Great Bend – Better Than Great
Updated: Oct 16
Great Bend – Better Than Great is the community-wide visioning process that the Great Bend Chamber of Commerce & Economic Development and the Barton County Young Professionals launched in 2018 to answer two questions: what do we want Great Bend to be in the future, and how do we get there? The result was a Community Vision Plan, a road map for the next 10 to 20 years. The sections below preserve the project's original description and add the story of how the plan came together and what has happened since. Read the full plan at gbbetter.com.
In 20 years, we are… A diverse community of welcoming, engaged people leading Great Bend to shine as a regional economic, educational, and cultural center offering an energetic and inclusive experience built on a unique community spirit.
The Visioning Process
The visioning process is an opportunity for the entire community to pause, take stock and define, as a community, what we want Great Bend to be in the future and how we get there. Specifically, it will outline a path of continued success for the next 10-20 years. It is based on input from a community that cares about the future of Great Bend as a place to thrive, succeed and prosper. To complement these aspirations, the plan is grounded in an understanding of current conditions and trends. The vision plan will align all aspects of our community life and identify goals and specific actions for Great Bend to implement.
A community visioning process is typically crafted through a collaborative process that involves a wide variety of community residents, stakeholders, business leaders and elected officials. With the assistance of a consultant, the Great Bend visioning and planning process consists of Co-Chairpersons, a steering committee, community connectors, public input and feedback. Once the final plan is completed, the adoption, approval, and implementation of the plan falls to various units of government, organizations, businesses, and non-profit organizations.
The outcome: a strategic plan and road map for the next 10-20 years
This plan will reflect the goals, objectives, and development outlook of the entire community. The final plan lists future opportunities, and includes a description of what the community could look and feel like in the future. The community vision road map guides government, business, and citizens in decision-making according to the stated goals and objectives of the community.
The Community Leaders and Funding
The Great Bend Chamber of Commerce & Economic Development Board of Directors, along with the amazing Barton County Young Professionals group, led the charge for this exciting community visioning project. The aim was to ask the hard questions, get new ideas, and come up with a dynamic plan of action that everyone and every organization can support. A lofty idea, perhaps, but the organizers knew it could be done and were excited to get started. The project's co-chairs were Mark Mingenback and Regan Reif.
The project was funded by a grant from the Harms Trust (the Thelma Faye Harms Trust), who immediately saw the need and grasped the process, and made a significant contribution to support the process and the plan. They realized this was an exciting endeavor that would allow all citizens to participate in determining what the future of Great Bend can be.
"We so appreciate the Harms Trust, and their continual investment in the betterment of Great Bend," said Mark Mingenback, Co-Chair of the Visioning Committee. "The advisory board members realized the need and made a significant contribution to support the process and the plan. We couldn't have done this without their involvement."
Meet the Consultant: Shockey Consulting
The Chamber enlisted the assistance of a dynamic consultant, Shockey Consulting, to help with the process, with the end result being a working plan to be shared with the whole community. The lead consultant, Sheila Shockey, grew up in Kinsley, Kansas and understands the challenges and opportunities facing rural communities. In addition, she brings experience in helping both large and small communities to be the very best they can be. Learn more about the company at shockeyconsulting.com.
Meet the Steering Committee
The process calls to mobilize a dynamic Steering Committee who possess vision, insight, wisdom and valuable experience in all aspects of the community. Members:
Are a great representative of the larger community
Are interested in inclusive engagement
Have a pulse on a variety of issues
Have an open-minded attitude and will consider the interests of others
Can think futuristically, strategically, and holistically about the entire community
Will be helpful in the execution of a dynamic plan
Are hopeful about the future of Great Bend
The final Steering Committee was made up of 55 community leaders who met five times over the course of the planning process to develop the vision, goal and strategy framework. They represented the business community, the Hispanic community, professional services, real estate and development, education, oil and agriculture, senior care, medical care, mental health and community services, faith organizations, government, community safety, and recreation.
Co-Chairs: Mark Mingenback and Regan Reif.
Steering Committee: Dr. Rick Abel, Joe Andrasek, Aaron Andrews, Krystall Barnes, Robert E. Bauer, Mark Bitter, Joe Boley, Taylor Calcara, Sheryl Cheely, AJ Chrest, Sue Cooper, Austin Coyan, Gaila Demel, Jake Deutsch, Andrew Erb, Ryan Fairchild, Rebecca Ford, Kendal Francis, Brandi Gruber, Megan Hammeke, Tammy Hammond, Anna Hammond-Bodine, Ana Hayson, Baudilio Hernandez, Jane Isern, Michael Johnson, Kevin Keller, Julie Kramp, Joshua Leu, Nels Lindberg, DVM, Desa Marmie, Sally Mauler, Jason Mayers, Luke McCormick, Quenla McGilber, Brock McPherson, Andy Mingenback, Jon Prescott, Rodrigo Razo, Douglas Reiser, Jennifer Schartz, Lacey Schofield, Elaine Simmons, Paul Snapp, Chad Somers, Kevyn Soupiset, Julie Spray, Chad Steffan, Scott Stinemetz, Khris Thexton, Kenny Vink, Peter Wesner, and Curtis Wolf.
Chamber staff at the time: Jan Peters, President & CEO; Laura Blankenship, Director of Business Development; and Megan Barfield, Member Relations Director.
How the Plan Came Together
Summer 2018: The project kicks off with a couple of meetings of the Steering Committee, designed to energize the group and get initial ideas for discussion topics down on paper.
September 2018: The Chamber and the Barton County Young Professionals announce the community-wide Visioning Project and Shockey Consulting's role, with a new website, GBBetter.com, so the public can follow the project.
November 8, 2018: The first Community Vision Workshop is held at the Great Bend Events Center, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. In spite of a blustery, snowy evening, 130 community members attend. Sheila Shockey opens the two-hour workshop with warm memories of growing up in Offerle, Kansas, and tables of 8 to 10 people work through small-group exercises to identify high-impact trends affecting quality of life. Crime, "brain drain" and wage stagnation emerge as trend leaders. Attendees were entered in a drawing for a $500 Chamber Gift Certificate; the winner was Megan Wells of Coldwell Banker Real Estate. Online community and business surveys stayed open into the new year, with another $500 gift certificate for a respondent.
February 7, 2019: Responses to the first workshop were so positive that a second Community Visioning Workshop was held, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Best Western Courtyard, 2920 10th Street. Civic groups and organizations could also request a "Vision 2040" presentation.
February 2019 (97th Annual Banquet): Banquet attendees voted on the goal they considered most important. The top vote-getter was "Diversify the Great Bend economy with one additional industry by 2030."
April 2019: After many meetings, the Steering Committee narrows the community's goals to a focused list of ten.
November 7, 2019: The Great Bend – Better Than Great master plan is unveiled at the Great Bend Events Center at 7 p.m.
By the numbers: more than 200 residents took part in two community workshops, the 55-member Steering Committee met five times, and 540 people responded to the community and business surveys. Materials were produced in both English and Spanish because the community is multi-cultural. Data and forecasts from Wichita State University's W. Frank Barton School of Business Center for Economic Development and Business Research informed the process, along with the questions: How should we get started? Where are we now and are we ready for what is on the horizon? Who are we and where do we want to go? What could the future look like? How will we reach our desired future?
The Ten Goals (April 2019)
In April 2019 the Community Visioning Steering Committee narrowed the goals of the community to this list:
Increase the number of living wage jobs and the attraction of new residents by 2025.
Increase the pull factor from 1.49 to 1.9 by 2025.
Diversify the Great Bend economy with one additional industry by 2030.
Increase the education and training attainment level by 2030.
Improve the health and safety of the community by 2030.
Enhance community cohesiveness by increasing the inclusion of all citizens.
Increase the number of quality, affordable housing units for a range of incomes.
Reduce the percentage of population living below the poverty level.
Enhance the quality of transportation services and infrastructure systems for economic benefit and improved quality of life.
Continue to be innovative and creative with community projects, events, business opportunities, public spaces, and technology.
The completed Community Vision Plan organized the work into six measurable goals and seven "Changing the Conversation" strategies, described below.
A Note From the Co-Chairs
As we embarked on this journey in the Fall of 2018, we didn't know exactly where the roadmap was headed or what our final destination would look like. When we began, there was a common theme and that was the desire for a united vision for our community. The dreamers, the realists, and the "do-ers" were then enlisted to help us form the roadmap to our community's future.
The community was invited to participate and share their perspectives, and in true Great Bend fashion, many showed up. Over 200 people showed up to participate in two community meetings, a Steering Committee of over 50 members contributed over the course of five meetings, and over 500 residents voiced their opinions through community and business surveys. In all honesty, we were blown away with the energy and passion exhibited by the community.
As Warren Buffett once said, "Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago." Whether you joined us to create your 'shade,' or perhaps you wanted better 'shade' for your co-workers, grandchildren or neighbors, we are grateful for your energy and passion in making our community better. Now is the time to put our plan in motion. Great Bend will always be great, but with your help, it will certainly be BETTER THAN GREAT!
Mark Mingenback and Regan Reif, Better than Great Co-Chairs
Why a Plan, and Why Now
Since 2006, the Great Bend Chamber of Commerce & Economic Development had secured $22.5 million in public and private funding for various economic development programs, resulting in $191 million in capital investments and the creation of over 1,200 jobs in the Great Bend community. The Chamber also secured Great Bend as one of two recipients of a transload facility in the state of Kansas, and $900,000 in private investment for the E-Community Entrepreneurship program. To supplement those accomplishments, the Chamber and the Barton County Young Professionals asked: What do we want Great Bend to be in the future? And, how do we get there?
Thanks to the Harms Trust grant, the community embarked on a multi-phase process to understand current trends, identify strengths and challenges, and brainstorm what residents want to see. The effort produced a tag line and logo, a branded identity meant to serve as the compass for community decisions. Much of the planning was also shaped by an honest look at rural realities: what comes next after oil, how to address an aging and declining population, changes in the agriculture industry and its technology, how retail is changing, and how to address mental health and addiction.
The Six Goals
The six goals are of equal importance to the prosperity of Great Bend, and they are interconnected: quality of life cannot be separated from economic vitality. Each lists a baseline and targets for 2030 and 2040.
1. Diversify the Great Bend economy
Baseline: 6,908 people are employed across 10 employment sectors in Great Bend (2018), and Great Bend has 60 employers with 50 or more employees. Targets: add one additional industry by 2030 and two more by 2040. Context: population is declining in Barton County, as in most rural Kansas counties, while agriculture and oil, the current economic drivers, face changing weather patterns, water depletion in the Ogallala and Great Bend Prairie aquifers, larger corporate farms, and shallow oil fields. The plan points to Great Bend's technical heritage, including Jack Kilby, inventor of the integrated circuit and Nobel Prize winner, and Skip Yowell, co-founder of JanSport. Major employers in 2018 included USD 428 (700 employees), Barton Community College (545), Wal-Mart Supercenter (375), Great Bend Regional Hospital (342), Rosewood Services (280), Redbarn Pet Products (263), Superior Essex (259) and Venture Corporation (200).
2. Increase the pull factor
Baseline: Barton County has a retail pull factor of 1.12 and Great Bend has a pull factor of 1.49 (a figure above 1.0 means a community is attracting retail sales). Targets: 1.75 by 2030 and 1.9 by 2040. Great Bend is a regional retail center and a regional employment center, so its daytime population grows. Continued downtown revitalization, community amenities and events were identified as the way to keep Great Bend a draw for local residents and surrounding communities.
3. Increase the number of living wage jobs
Baseline: Barton County had a 3.0% unemployment rate as of June 2019. Median household income in Great Bend was $44,397 in 2018, with a per capita income of $23,897 (Barton County: $46,959 and $24,555). The living wage for a family of four with two working adults is calculated at $14.34 per hour per working adult. Targets: raise average annual earnings per capita to $30,000 by 2030 and $35,000, the rural average, by 2040, by supporting local employers to offer more jobs at higher wages.
4. Increase the education and training attainment level
Baseline: an 83% high school graduation rate; 35.9% of residents 25 and older have some college or an Associate's degree (Barton County: 37.4%), and 17.6% have a Bachelor's degree or higher (Barton County: 17.8%). Barton Community College awarded 349 certificates in 2017-2018. Targets for 2030: a 90% graduation rate, 40% with some college or an Associate's degree, 20% with a Bachelor's or higher, and 25% more BCC certificate completions. Targets for 2040: 95%, 45%, 25% and 50% more. The plan notes Great Bend's strong schools, the loss of young people who leave for school and do not return ("brain drain"), and the opportunity to create "brain gain" through a sense of place, quality of life and affordable housing.
5. Reduce the percentage of the population living below the poverty level
Baseline: in 2016, 19.3% of Great Bend residents lived below the poverty line, including 28.1% of those under 18 and 15.6% of those over 65. Targets: 15% by 2030 and 10% by 2040. The plan observes that unemployment is low but too few jobs offer wages and benefits that provide a path out of poverty, and that child care is not readily available or affordable for many families.
6. Improve the health and safety of the community
Baseline: Barton County ranked #67 of 105 Kansas counties for health outcomes and #84 for health factors (2018), and Great Bend had a crime index of 48.8 per 1,000 residents compared with the Kansas rate of 32.14. Targets for 2030: rank #62 for outcomes and #79 for factors, and reduce the crime index to 40 per 1,000. Targets for 2040: #57 and #75, and a crime index below the state average. Crime had been trending down over the previous decade, and Great Bend was named one of the "Happiest Cities in Kansas" by Only In Your State in 2017.
Changing the Conversation: Seven Strategies
Each strategy is organized around four themes from the community: connecting people, targeting investments, growing resources and inspiring each other, and each has a "community catalyst" and specific action items with lead organizations and target dates.
Gather Community Together. Catalyst: continue to energize Jack Kilby Square with leisure, recreation and cultural activities and events. Actions include convening the creative-culture community, activating the County Courthouse/Jack Kilby Square with consistent events (for example Third Thursdays with food trucks, a farmer's market, live music and games for kids), supporting "buy local" and pop-up retail, coordinating strategic planning among the City, the Chamber and Great Bend Economic Development, cleaning up gateways into the community, beautifying parks and boulevards, and creating a centralized resource phone number.
Improve Communication. Catalyst: cultivate a culture of positive Great Bend stewardship. Actions include a unifying tag line and brand (for example #GBPride), reactivating the Ambassador Club as a Welcome Wagon for newcomers, a welcome package for new residents, a centralized bilingual community calendar, state and national speakers, an annual economic outlook summit, expanded Chamber Roundtables, and a liaison between schools, businesses and community organizations.
Overcome Cultural Barriers. Great Bend is described as two communities within one, divided by language. Catalyst: bring two cultures together to be more than the sum of the parts. Actions include Family Language Nights at elementary schools, an annual community-wide cultural festival, English (ESOL) and beginning Spanish courses for the business community, recruiting Latinx-owned businesses to the Chamber, a Hispanic committee within Great Bend Economic Development, and translation and outreach services.
Close the Generation Gap. About half of the population is under 24 or over 65. Catalyst: raise leaders of the future to be effective successors of our business community and cultural agencies. Actions include mentoring and succession planning for small business owners, a University of Kansas Red Tire Program partnership to match alumni with retiring owners, senior services and aging in place, intergenerational activities, and a Chamber committee to exchange ideas between retirees and young professionals.
Grow the Workforce of the Future. Catalyst: prepare people who already live in Great Bend to be successful contributors to the workforce of the future. Actions include re-recruiting college graduates from Great Bend, building on the legacy of Jack Kilby with a technology training center and a Manufacturing Day for high school students, incentives for relocating families, access to child care, connecting businesses with KANSASWORKS, a small-business incubator and co-working space, early childhood education, and local internships and mentoring such as the Building Bridges program.
Improve Mobility & Accessibility. Catalyst: take better advantage of Great Bend's central U.S. location by modernizing transportation and communication infrastructure. Actions include maintaining the municipal airport runway, modernizing rail facilities and using the transload facility, an on-demand ride-share program, a stronger connection between Barton Community College and downtown, improved biking and walking infrastructure, a "Buy Great Bend" app, and broadband expansion.
Explore New Opportunities. Catalyst: build on the legacy of former Great Bend innovators to stay at the leading edge of change, and develop an industry around hemp growth, fiber production and export. Actions include recruiting companies that fill local gaps, hiring a consultant to identify new industry, exploring drought-resistant crops, investing in downtown (housing market study, a venture capital group for Opportunity Zones, redevelopment incentives), creating industrial development sites, a regional health care training system with the University of Kansas Health System, and growing outdoor recreation and events tied to Skip Yowell's legacy.
What People Said
Community voices shaped four themes: Connecting People, Inspiring Each Other, Growing Our Resources and Targeting Our Investments. A few of the voices in the plan:
"Great Bend is a city of strong, intelligent, hard-working and high-performance people. All we need is the spirit of communication to build mountains." Doug Reiser, Central Kansas Oilfield Services, Inc.
"When we connect people together physically, socially, and spiritually, our community is much more than the sum of its parts." Rebecca Ford, Catholic Charities of Southwest Kansas
"We can't be everything to everyone. Being strategic is about focusing on what we should do and what we should stop doing." Paul Snapp, First Kansas Bank
"We need to shift the culture that Great Bend is 'mine' to Great Bend is 'ours'. It's best to invest in anyone in town that wants to do better, the more we help everyone, the better off we'll all be." Quenla McGilber, Circles of Central Kansas and Barton County Health Department
"We are already a small community and can't afford to be made only smaller by not embracing diversity." Ana Hayson, Rana Luna Boutique
"Employment challenges must be addressed through partnership: employers, education and the community sitting at the table together." Elaine Simmons, Barton Community College
Progress: The Top 10 Advancements of 2020
In the December 2020 Outlook Business Journal the Chamber looked back at one year of progress toward the vision, "amid an economic crisis" and a pandemic. Its pick for the top 10 advancements made in 2020:
Community Intervention Taskforce. "Developing a Community Response: Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) in Barton County" launched to route people with mental health needs who were jailed for minor offenses toward treatment.
Heizer Park. Parks landed on the City's strategic plan, with a survey of 420 responses (70.57% said restrooms were the top improvement) and additional Harms Trust funding for a handicapped-accessible swing and new soccer goals.
State and national speakers including Kansas Department of Commerce Secretary David Toland, U.S. Senator Jerry Moran, Congressman Roger Marshall, Women in Business Summit speakers and the Aligned Leader Master Series with executive coach Chad Carden, plus a Great Bend visit by Kansas Commerce Deputy Secretary Bill Murphy organized by Great Bend Economic Development.
Downtown development and quality of life. The Summer Street Stroll Farmers Market, 3rd Thursday food trucks, Art & Wine Walk, a live outdoor theatrical play, outdoor movies, car shows and cruise nights; new downtown businesses including Dry Lake Brewing, Hernandez Bakery and Ruby's Boutique; and a Downtown Window Decorating Contest with 37 businesses.
Access to telehealth. A $781,127 USDA Rural Development grant awarded to Barton County to provide telemedicine software and equipment for Barton, Ellsworth, Rice and Stafford counties.
Broadband access and expansion. Nex-Tech expanded fiber to residential areas and received nearly $800,000 in SPARK funding to extend fiber to underserved farms and rural businesses south of Great Bend.
Diversity & inclusion. Efforts to bridge Great Bend's diverse business community, including new members of the Young Professionals, Ambassadors Club and Chamber board, and translated SPARK micro-grant applications hand-delivered to nearly 20 Hispanic-owned businesses, after which two new Hispanic-owned businesses joined the Chamber.
Building on the legacy of Jack Kilby. The Chamber celebrated Manufacturing Day again in 2020, and the Chamber and Great Bend Economic Development announced the first annual Barton County Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge for 2021.
Educating the community about poverty. Rise Up Central Kansas, Barton County Resolve Poverty and Central Kansas Partnership connected resources and offered classes such as "Getting Ahead in a Just-Getting-By World," and United Way of Central Kansas and the Young Professionals raised $22,259 for Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, benefiting nearly 550 local children.
Connecting employers with qualified workers. Partnerships among KANSASWORKS/Kansas WorkforceONE, Great Bend Economic Development and the Chamber, an expanded Central Kansas Jobs website, a Barton Community College economic development workgroup, and Great Bend Economic Development convening workforce organizations.
Read and Share the Plan
Download the Complete Community Vision Plan (48 pages) or the Summary Vision Plan, and follow the project at gbbetter.com. Questions? Contact the Great Bend Chamber of Commerce at 620-792-2401.
This Community Vision Plan would not have been possible without the generous support of the Harms Trust. The Great Bend Chamber of Commerce & Economic Development, the Barton County Young Professionals, and the entire community of Great Bend committed to fulfilling the directive of the Harms Trust: to make Great Bend – Better than Great!
Comments