Transforming Tomorrow Together – Greater Mankato 2040

Published On: March 17th, 20234.3 min readCategories: Covid-19, Featured, Latest Headlines, Local News, News

The ‘Transforming Tomorrow Together – Greater Mankato 2040’ initiative is a robust, and forward-looking regional community planning process. We aim to explore the future strategic positioning of the Greater Mankato region, and to create an enduring vision and roadmap to the future. A fundamental premise in this work, is that the world is changing fast, and we need bold thinking to help figure out how this region can thrive over the coming decades. We are exploring how we need to evolve and transform as a region, and what our unique proposition is in a Midwest and global context.

 

Large scale regional planning is nothing new to our region. As previous successful efforts including Act 2000 and Envision 2020 have shown, the involvement of communities is a large driver to the success of planning for the future. The region needs bold thinkers to determine how it can thrive over the coming decades and these previous initiatives have paved the way to a thriving community.

“Greater Mankato has a long history of Community Based Planning. This initiative builds upon successes of past planning efforts in providing a connected and collaborative approach, focusing on the future strategic positioning of the region. We look forward to embarking upon this opportunity to create a shared vision for our region,” stated Jessica Beyer, President & CEO of Greater Mankato Growth, Inc.

The ‘Transforming Tomorrow Together – Greater Mankato 2040’ initiative is designed to give people in the region, and our stakeholders a chance to help design our future.

  • We are designing a connected and collaborative approach and want to include voices from across the region. There will be many opportunities to participate, including surveys, think tank sessions, focus groups, and community workshops.
  • We are taking a bold and ambitious long-term view and thinking about how Greater Mankato can thrive in a changing world.
  • We want to connect to other strategic planning efforts in region and learn from our internal and external stakeholders.

An effective visioning process is based on three primary principles: It is future oriented, data driven, and people focused. The ‘future orientation’ is particularly important to take account of rapidly emerging social, technological trends, and macroeconomics. The ‘data driven’ ensures the plan is built on solid research, public input, and information, and is measurable. The ‘people focused’ is important to build support for the vision for the region, and to harness the best possible input into the visioning process.

“The Greater Mankato region is booming because of deliberate efforts previously made by individuals, businesses, and public institutions who have partnered together to influence who we are today. As a lifelong community member who works, volunteers, and raises a family here, I am proud to be a part of this project. I am excited to listen, collaborate, and build a bold vision for our future here in Southern Minnesota!” Liz Ulman, Vice President, Dotson Iron Castings

 

Transforming Tomorrow Together’ is about coming together as a region and building a vision for 2040. The project working group is extremely invested in including as many voices as possible as the future of the Greater Mankato region is being considered. Read more about the project, sign up for information, and learn upcoming events at the Transforming Tomorrow Together – Greater Mankato 2040 website at https://lab2.future-iq.com/greater-mankato-2040/

 

FAST FACTS

What is Transforming Tomorrow Together?

  • The ‘Transforming Tomorrow Together – Greater Mankato 2040’ initiative is a regional planning and visioning project that is exploring a shared future vision for the Greater Mankato Region.
  • This region is initially defined as an area of collaboration, that extends around Mankato, for about 60-70 miles, which appears to be a natural area of collaboration.

\What are we doing?

  • This initiative is focused on Strategic Foresight and Strategic Positioning for the future of the region. It will explore where and how we can fit into a rapidly changing world.
  • We are looking to the future – taking a ‘future view’ and building a vision out to 2040 and beyond. We want to understand how we need to evolve as a collaborative regional community.
  • We want to create a shared regional plan, that will contain an implementation road-map with actions designed to move us toward the shared vision we create for the region.

What is our approach?

  • We are designing a connected, collaborative approach and want to include voices from across the region. There will be various opportunities to participate, including surveys, focus groups, and community workshops.
  • We are taking a bold and ambitious long-term view and thinking about how the Greater Mankato Region can thrive in a changing world.
  • We want to connect to other strategic planning efforts and learn from our internal and external stakeholders.

Who is included in this initiative?

  • The ‘Transforming Tomorrow Together – Greater Mankato 2040’ initiative is being hosted by an initial working group, including cities, commercial organizations, educational institutions, economic development organizations, and non-profits.
  • The planning work will run through 2023, and we will be engaging with people and communities across the region, including residents, students, industry groups and sectors, organizations and external stakeholders. We plan for this to be an open, connected and inviting planning process and community conversation.

Share This Story!