1024 Capital Center Drive, Suite 310, Frankfort, Kentucky 40601-8204

Telephone: 502-573-2851 or 800-853-2851 Fax: 502-573-1412 or 800-383-1412

http://www.lrc.state.ky.us/ltprc/home.htm

CONTACT: Michael T. Childress

CENTER ASKS CITIZENS WHERE WE STAND

FRANKFORT, KENTUCKY (December 5, 1997) — The Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center is giving citizens of the Commonwealth a chance many say they seldom get. More than 10,000 Kentuckians are being asked to tell policymakers what they think about the state's progress on key goals for the state's future. Anyone who wishes to register his or her opinion about the goals is being invited to do so.

Specifically, a Center survey asks citizens if Kentucky is making progress, losing ground or standing still on 26 long-term goals dealing with such issues as health care, housing, education, economic development, the environment, and ethical, responsive government. The goals were developed with extensive citizen input and comment. While citizens are encouraged to make their assessments based upon personal experiences in their own communities, the Center is also providing each respondent with information about each goal, including possible measures of progress. The survey also gives citizens the opportunity to comment on the adequacy of both the goals and the measures presented.

The survey is part of an ongoing Center project designed to establish a unifying vision and goals for the state and recognized measures of progress on each goal. The project was launched in 1994 with a series of public meetings in which citizens were asked to share their preferred vision of the state's future. From this citizen input, a vision and goals for the future were developed and widely disseminated for comment. In 1996, this collective vision for the future, goals central to its realization, and some early indicators of progress were presented in the publication, Visioning Kentucky's Future. Additionally, the Center's annual conferences, which are open to the public, have focused on trends and measurements of progress in key areas. Appropriately, this year's conference explored the topic of citizen engagement.

"We view this initiative as a way of aligning efforts to improve Kentucky at every level and maximizing our limited resources," observed Michael Childress, Executive Director of the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center. "When we are all pulling together to reach the same core goals and looking to the same indicators to measure how far we've come, our efforts to create the future we want for Kentucky will likely be far more effective."

In early 1998, the Center will publish the first of planned biennial reports on the state's progress on each of the goals. The report will include proposed benchmarks of progress on each goal, some of which will include new information gleaned from statewide surveys conducted by the University of Kentucky Survey Research Center for the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center. Results of the citizen poll now being conducted will also be presented to state policymakers and to the public.

Interested citizens who are connected to the Internet can complete the survey online by accessing the Center’s Web site (www.lrc.state.ky.us/ltprc/home.htm) and clicking on Indicators at the top of the page. Those who are not connected to the Internet and wish to respond to the survey about goals for Kentucky's future are encouraged to write, phone, fax, or e-mail the Center at:
The Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center
1024 Capital Center Drive, Suite 310
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601-8204
Telephone: 502-573-2851 or 800-853-2851
Fax: 502-573-1412 or 800-383-1412
E-mail: ltprc@lrc.state.ky.us

All survey responses will be confidential. Copies of the final report will be available to survey respondents and all interested citizens upon request. Survey responses should be submitted by January 15, 1998.