Community Leaders Tackle Key Issues

A new local initiative works on improving early childhood education and community engagement, and local leaders want residents' help.

The initiative, called Our Eagan, was unveiled to the public Thursday night at the Eagan Community Center, where residents and leaders gathered to talk about the project.

“Eagan is a fine city, but how do we make it even finer?” said Scott Tjaden, president of Argosy University.

About a year and a half ago, Burnsville-based nonprofit 360 Communities found a group of community leaders such as Tjaden. The group spans areas such as education, government, business, faith and nonprofit.

The group discussed and learned about local issues. It decided the priorities included early childhood education and community engagement.

“Eagan is a community that is very strong,” said Janelle Waldock, who was the 2010 chairwoman for The Eagan Foundation, and is part of this project. “But there’s always ways we could improve.”

The group plans to measure progress on the priorities it has set. For example, it can measure community engagement by looking at volunteerism, voter turnout and perceived ability to improve the community. Some ways of measuring progress on early childhood development include completing screening for those who don’t get it, connecting children with caring adults, and looking at third-grade reading proficiencies.

Thursday night marked the public beginning of the project. Now community leaders are looking for other voices in how to begin making improvements in these key areas.

“We want to get everybody involved so we can work on this together,” said the Rev. Judy Zabel of Advent United Methodist Church.

The initiative was developed with the help and resources of 360 Communities, a nonprofit that works on what they call community engagement. For example, they help women and children emerge stronger and more independent despite situations such as domestic violence. In a new direction for 360 Communities, it is also now helping communities as a whole, and Eagan is one of a few local areas doing a project like this, said Greg Konat, executive vice president of the nonprofit. The first city to do such a project was Burnsville, and Lakeville plans to do one as well, Konat said.

To get involved, contact Gwen Aaberg, executive assistant at 360 Communities. Her number is 952-985-4018, and her e-mail address is gaaberg@360Communities.org.