CHAPTER THREE: The Snow Camp Community Meeting

Planning Committee

A committee was formed to involve community members in the process of planning the community meeting. The purpose of the community meeting was to bring together Snow Camp residents and services providers to talk about the strengths and concerns of the community. The planning committee met weekly three times at the Snow Camp Fire Department. The planning committee consisted of the five-team members, the team's preceptor, and five community members. The entire team and the team's preceptor were present at all committee meetings, with the five community members varying in attendance. The planning committee was involved in all major decisions about the community meeting. The committee was instrumental in choosing the date, time, location, door prizes, food, and advertising strategies and flyers. (The flyers used to promote the community meeting are located in Appendix D).

The team presented eighteen themes to the committee so they could decide which themes should be presented at the community meeting (see Appendix D). The committee collapsed several of the health themes into the category of community health and collapsed land use and population changes into one category. Because there were five team members, the team thought five themes would be presented at the community meeting, so each team member could facilitate a small group on each theme. Committee members were given sticky notes, numbered one through five, and then they were asked to put the sticky labeled 1 on the theme they thought was the highest priority to present, 2 on the second highest priority, and so on. In the end, the committee felt strongly about presenting six of the themes, so the team's preceptor agreed to facilitate a small group at the meeting so all six themes could be presented. After choosing the themes, the committee asked the team if they could also do a presentation at the meeting about the community assessment process, including how many interviews were completed, the time frame, and any other relevant information.

Community Meeting

The Snow Camp Community Meeting was held in the Sylvan Elementary School cafeteria on Tuesday, April 23, 2002. There was a diverse group of community members and service providers who attended, totaling over 80 participants. In addition, county commissioners and state representatives were also present. The agenda for the meeting (see Appendix D) consisted of a short large group presentation, small group discussions, and a large group discussion. Because the team did not know how many people would be attending the meeting, two separate agendas were created. The meeting started at 7:00 pm and lasted until 9:00 pm. As the community members and services providers arrived at the meeting, both a team member and a planning committee member welcomed them to the meeting. Each person attending the meeting was asked to sign in, fill out a nametag, and was given a door prize ticket and a fact sheet that provided information about the community assessment process and information about the themes (see Appendix D). Participants were told that different quotes from the interviews were posted up on the walls of the cafeteria and invited to help themselves to food and drinks catered by Ye Old Country Kitchen.

The team began the formal presentation, which was designed to describe the community assessment process and provide some background information about the themes to be discussed at the meeting. The presentation consisted of fifteen PowerPoint slides (see Appendix D). During the presentation the group also thanked everyone who participated in the community assessment process and gave special thanks to the planning committee, caterer, and principal of the elementary school.

Once the fifteen-minute presentation was complete, the team asked everyone to choose a theme that they wanted to discuss in a small group. The themes presented at the community meeting were Recreation, Land Use and Population Changes, Government Structure/Leadership, Crime Drugs and Alcohol, Community Health, and Senior Issues. The participants chose the theme they were interested in by standing by the appropriate sign in the cafeteria. Each team member and the team's preceptor were prepared to facilitate a small group discussion of the previously mentioned themes.

After participants chose their themes, team members noticed that Community Health had about thirty participants and Senior Issues only had three participants. In order to have a meaningful and productive discussion in both groups, the participants who chose Senior Issues were asked if they had another theme of interest to discuss so the team could divide Community Health into two groups. To control the noise level, four of the groups left the cafeteria to go to smaller classrooms. A brief description of each small group discussion can be found below.

The small groups met and discussed their respective theme for about 45 minutes. In each small group, the facilitator provided the group with some information about theme as found from the interviews and focus groups to initiate the discussion. Then, the facilitator used Force Field Analysis to conduct the group discussion (see the Methods section for a description of Force Field Analysis). After 45 minutes, the large group came back together and then a representative from each small group presented the majors points of the small group discussion and the next steps decided upon by the small groups.

After the large group discussion, the team gave away the door prizes that had been donated by different community businesses in and around Snow Camp. After the meeting, many people remained in the cafeteria talking to each other about the different issues presented that evening.

Small Group Discussions

Governing Structure/Leadership Small Group

The governing structure/leadership small group consisted of approximately 10-12 people. The group began by talking about the current situation and goal. The lack of a means through which the residents of Snow Camp can voice their opinions was chosen as the current situation. The goal was to establish a committee or community meeting where people could go to have their concerns heard. However, some felt that other community members would see this as an attempt to become a governed township. Many residents of Snow Camp like the freedom they currently have and fear that a governed township would take this away. Another factor to consider in forming community meetings is how to get the word out. Communication then became the focus of the discussion and increasing communication became the new goal. Many things were suggested, such as, a community newsletter, the Alamance County website, http://www.alamancecounty.com, and the Snow Camp website. Two action steps resulted from the discussion. One is that the Snow Camp website http://www.snowcamp.org, will serve as a communication tool for the community. On the website there will be a way to join a Snow Camp list serve, and an email list, allowing a person to send an email to everyone on the list serve. This will help facilitate communication and events happening in Snow Camp. In addition, the website will list other events, meetings, and groups to further communication among the community. The website will also be offering a free email address to anyone in the community who needs one.

The second action step will increase the possibility for people to get onto the website. The Sylvan Elementary School has offered to allow community members to use the computer lab in the school. Another action step that was discussed was to define the boundaries of Snow Camp. People in the group felt that this was not clear to residents of Snow Camp. Since the group session, another meeting has been suggested to continue to address these issues and will take place in the near future.

Community Health Small Group-#1

The first Community Health small group consisted of about 10 people. The group discussed potential health concerns they wanted to focus on during the small group session and decided on transportation to health care as their goal. The group brainstormed helping and hindering forces relevant to the goal of increasing transportation to health care. The group further narrowed the goal and prioritized a volunteer pool organized to take people to health care appointments. During this discussion, the group decided that it was necessary to have a community health resource center in Snow Camp. The group decided to switch gears and discuss the helping and hindering forces of creating a community health resource center. The group then came up with the action steps about how to create a community health resource center. They felt it was necessary to:

• Create a planning committee for the resource center
• Investigate use of local buildings
• Speak with someone at the County Health Department for advice on how to create a resource center
• See if anyone wanted to donate land for the resource center
• Speak with a Ruritan representative about their interest in this project
• Push the idea to the County Commissioners
• Contact Cooperative Extension about their possible involvement

Group members took on the second, third, and fifth bullets.

Community Health Small Group-#2

The second Community Health small group chose the goal of increased affordable access to healthcare for Snow Camp residents. The current situation was that many Snow Camp residents are on Medicare and healthcare options are restricted to the type of procedure and providers who accept Medicare. Different helping and hindering forces were brainstormed and the group decided to focus on the fact that there are no local options for rehabilitation services. . The group then came up with several action steps to work towards the goal of increasing local options for rehabilitation services. The new physician at Snow Camp clinic is already in discussion with administrators at Alamance Regional Community Hospital, and he will approach the subject of ARCH extending outreach services to Snow Camp. The physician is currently planning on using the clinic twice a week and he is amenable to the facility being used for other community health purposes on other days. In addition a community member affiliated with Home Care will investigate what involvement her agency or similar organizations might have in Snow Camp. Other community members present were not necessarily prepared for action steps, but were interested in corresponding with each other more around these issues, and participating in any community-based effort to enhance healthcare options.

Recreation Small Group

The recreation small group consisted of seven community members. The group focused on recreation to discuss and define the present situation, identify a goal and develop action steps using Force Field Analysis. The group chose to focus on the current situation of the lack of recreational opportunities in Snow Camp. The goal identified was to increase recreational opportunities in Snow Camp. Group members participated actively to identify hindering and helping factors in achieving the goal. During the small group discussion, members were able to brainstorm, identify, and formulate action steps based on shared responsibility. After the small group discussion, one of the group members who agreed to coordinate the group's efforts shared the discussion and action steps with the larger group. The following are the outcomes of the small group discussion on recreation.

• Talk to like minded people in the community to identify activists
• Collaborate with other local organizations such as churches, Ruritans etc.
• Raise awareness of the various opportunities and efforts through a newsletter and local media.
• Form a committee/interest group

Crime, Drugs, and Alcohol Small Group

The crime, drugs, and alcohol small group decided to focus on the current situation that Snow Camp has more crime than the community would like. The group then came up with several helping and hindering forces and chose the slow response rate for law enforcement when responding to a crime as the next current situation to focus on. The group again brainstormed several helping and hindering forces and several action steps were generated from the discussion:

• Talk to sheriff and county commissioners
• Conduct a large community meeting to address this issue
• Go to commissioners meetings
• Educate and enlist help from others like church groups, civic groups
• Use school Friday folders to spread the word.
• Get more involved with schools/parent advisory groups, etc.

Land Use and Population Changes Small Group

The land use and population changes small group consisted of approximately 17 people. To begin the discussion, the group brainstormed different problems in relation to the theme of land use and population changes. The group felt that many of the problems could be collapsed into the category of no zoning, so the group used that as the current situation. The group then chose to focus on the goal of zoning guidelines. The group brainstormed issues that are presently helping and hindering the current situation of no zoning. The group then decided to focus on the lack of leaders as the next present situation to focus on. The goal of forming a committee was then decided upon. The group brainstormed the helping and hindering forces and decided that planning a meeting would be the best course of action because the group felt that the issue should be discussed further. The team member leading the small group discussion agreed to facilitate the next meeting at the group's request. It was decided that the next meeting would be held on May 20, 2002 at 7:00 pm at the Snow Camp Fire Department.

The community meeting was a success as many of the community members and services providers contributed to the small group discussions and provided important action steps. Future meetings have been scheduled and community events and other information can be found on the community web page, http://www.snowcamp.org.

Themes

Methods and Limitations