First Impressions: Kenosha/Joliet

You Are Invited To:
Kenosha First Impressions Community Sharing Event
August 19 at 7:00pm at KABA
Registration information at http://goo.gl/1xFRqv

First Impressions Community Sharing Event:
In July of 2014 volunteers from Joliet and Kenosha visited each other’s downtown communities and completed a full assessment. The results of the exchange revealed many valuable insights into community assets, challenges and—most importantly, opportunities!

So what happened on Joliet’s visit to Kenosha? What were the most striking elements of the downtown? Join us to hear what Joliet had to say about Kenosha on August 19 at 7:00pm at KABA and be part of the conversation!

What is First Impressions?
Often people view their communities differently than visitors; their views are skewed by over-familiarization, a lack of differing perspectives and expectations, and a reluctance to be completely honest when dealing with difficult issues such as the appearance of buildings, customer service, and maintenance of public facilities.

The University of Wisconsin-Extension developed “First Impressions: Community Assessment & Improvement” to provide communities with an unbiased and unique perspective to support future change.
Simply stated, volunteers from two similar communities agree to do unannounced exchange visits and then report on their findings. These volunteers are trained to become “secret shoppers” for a group visit to discover all that they can about the community they are paired with, following guidelines and answer questions in a fully developed participants’ guide, which helps ensure that the evaluations and reports are thorough. Once the visits are complete, each community receives a detailed report with the findings.

…An approach to community assessment & improvement

An EEO/AA employer, University of Wisconsin Extension provides equal opportunities in employment and programming, including Title IX and American with Disabilities (ADA) requirements.

For more information on the
First Impressions program and the upcoming event, contact:
Amy Greil
Kenosha County
CNRED Educator
262-857-1935
amy.greil@ces.uwex.edu

The First Impressions community assessment and improvement program is the result of a collaboration between UW-Extension educators Andy Lewis and James Schneider as they focused on improving the communities of Grant County, Wisconsin. Since then, hundreds of communities have used this tool for assessing visitor perceptions.