The idea behind Voices and Choices was to get the public involved in planning the future of Northeast Ohio. Since last August, nearly 20,000 people have offered their opinions on the biggest challenges facing the region. Voices and Choices co-chair David Abbott says a big effort has been made to include a wide cross-section of people.
David Abbott: We've had a multitude of approaches to people - personal interviews, large gatherings, small gatherings, and so forth.
Those challenges have been narrowed down to six broad categories. And now, the public is being asked to rank various solutions. Joe Peters of the Canadian firm Ascentum helped devise an on-line survey that puts you in charge of a policy maker's purse strings.
Joe Peters: If you were given $500 to invest in this particular issue, where would you put that $500?
You're presented with a list of possible solutions to each of these problems and then you're asked where you'd invest your money. Not real money, mind you, but symbolic dollars called "NEO Bucks." Out of a pot of 500 NEO Bucks to solve, say, the region's racial isolation issues, you might choose to put 200 in affordable housing, 200 to attract new jobs, and 100 to create more magnet schools.
Joe Peters: So, what I'm doing is almost like a voting-with-my-NEO-bucks kind of concept in terms of helping me make those tough choices that decision-makers need to make in the region.
But, in an age of a digital divide, the Voices and Choices planners realize that not everyone has access to a computer. Project Director Shara Davis says a group of grassroots volunteers will be out in the community this summer to help people register their opinions.
Shara Davis: For example, households with an income of below $30,000 are the least likely to go online. So, our goal will be for our grass roots organizers to get to those populations and give them the opportunity to weigh-in, either via a hard copy or to get them to their local public library, where there might be some assistance.
David Abbott: You know, there's an old saying that, if the people lead, the leaders will follow.
David Abbott says the future of the region lies in returning to a basic concept of democracy that can get lost in bureaucratic and political stalemate.
David Abbott: We're trying to get people to realize their common interest, their own self-interest in some cases, in acting like we're all on the same team, because we are.
The on-line survey will be up for the rest of this summer and will provide the basis for the next round of community meetings in the fall. In the meantime, you can put your two cents in - or your NEO bucks in - at the Voices and Choices website, located here. David C. Barnett, 90.3.