Focus Groups Help Offer New Perspectives
Matt Coen talks to the group about the process that will be undertaken to help make recreation and early childhood development more sustainable in the future for the Mahaska community.
Oskaloosa, Iowa – Time has a way of sneaking up on all of us. There are several potential reasons that the Mahaska County YMCA needs help to stay viable into the future.
At nearly a half-century old, the facility has many needs, but before money is spent, the YMCA along with MCDG are getting feedback from the community about their early childhood education, child-care and recreation needs.
During the past week, interested parties joined in with those who are assembling and compiling the information needed to help make an informed decision about childcare and recreation in Oskaloosa and Mahaska County.
Beth Danowsky, Chair of MCDG and Kids Corner Board Member, said that the issues that are being faced are, “really important to the community”.
Matt Coen, a 1997 graduate of Oskaloosa High School and architect from Des Moines, has been hired to help lead the study for MCDG and the YMCA steering committee.
MCDG became involved in the process after they were approached by the YMCA for financial assistance. In order to help the YMCA, a needs assessment was recommended to help determine the future for the YMCA and child-care and recreation in the community, and make it sustainable.
“This is not only about the YMCA, this is about the Mahaska community,” said Danowsky. The focus groups were not only hosted in Oskaloosa, but also in New Sharon and Eddyville.
“This community is very important to me,” Coen said in his opening remarks to those attending.
“This really is a whole community issue that we are looking for your feedback on,” said Coen as he outlined the processes that have taken place to this point. “It’s really about a community service and quality-of-life within the community.”
“Working with the steering committee, we’ve established a couple of goals,” said Coen. One of those goals include providing quality early childhood programs “that need to provide optimal growth and learning opportunities for children”.
On the recreation side, “the goal is to develop quality recreation facilities and programming to support life-long leisure and wellness, rehabilitation for the whole community,” said Coen.
The group then broke down into smaller conversation-size groups that shared and talked about solutions for those objectives. Each group spent approximately 45 minutes discussing options for the community that would help serve those needs.
The results of those discussions will help planners to see and further realize the needs and possibilities within the community, in order to help reach those goals of early childhood development and recreation within the Mahaska Community.
Coen said the process will take months to develop, but will eventually provide a master plan, and an estimate of costs that could be expected to fill those needs.
