Sustainability asks the questions, “What kind of world do we want?” and “How can we help create that world?”
To know how to make Vermillion a more desirable place to live, we need to know what people who live here would love to see in their community. Through a Community Innovation Grant from the South Dakota Community Foundation and in partnership with United Way of Vermillion, Greening Vermillion engaged with people in Vermillion to ask them “What is your vision for Vermillion?”
We gathered visions for Vermillion by talking with people through a series of scheduled sessions and a mobile visioning station. These visioning sessions began in August 2015 and continued through December 2015. Following the visioning sessions, we gathered the results and shared them with the community at a Visioning Vermillion Day celebration as part of Earth Days 2016 in late April.
Vermillion's Visions
During the visioning sessions, community members were asked to draw or write on a map of Vermillion what they would love to see in their future Vermillion. We grouped their responses into 13 categories to summarize what we had received. The most common categories that people included in their visions were items related to recreation, amenities, parks/green space, and local food.
Major categories and examples of visions received through visioning sessions
Total number of times each category was mentioned during visioning sessions
What you can do
Join us—as an individual or representing your organization. Please help Vermillion enter the coming decades with a forward-thinking perspective that deals with opportunities and problems with positive, thoughtful debate and planning.
We already have several projects that volunteers could help with, such as:
• Earth Days near the end of April each year to celebrate and protect Mother Earth
• Bring Your Bag campaign to reduce plastic bags
• Adopt-a-Drain project to raise awareness about storm drain pollution that goes straight into the Vermillion and Missouri Rivers.
And, help us learn from the Visioning Vermillion project and determine what “green projects” we will tackle next.
Please add your visions, ideas, and projects to 900+ we already have, by contacting us (see below).