Strategic Planning: the OneMaconWay!

Since its founding, OneMacon created a steering committee made up of more than 40 partners representing the entire Macon-Bibb community. Based on a target business analysis and marketing review, as well as public-driven input, the committee developed a community and economic development strategy along with implementation guidelines, which can be read here.

This strategy is built on three pillars: Place, Jobs, and Schools, with the understanding that a community with quality schools and abundant job opportunities creates a vibrant, desirable place to live and work.

With the strength of partnership and culture of collaboration, OneMacon’s strategic plan has been put into daily action. With recommendations that seek to strengthen our schools, employment opportunities and quality of life, unification is being achieved through three essential attributes: effective implementation, collaborative leadership, and engaged residents.

Schools

• Significantly elevate graduation rates from our community’s public schools.
• Prepare secondary and post-secondary students for careers in target business sectors.
• Implement best practice programs that provide student choices and new learning models.
• Engage parents to best support student learning. Elevate adult educational attainment levels.

Jobs

• Market the community’s assets to support new business development.
• Develop sites and infrastructure supporting job creation in target business sectors.
• Retain existing businesses and enable their growth.
• Support efforts to improve the entrepreneurial climate and small business support system.

Place

• Develop a vibrant downtown that serves as a place to live, work, visit, and do business.
• Beautify our most visible places – our corridors, neighborhoods, and activity centers.
• Develop amenities and recreational spaces that are attractive to all ages.
• Increase resident and business engagement in community improvement initiatives.

OneMacon V2.0 Community Strategic Plan

The original OneMacon Community Strategic Plan wound down in 2018 and delivered to the community an impressive list of accomplishments in their final Score Card. From its humble beginnings in 2014, the Strategic Plan was successful due to the hard and dedicated work of many and the continued belief that we are stronger and accomplish more when we work together.

In 2018 Judge Verda Colvin and local businessperson David Thompson assumed the reigns of leadership and initiated the search for a national consultant to develop the Version 2.0 Community Strategic Plan. Working with a committee of approximately 40 people, the charge was to find someone capable of accessing the needs and wants of the entire community who would attract a larger group to develop an inclusive 5 year plan. The committee unanimously selected The Fourth Economy from Pittsburg, PA and they went to work gathering data and rapidly expanding the number of voices. The Fourth Economy, working with local partners for much of 2019 was able to obtain input from over 5,000 citizens and deliver a final report in December 2019.

Much was accomplished from 2014 till 2018, but much more work remains as we constantly improve. The credibility and successes we as a community were able to attain only heightened the expectations of what we could accomplish over the next 5 years. New participants with new energy seeking inclusion at all turns yielded a highly ambitious set of goals to increase educational opportunities, build wealth in all sectors of our community, and develop a higher quality of life for both our citizens and visitors.

The OneMacon V2.0 Community Strategic Plan shall concentrate on (3) initiatives from 2020 till 2024. They are as follows.

• Economic Revitalization
• Talent and Education
• Quality of Life