Economic developers to ID priorities

SANDPOINT — In some cases, the best way to solve multiple problems in a community is to tackle the underlying source.

The Equinox Foundation, Panhandle State Bank and the Inland Northwest Community Foundation are teaming up with the Bonner County Economic Development Corporation to do just that. With an initiative called the Bonner-Boundary Priority Planning Project, Panhandle leaders plan to take a data-oriented approach to problem-solving.

“The whole idea is to get a handle on the various issues in our communities,” BCEDC executive director Karl Dye said.

“By bringing community leaders together, we’ll identify priorities and solutions.”

The initiative is inspired by a similar effort undertaken in Spokane. By closely examining the city’s flaws using hard numbers to justify their findings, community leaders found that a low rate of high school completion caused more problems than any other. With that knowledge in hand, project coordinators developed programs and pursued grants to address it.

According to Dye, local community leaders in Bonner and Boundary counties hope to achieve similar success in a rural environment with the Priority Planning Project.

“By joining forces across county lines, we feel that we can leverage greater funding sources and resources to make our communities a better place to live,” Dye said.

The first step in the project is to identify various problems within Panhandle communities. Project participants will split into five differently themed task forces: economic vitality, education, health, the environment and community safety. Project administrators will select the members of these task forces based on their areas of professional expertise.

“We want to make sure we can get the right people into the room that can approach these issues,” Dye said.

Once task force members have identified the biggest issues in their respective categories, all participants will start meeting as one body to assign priorities to the problems. This identification process will be aided by a partnership with the University of Idaho and access to the institution’s extensive data sets.

“This project is an excellent fit with the University’s mission to enhance the quality of life throughout our state” University of Idaho President Duane Nellis said. “We look forward to bringing the expertise of our faculty and the energy of our students to complement the community’s interests.”

The final step of the program is to devise pragmatic solutions to the identified priorities and seek out funding sources. With a thorough knowledge of the problem they seek to address, project participants can track down appropriate foundations that specialize in that particular area.

The project leaders wrapped up their first meeting in January. As the winter progresses, each task force will begin meeting once a month until the entire group determined their highest priority sometime in the summer. After that, the solution phase of the project kicks into gear.

“We think some great things will come out of it, and we’re really excited to be a part of it,” Dye said.