If your answer is ‘yes’ or if you’re just generally curious about civic affairs and how the government, non-profits, businesses, and the general public interact, here’s a great opportunity for you: get involved in Windsor’s Civic Participation Project.

The Civic Participation Project is an effort to get people connected with the community and active in the issues that effect them as citizens. In the end, that might result in higher voter turnouts in local elections, more volunteers for non-profit organizations, greater attendance at public functions and more people serving on town boards and commissions. The project is being spearheaded by the National Civic League with the help of a steering committee comprised of Windsor residents. Four other towns are conducting similar projects in Manchester, Wethersfield, Hartford and Enfield.

Between October and December, more than 90 people played a role in the planning phase which consisted of identifying some desired outcomes, assessing Windsor’s "civic health" and drafting an action plan for improving civic participation in Windsor. The meetings were led by an experienced facilitator from the National Civic League. Many of the people involved attended all three meetings, providing valuable continuity.

During the first meeting on October 9, the group discussed the question, "If we had active and thriving civic participation, what would it look like?" For a summary of the October 9 meeting, click here.

During the second meeting on November 14, the group assessed Windsor’s strengths and weaknesses with in the context of the ideal state they discussed at the first meeting. For a summary of the November 14 meeting, click here.

Having identified where the town would like to be with respect to civic participation (Oct. 9) and where the town currently is (Nov. 14), the group met on December 4 to craft a plan for achieving active and thriving civic participation. The result is a draft action plan addressing the following issue areas:

1. voting
2. volunteerism
3. citizens and government
4. information sharing and communication
5. neighborhoods

To view the draft plan, click here.  (Adobe Reader required)

Project participants met on January 15, 2002 to set up an implementation structure for following through on the action plan drafted in December 2001.

To see a summary of the meeting and the recommended implementation structure, click here January 15, 2002 meeting summary.

Based on a survey of people who participated in the stakeholder session, the steering committee learned that the greatest interest for moving forward is in the following three areas:

1. Voting and Elections
2. Information Sharing and Communications
3. Developing a "Welcome to Windsor" program for newcomers

Task teams are being formed for each of these three areas. Anyone interested in volunteering on a task team or on the steering committee can call the Town Manager’s Office at 285-1800 or one of the following:

Voting and Elections – Jim Mason, 688-6662

Information Sharing and Communications – Paul Essenfeld, 683-0573

Welcome to Windsor – Enita Jubrey, 285-1835

To express your interest by e-mail, click on civicparticipation@townofwindsorct.com.