Facebook LinkAbout Candia 2026: Come shape our town's next decade

The Community Profile Report is available now! View the 2026 Community Profile Report!

In March 2015, the town’s residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of Article 15: To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $5,000 for the first phase of updating the Candia Master Plan per RSA 674:3. State law recommends the Master Plan be revised every 5-10 years; the town’s previous revision dates back to 2004.

Because of this vote, Selectmen moved forward with hiring the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension to help conduct a “Community Profile” event in 2016. Part of this process involved putting together a steering committee to assist UNH-CE with the following actions:

  • Organizing the main event
  • Promoting the event, both through early engagement activities and marketing initiatives
  • Recruiting volunteers to facilitate and scribe (write down on easels) breakout meetings at the Community Profile
  • Help put together post-profile committees to act upon action items developed from the Community Profile

The Community Profile was held at the Moore School on Friday, April 15, 2016 and Saturday, April 16, 2016.

Three actions will come from the Community Profile:

  • There will be a report written by the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension that will summarize the information obtained from the event and early engagement activities. That information will be available on this website and on the Candia 2026 Facebook page.
  • This information will be a component to the Master Plan Committee and it is expected that much of the information will be used in the upcoming revision.
  • There will be committees formed after the Community Profile to address many of the action items that came out of the event. These committees will act independently from the Master Plan committee, though it’s possible that there will be coordinated efforts between the committees.

Early Engagement Activities

In addition to the Community Profile, the committee will be putting on numerous “early engagement” activities, which are the following:

Youth art project – We have engaged with the Moore School to have its fourth graders create pictures to be on display at the school. They will be displayed from town election day until the Community Profile event. We will be engaging fourth-graders, because they are learning about NH government and civics, in an art project that asks them a question about the town (what they like, how they see the future, etc.).

Facebook Page – Our Facebook Page is called “Candia 2026 - Come Shape Our Town’s Next Decade” and the URL is http://www.facebook.com/candia2026. There will be updates on events, places where people can RSVP to the event and to volunteer, and the first place to look for documents and meeting times.

PowerPoint presentation of long-time residents – We are speaking to long-time residents and asking them about how the town has changed in its time (or a variation thereof of that question). We will make sure to have the presentation available to residents who check in for the Community Profile event. Our goal is to have it sooner, and to place the slideshow here and on the Candia 2016 Facebook page.

Posters – We will have two types of posters available. The first poster states, “What are your top three priorities for Candia?” and it will be at our table during the Feb. 9 Presidential Primary election. People will be able to place up to three stickers on one of 10 sections of the poster, indicating their preferences. The information will then be given to UNH Cooperative Extension and put as part of the project’s summary document. The 10 categories will be:

  • Economic Vitality
  • Education and Lifelong Learning
  • Healthy Living and Wellness
  • History and Culture
  • Housing, Neighborhoods, and Community Spaces
  • Leadership and Community Engagement
  • Natural Resources, Climate, and Energy
  • Recreation
  • Sense of Community
  • Utilities, Facilities, Transportation, and Broadband Internet

The second poster will be at our table during the March 9 town election. That poster will say “What is your vision for Candia in 2026?” This will allow residents to write their ideas down. In addition, this poster will be rotated around various areas of public accommodation (i.e. Library, CYAA) to gather more information. This poster will be in the public until Friday, April 1, at which point it will be given to UNH Cooperative Extension for its report.

An example of the posters can be seen here.

Timeline

March 10, 2015 – Candia voters – by a 429-176 (71 percent) margin – approve Town Warrant Article 15: To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $5,000 for the first phase of updating the Candia Master Plan per RSA 674:3.

July 15, 2015 – The town approves hiring University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension to work with the town to hold a Community Visioning session in 2016, as well as develop a report, which will have action items the town can use for its future development. While not required, this step is used by many towns as the beginning of the Master Plan revision process.

September 30, 2015 – The organizational meeting of the Master Plan Steering Committee forms with 16 town residents attending.

February 9, 2016 – The Committee hosts a table at the New Hampshire Presidential Preference Primary, with a poster asking residents “What are your top three priorities for Candia?”

March 8, 2016 – The Committee hosts a table at the town election, with a poster asking residents “What is your vision for Candia in 2026?”

March 17, 2016 – Volunteer training at the town offices; training for scribes and facilitators for the April 15-16 event

April 15-16, 2016 – Candia 2026 Community Profile

May 16, 2016 – Steering Committee Follow-Up Meeting

May 31, 2016 – Action Committee Meeting and formal dissolution of Master Plan Steering Committee

TBD – Action Committee organizational meetings; organization of Master Plan Committee

Downloads and Media

  • Flyer for the Candia 2026 Community Profile Meeting - If you are interested in placing this flyer in your business or distributing it to your friends and neighbors, please feel free to download it from here.
  • 2014 UNH Cooperative Extension Community Profile – The following video is from University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension, which gives a general overview of the Community Profile process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGwInzM1LH8.
  • Candia’s 2001 Community Profile – This was the basis for the 2004 Master Plan revision and will give you a good idea of how a community profile works as well as ideas to consider when attending April 15-16 event.
  • Candia’s 2003 PLAN NH Charrette Report – Following up on the 2001 Candia Community Profile, PLAN NH put together a charrette to look at the future of the “Four Corners” and the future of the village district. A “charrette” is defined as collaborative session in which groups of stakeholders draft a solution to a design problem.
  • Candia’s 2004 Master Plan – This is the document, which, in the next two years, will be updated to reflect the wants and needs of Candia residents. It’s a great resource to see how far the town has come in meeting elements of this plan, areas the town needs to revisit, and aspects that are no longer applicable to the Candia of 2016 and beyond.
  • Dunbarton Community Profile – The most recent community profiles was in 2015, when the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension. If you are interested in getting an idea what our report will look like, please check this document out.
  • Candia 2026 Facebook Page – If you would like to get up-to-the-minute updates on the April event, when meetings are, and how you can get involved, please visit our Facebook page Candia 2026 - Come Shape Our Town's Next Decade.
  • Agendas & Minutes

The Candia 2026 Community Profile

From University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension: The Community Profile is a process by which communities take stock of where they are today and develop an action plan for how they want to operate in the future. The process provides a method for citizens to affirm community strengths, find collaborative approaches to meet challenges creatively, and manage change. One of the major outcomes of the Community Profile is increased citizen participation in the community.

In essence, this process is for Candia residents to express where they see the town now, the priorities they have for the town for the next 10 years, and for them to take actions to achieve the attendees of the Community Profile deem the most important. In addition, though not an official goal of the Community Profile, the information gathered from this process will be a primary resource for the Master Plan Committee’s revision process.

To learn more about the Community Profile and the visioning process, please check out the following YouTube video: “2014 UNH Cooperative Extension Community Profile

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