ICAD, the Business Partnership, Think Iowa City, and the Iowa City Downtown District Announce A Shared Future for Johnson County.
Trained Futurist and Economist, Rebecca Ryan, will lead the Johnson County community through the Futures Lab process.
JOHNSON COUNTY, IA — The Iowa City Area Development Group (ICAD), Iowa City Area Business Partnership, Think Iowa City, and the Iowa City Downtown District are excited to announce a new initiative to create a shared future for Johnson County: Better Together 2030. The four organizations have hired trained futurist and economist, Rebecca Ryan, to lead the Johnson County community through the Future Lab process.
“We are excited to spend the next 5 months working with futurist Rebecca Ryan and her team to engage with our community to create a vibrant and ambitious vision for our community’s future. Rebecca’s done some amazing future-building work in other communities, and we’re excited to bring this process to Johnson County.” – Kim Casko, President, Iowa City Area Business Partnership.
A Futures Lab is a set of interactive workshops facilitated by economist and futurist Rebecca Ryan and her team. End-to-end, the process will run 5 months and focus on two deliverables: engaging the community’s people to talk and think differently about the future; and developing an exciting, future-focused plan.
“This past year was full of uncertainty, fear, trauma, and grief. Despite this, our community has seen innovation, true collaboration, human creativity and the power of working together. As we leave this crisis behind, now is the time to lay the groundwork for our next bold chapter.” – Kate Moreland, President, ICAD.
The exercises that communities do in the Futures Lab will get them thinking about the future, rather than rehashing the past. The ability to see what’s coming, to anticipate, to be future ready.
“As we go through the Future Labs process, we are going to look for everyone’s input. Anybody who wants to have a voice, will have a voice. In addition to our cities, the county, and our non-profits, the University of Iowa will be a key partner in this effort. The end result will re-shape the manner in which we go about our important collective economic development work.” – Josh Schamberger, President, Think Iowa City.
“We’re going to look at the real trends and forces that Johnson County can expect in the future. And that’s for all of us. Not just for one community, but for all of our communities.” – Nancy Bird, Executive Director, Iowa City Downtown District.
“This process will have a bias towards the future. We want to see, imagine, envision, where we can be in 2030. How can we create a region that helps all of us prosper? I am thrilled, excited, ecstatic, to be working with the Johnson County community on a vision for a shared future through 2030.” – Rebecca Ryan, Founder, Rebecca Ryan Future Labs
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About Rebecca Ryan
Rebecca Ryan captains the ship. Trained as a futurist and an economist, Rebecca helps clients see what’s coming – as a keynote speaker, a Futures Lab facilitator, an author of books, blogs and articles, a client advisor, and the founder of Futurist Camp.