“What’s the Plan?” highlighted the need to be transparent about who you are as an organization, why you do what you do, and how you get it done. Being an organization that works in the public sphere, it seems that perhaps Forward Cody should provide the public an inside look to our Plan! We’ll do so by sequentially highlighting the individual areas of our Plan and describing how they fit in the overall scheme of Cody.
We introduced the concept of Building Blocks as a tier of blocks, each block representing a component of community and economic development. As we all know with blocks, it takes a broad base to support subsequent layers, so the Building Blocks begin with the all-important foundation of Leadership and Public Policy. For every community action that takes place, there is a leader or a group of leaders behind that forward motion. Leaders be they elected officials, a member of a local civic club, or a participant in the local coffee clutch, exist at all levels throughout our community. You know who they are, they are the ones that always seem to make things happen! They are the people that ask, “Why don’t we…?” or “What if ….?” And when something is getting done – you can bet they are there too.
Forward Cody depends on the leadership of our local government officials and membership to support and ratify various projects in which we participate. And it takes the leadership of our elected Board of Directors to develop and oversee the execution of our work plan. Although it may seem unnecessary to say, without these leaders, Forward Cody would not and could not succeed.
So, who are these leaders? We start with the elected officials – the Park County Commissioners and the City of Cody. As key decision makers for the area and benefactors of the work that we do, we engage participation from our local governments. As Forward Cody receives 12% of their budget from the County and City in 2020, we request that the local governments make a representative available to serve on the Board.
Next, Forward Cody has 18 board seats which are occupied by its members. These members make an annual contribution to help in funding the organization. Membership contributions cover about one-half of our annual operating budget. Each December, the entire membership votes on representatives to serve on the board. The two-year terms are staggered such that half the positions are up for re-election each year. Members contributing at our highest membership level are provided the option of holding a board position. Currently 4 members serve in that capacity.
Additionally, we invite partner agencies and organizations who work on individual Building Blocks to participate. Our Advisory Members play an active role in many of our projects and are essential in guiding and advising the program.
It is through the collective wisdom of these dedicated individuals that we continue to thrive as an organization. Though we’ve witnessed some trials in the past year, our eyes are focused forward to better days. Poet Henry David Thoreau perhaps stated it best, “Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.” And hence our name and our direction – Forward Cody!
