But it can and should guide community actions. Moreover, a community vision is not dogma, set in stone. A community should revisit its vision often, to account for changes in the community's environment. For example, the community of Broomfield, Colorado developed a simple, long term vision - to be its own city and county. A series of annexations in the 1970s had resulted in Broomfield being located in four different counties, creating a logistical nightmare in terms of coordinating services and enacting any community-wide decisions.
Successful communities decide the future is something they can create.
These communities take the time to produce a vision of the future they desire and employ a process that helps them achieve their goal. One way of achieving these goals is through a community visioning project. Such a process brings together all sectors of a community to identify problems, evaluate changing conditions, and build collective approaches to improve the quality of life in the community. To establish a vision for the future and pride in past accomplishments requires broadly participatory strategic planning activities. These activities can take many forms.