Parkersburg Engagement Project sending out surveys
Pilot project to promote civic participation, problem-solving
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PARKERSBURG -- City residents are being asked to respond to surveys on pressing issues facing the community in an effort aimed at improving civic engagement and solving a problem.
Surveys went out in the mail Friday from the steering committee of the Parkersburg Engagement Project. It's part of a pilot program being funded with an approximately $250,000 grant by the SHIFT foundation's Action Lab.
According to its website, shiftcommongood.org, SHIFT is a small family foundation established in 1982 as the Aaron and Martha Schecter Private Foundation. Their vision is focused on the common good, including a healthy environment, the broadest possible participation, more economic equality and "people seeking to use the resources of the community for the benefit of all members of the community."
Parkersburg City Councilwoman Wendy Tuck is a co-chair of the committee and said the goal is to get input from different people and perspectives.
"Conversations are never one-sided," she said. "The point is there's not going to be no conflict. The point is we can deal with it in a healthy way."
During her first run for council in 2020, Tuck, a Democrat, said she worked loosely with the West Virginia Can't Wait group and got to know Rosemary Ketchum, who was elected to Wheeling City Council that year. After being elected, Tuck said she told Ketchum it felt at times that she and other council members had different perspectives and values and weren't on the same page when it came to some issues like substance abuse recovery and homelessness.
Ketchum, a project supervisor for SHIFT's Action Lab, told her about some of the work the organization does.
"I saw the SHIFT network as a way to have conversations that would find solutions and not bring about hard feelings and misunderstandings," Tuck said.
Ketchum said Tuck's leadership and work with issues like economic decline, substance abuse disorder and homelessness stood out during the grant application process.
"It's my belief that we are often too polarized," Ketchum said. "These are issues that everybody cares about."
The steering committee consists of nine individuals with different experiences and perspectives. Among them is Bob Mercer, a Republican who served on Parkersburg City Council for eight years, four of them with Tuck.
"I was glad to hear she was a part of this because she's a very smart person," Mercer said. "She's in touch with a lot of things in this community."
Mercer said bringing people of different parties and backgrounds together is "a much-needed thing on every level of government."
The surveys the group is mailing out and distributing at meetings with various groups ask about people's engagement in the community as well as what issues concern them. The steering committee will take that input, select a problem to focus on and hold town hall meetings and otherwise work with the community to develop a solution.
"We don't want to come to the end of the year and just have had some nice conversations," Tuck said.
That solution could involve legislation through the city, action by the county or other efforts in conjunction with people who work in the area selected. Some of the funding from the grant can go toward those efforts.
Ketchum said a third-party evaluator will follow the process and assess the outcome to determine if it can be replicated elsewhere.
People can mail the survey back to the group or scan a QR code on it to complete it online. Mercer said he'd like to hear from as many people in Parkersburg as possible.
"Everything will be up front and transparent," he said. "I think it's an exciting, exciting program."
More information is available online at www.pkbengagementproject.org.
Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com