The conference ended. The boards, the slides, were torn down. But the information on those boards, the numerous stickers of community members names pushed on the board containing what part of the community's health is most important to them, even the remarks made during each of the discussions and round tables, they have not been packed away. And they have certainly not been forgotten.

Currently, the men and women of Richland County's Health Department, including the hard-working AmeriCorps VISTAs, have made a database containing the names of all the people and what area of the community they would be willing to volunteer to help better and change our community and give it a strong future.

"We won't be gathering the troops until we have compiled all the information from the conference," Communities in Action [CIA] director Melissa Boyer said. The State of the Community County-Wide Conference was not the end of the process, not the beginning of the process to, ultimately, help better the community. It was another mark along the way. A marker that both Boyer and Judy LaPan, Richland County Health Department administrator, think shows that the community is ready for action, and they are ready to become the people taking that action.

Three different agencies helped play a role in this conference - the planning board, the planning office and the county health department. Three years ago is when this chapter of community care and involvement seemed to begin. The state mandated that each county make a growth policy that is updated every five years. All the while, the health department was working on a policy of their own - a community strategic plan.

"The growth policy has more to do with the legal aspects and land use," Boyer said. "The community strategic plan is about the quality of life and the health of the community."

What came from these two overlapping was a necessary partnership between unlikely county departments, that both LaPan and Boyer feel was essential to the success of their departments and the recent conference.

"I've been to conferences, and whenever other people hear me talking about the partnership between the health department and the county planning, they can't believe it," Communities in Action project manager Beth Cook said.

This collaboration has been working hard together for the past three years. The first step taken was assessing what the community felt its most pressing needs were.

"We wanted to get the community engaged in the community building process," Boyer said. "The more community involvement, the higher quality of life in that community."

From phone surveys, to surveys in the paper and town meetings, all the information gathered was catalogued, assessed and, for the community strategic plan, dwindled down to three main points.

"The VISTAs had a huge part to play in writing the grants that funded the telephone surveys and other aspects of the assessments," LaPan said.

"It is good to have the VISTAs working with us, because they bring an unbiased outside perspective to the assessment," Boyer added.

Boyer went on to say that while the planner's office and board were focused on constructing a working policy and updating it, the health department was looking to activate their plan. With this in mind, the idea of the State of the Community County-wide Conference developed, and for the past year the partnership worked very hard to make it come to fruition.

"Nothing could have happened without the partnership," Boyer said.

Now once again, the VISTAs of Sidney, the health department and the county planner's office are binding together and working on assessing the views expressed at the conference.

"What we're hoping is that next year we'll have another conference where people come back and report action they've done," LaPan said.

After all views and information has been compiled, the areas which the community feels most strongly will be divided and released to the public. Then those that said they were willing to volunteer will be called upon to uphold their word. If there are current organizations already in work that meet the needs, then the health department will try to utilize those organizations.

"If there is a group of people who have not had their voice heard, they're more than welcome to come to future meetings or to the health department and get involved in their community," Boyer said.

Boyer and LaPan believe that the outcome of the conference was good, but know that it does not end there. The follow-up is important, and both women said that involving the community in the follow-up is imperative to truly activating the community strategic plan and making it, along with the conference, a success.

reporter@sidneyherald.com