participation. A vision repositions citizens as pro-active participants in the decision-making process and in the implementation of programs.

The vision process is founded on two core ideas: the need to legitimize the vision through a process that is inclusive, open, and transparent; and the need to integrate the intuitive knowledge of residents with a foundation of factual information in order to anchor the vision outcomes in reality.

The Process: Accomplishments

Vision for Staten Island consists of three phases that collectively will involve thousands of members of the community.

The initial Preparatory Phase addressed issues of governance, staffing, outreach, and logistics (April - November 2008).

Phase 2: Conducting the Vision, is characterized by Generative and Analytical Meetings. Generative meetings gathered ideas using the nominal group technique, visualization exercises and brainstorming. Between December 2008 and February 2009,  900 community members including over 100 middle and high school students from throughout the borough, attended 41 generative meetings at which 2,881 ideas were gathered.

Reality Check Workshops (the first of a set of "Analytical Meetings") were held in late April and early May. These workshops are designed to bring together the intuitive knowledge, or ideas collected from the community, with factual information from various topical experts. The Reality Check results are available for public review.