As part of the 2016-2019 Strategic Plan, the City of Columbia and numerous stakeholders will host a Central Neighborhood Meeting and BBQ on Thursday, June 23 from 6 to 8 p.m. at St. Luke Church, 204 E. Ash Street. The meeting is open to all residents in the central neighborhood (map attached).
Prior to the meeting, central neighborhood residents are invited to share a meal, provided by Big Daddy's BBQ, between 4 and 6 p.m. at St. Luke. The meal is first come, first served to the first 200 people. The Columbia Police Departments Community Outreach Unit (COU) is organizing the BBQ and will be on hand throughout the event.
During the meeting, conversations with central neighborhood residents will focus on economic development and job creation, law and criminal justice, youth leadership and development, health and human services as well as housing and infrastructure.
Leading the discussions is Carl Kenney. Kenney, a Columbia native, has deep experience in working with neighborhoods to facilitate discussions which can bring about meaningful change to ensure neighborhoods have a voice and can convey the neighborhood needs to appropriate public and private resources.
This is the first of several neighborhood meetings. Future meetings will be conducted in the north and east neighborhoods identified as starting points in the Strategic Plan. Information and data collected from these meetings will be explored to determine how to best address the neighborhood issues and results will be communicated to the neighborhoods and community.
The 2016 - 2019 strategic plan is dedicated to making Columbia the best place for everyone to live, work, learn and play. It's based on trends observed in the community, an assessment of external threats and opportunities and review of internal strengths and weaknesses. It represents the City's effort toward the common cause of making Columbia a place where all families cannot only live...but thrive.
Learn more about the 2016-2019 Strategic Plan by visiting CoMo.gov and clicking the Strategic Plan icon in the lower left of the screen.