MAPPING sessions begins for Nokomis

November 3, 2024 27

NOKOMIS — On October 28, 86 people attended the first session of the Managing and Planning Program (MAPPING) at Aumann Auctions’ Vintage Showroom in Nokomis.

Gisele Hamm, program director for Western Illinois University’s Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs made the opening week presentation alongside coordinator Linda Blaine.

The five-session MAPPING program will explore a different phase of the process with group activities to enhance the learning experience.

The focus of this opening session was on how Nokomis got to its current predicament and why it is important to have a vision and a plan. Having a compelling vision will provide direction and focus, challenge, motivate, and unify the community. A strategic vision will serve as a long-range action plan, but committed people will help make that a reality.

Nokomis MAPPING — JAKE LEONARD/HEARTLAND NEWSFEED/POOL PHOTO Gisele Hamm (center), MAPPING program director with Western Illinois University’s Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs, speaks before a crowd of 86 people that attended the opening session of a five-session series Monday night, October 28 held at Aumann Auctions’ Vintage Showroom. The next session will be next Wednesday, November 6 at 6 p.m. inside the Vintage Showroom, 497 E. Bertolino Ave.

A group exercise consisted of two opening phrases — “I love my community BUT…” and “I love my community BECAUSE” — allowing the participants, in shorter form, to list what is wrong with Nokomis currently but also why Nokomis is great.

Among the problematic issues were the lack of a grocery store, the lack of sufficient senior services, too many video gaming machines, crime, and the lack of other activities in the community. The majority of the latter side of the exercise focused on the community coming together in times of crisis and hard times.

The next session will focus on where the city should be and a pathway to get there. Originally intended to be held at The Vault in downtown Nokomis, due to space concerns, the venue for the second session will be in the Vintage Showroom, 497 E. Bertolino Ave. The session will start at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, November 6 with food from Jayden Morrison starting at 5:30 p.m.

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Jake Leonard

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Jake Leonard, a broadcast media and journalism veteran, is the editor-in-chief of Heartland Newsfeed. Leonard is also GM and program director of Heartland Newsfeed Radio Network, wrestling editor and contributing writer for Ambush Sports, a contributing writer for My Sports Vote and Midwest Sports Network, and a former contributor to Bleacher Report and Overtime Heroics. He resides at home in Nokomis, Ill. with his dog Buster.