Success 2015 Holly Brenner leads the way toward a growing Fond du Lac. Doug Raflik/Action Reporter Media
Envision Fond du Lac grows through collaboration Nate Beck Action Reporter Media
Sunday, October 25, 2015
www.fdlreporter.com
12
An initiative explores Fond du Lac’s intangibles: How the city can overcome chatter that could hinder the region’s future growth. Think of Envision as Fond du Lac’s pep talk to prepare for an elevator pitch. Holly Brenner, vice president of strategic development and marketing at Agnesian Health Care in Fond du Lac, launched the yearlong drive last February. Brenner, local leaders and a team of Chicago consultants have interviewed scores of Fond du Lac residents in pockets of perspectives. It’s a detailed pulse-taking of what Fond du Lac is and how the city can thrive in future years.
“We want to stand for something,” Brenner said. “This is part of the process of figuring out what that is.” Brenner launched Envision after incubating it in Leadership Fond du Lac, the Fond du Lac Association of Commerce’s annual seminar on equipping students to help improve the city. Seven local stakeholders, inducing the Fond du Lac County Economic Development Corporation, the Association of Commerce and others, contributed funding to hire consultants Houseal and Lavigne to pursue the plan. Envision first sought input from the greater Fond du Lac community through broad listening sessions – senior citizens, grade-school students and folks in-be-
tween – to identify concerns and how best to address them. The Envision team in late August wrapped up the last round of listening sessions. Now, Houseal and Lavigne, with Brenner and local stakeholders are compiling priorities that would outline how Fond du Lac could progress. Basically, distilling these community comments into concrete themes. Later, they’ll hold future listening sessions to square community and consultant suggestions. Then comes a specific plan. These priorities could require support from a broad swath of spheres across the Fond du Lac community. Envision won’t put the burden for change solely on the CONTINUED ON PAGE 13 >>>