A partnership of local civic groups has received an anonymous grant to acquire the services of a consulting firm to conduct a study aimed at identifying initiatives for growth and renewal in Chatham and the adjacent area. The Chatham Rotary Foundation, in partnership with the Rotary Club of Chatham and Chatham First, Inc., applied for the grant in September 2023 and received notification of an award in early December.
An initial action toward beginning the study will be the formation of a steering committee to select the consultant and to manage and support the effort until its completion. The steering committee will include representatives of the civic groups mentioned above plus representatives for the Town of Chatham and local businesses. The committee will be chaired by the Rotary Foundation.
The consultant will be asked to identify initiatives focused on town growth and renewal. The intent is to include pertinent elements of the Town’s 2023 Comprehensive plan plus evaluate the business environment and make recommendations to improve local quality of life. During the process, public meetings will be held to offer citizens the opportunity to provide broad public input into what local citizens and businesses would like to see the town become. In effect, the hope is to form a consensus vision for the community to be developed in the coming years. The final study, which is planned to be complete in late spring 2024, will establish as basis for future initiatives dedicated toward community improvement based on the past successes of partnership between businesses, civic groups, and the Town. This type of community teamwork is an objective of the Town’s 2023 Comprehensive Plan which established goals for the town to:
- Reach out to service groups to find ways to improve life in Chatham Citizens.
- Encourage residents to participate in the Chatham Community.
The steering committee has an objective of organizing and soliciting study proposals from qualified firms by early January 2024. Concurrently, they will be working to provide tools that allow the community to be routinely informed on progress and alerted to opportunities to provide input and ideas.