Hundreds of People Participate in Initial Conversation Series for the Vibrant Communities of La Porte County Initiative

La Porte County, IN (November 7, 2019) – The Vibrant Communities of La Porte County Initiative hosted
a series of community conversations in late October focused on the thoughts and ideas on the future of
La Porte County’s communities. The Vibrant Initiative experienced participation from more than 300
residents during the five workshops that were held throughout La Porte County. The Community
Conversation Workshops represented the kick-off to the public engagement process to begin a
discussion on how to develop an action agenda for the future.

“We had an amazing turnout at each of the workshops. We are thankful for each person who
participated because we know how hard it is to free up time.” Maggi Spartz, President of the Unity
Foundation of La Porte County said. “Having the chance to hear why people are optimistic about our
communities was truly exciting!”

The momentous effort is being coordinated by the Unity Foundation of La Porte County and the La
Porte County Convention and Visitors Bureau. The goal of the Vibrant initiative is to develop an
action agenda that will guide the future of all the communities of La Porte County based on its
residents’ vision and shared goals. Citizen involvement in the action agenda is critical to developing
a vision for the county’s future and a plan to make that vision a reality. Over the next few weeks,
additional meetings will be held throughout the county to continue the conversation held at the
workshops.

“We had a great start to this process and are now striving to get more people involved,” said Jack
Arnett, Executive Director of the La Porte County Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We’ll be hosting
smaller meetings throughout the community over the next few weeks to hear from groups who weren’t
able to attend one of our workshops. We’ll also be directing people to an online survey on the website,
making it even more convenient to get involved in this process.”

The Vibrant Communities Initiative website, VibrantLPCounty.com , contains a brief online survey for
residents to complete focused around prompts on the future of their community. Everyone who is
passionate about the future of their communities is welcomed and encouraged to participate, visit:
VibrantLPCounty.org/input

The online survey will be available to the public for the next few weeks, until the Summit on the Future
event on December 4th. The Summit on the Future will be a chance for all the communities of La Porte
County to come together to review and refine action items identified through public engagement. The
results of the public engagement – coupled with technical research and analysis – and the Summit will
form the final action agenda for La Porte County. This action agenda will include various programs,
policies and projects that address major topics identified through this process, guiding future
investments in each community.

To learn more about the Vibrant Communities of La Porte County Initiative and to complete the
online survey, please visit www.VibrantLPCounty.com.