Quality of Life

Last week, we took a closer look at what community members had to say about public safety in Crawford County. This week, our focus has shifted – now, we’re talking about quality of life.

But what exactly is quality of life? During our eight community meetings, we found that the term resonates differently with people.

Here’s a sample of some of the comments we recorded during our eight community meetings:

-“We forget that we have great things here, such as lower cost of living”
-“We need to improve entertainment options”
-“We have to make Crawford a place where people want to be”
-“There’s too much apathy”
-“School systems are one of our greatest assets”
-“We need better wages for sustainability of our communities”
-“We have a ‘poor man's mentality’”
-"Crawford is known for welfare benefits - people are referred here from CA and other states"
-"We should capitalize on our agrarian heritage"
-“Our young people need to feel more connected”

Key themes identified during the meeting reflect the comments above.

Themes included: affordability of living, location (“we are in the middle of everywhere”), lack of cultural/diversity/arts opportunities, excellent park system, ‘brain drain’ (keeping young people in the county after they go away to college), strong community values, small town atmosphere, the need to address poverty issues, lack of networking opportunities for professionals and a difference in perception of quality of life between generations.

The term may hold a different meaning for different demographics, but many comments and themes were consistent during phase one of the Vision initiative. On Aug. 16, a focus group will take a more solutions-minded approach to the topic to address some of the challenges and concerns which have previously emerged.

Until then, all community members are invited to participate in this short survey – especially those who were not able to attend our first set of community meetings. The responses from the survey will help shape the development of a plan to guide the future of quality of life in Crawford County.