In February 2007, The Wilmington HOPE Commission asked for our support to develop strategic action plans to realize nine key recommendations identified in the March 2006 Wilmington HOPE Commission Report.  The goal of the Commission was to develop action plans that would result in ". . .solutions to the serious societal issues facing the City." 

In consultation with the HOPE Commission Planning Group, composed of the HOPE Commission Executive Committee and the HOPE Commission Executive Director, CSI designed a three stage process that:

1.  Structured the results of the HOPE Commission Report into a conceptual framework for action

2.  Engaged community stakeholders in prioritizing the nine recommendation areas and identified the key tasks and actions that should be taken to make progress in each area

3.  Developed action plans to address each of the priority areas

CSI began the process of building the conceptual framework by reviewing and extracting recommendations from the 2007 HOPE Commission Report.  These recommendations were grouped into the nine action areas with a total of 71 specific ideas:

·         Expand community policing

·         Improve the education of city children

·         Establish HOPE Zones

·         Improve economic development opportunities

·         Establish HOPE Outreach Workers

·         Coordinate efforts of the faith-based community

·         Strengthen ex-offender re-entry programs     

·         Embark on a Campaign of HOPE

·         Create a permanent HOPE Commission

Once the conceptual framework was drafted, CSI and the Planning Group designed two one day workshops to identify and develop strategic actions that would advance the recommendations. 

The first workshop was designed to present the conceptual framework and engage community stakeholders in prioritizing the nine action areas by rating the 71 specific ideas within each area along two dimensions:

1.  Importance to accomplish noticeable progress

2.  Feasibility to accomplish noticeable progress within the next 5 years

As a result of the rating exercise in this first workshop, the areas were prioritized for action as follows:

1.     Create a permanent HOPE Commission

2.     Embark on a Campaign of HOPE for Wilmington

3.     Establish HOPE Zones

4.     Expand community policing

5.     Create a youth education advocacy organization

6.     Strengthen ex-offender re-entry programs

7.     Improve economic development opportunities for businesses

8.     Establish a network of HOPE Outreach Workers

9.     Coordinate the efforts of the faith-based community

Once the areas of priority action were determined, the Planning Group identified community partners whose collaboration and participation would be vital to accomplishing the specific actions within each priority area.  Over one hundred (100) potential partners were identified and a database of the partners, by idea statement in each priority area, was prepared by CSI for presentation at Meeting 2.

The goal for Action Planning Meeting 2 was to target and identify short, mid, and long-term goals in the priority areas, and the development of specific action plans and potential partners for making progress on the goals.  Participants prepared for developing action strategies by first articulating their individual thinking on the political and philosophical importance of making progress in each action area.  They were then tasked to develop tactical approaches for achieving the priorities.  Tactical approaches had to describe "who" (stakeholders and partners), "what" (measurable action steps), "when" (short, mid, or long time frame), and "why" (the expected outcome).

Having arrived at consensus on the practical, philosophical, and political priorities for strategic action, and having tactical approaches for achieving the priorities in hand, the Commission was asked to develop "elevator speeches," public service announcements, press releases, and/or short presentations that would educate stakeholders about the mission of the Commission. 

As a result of the action planning workshops, the HOPE Commission developed a comprehensive strategic plan that engages a diverse community of stakeholders to solve the serious issues facing the city of Wilmington, Delaware.