Engage Winona, a nonprofit organization in Winona County, Minnesota offered residents a reward – entry to win a $100 gift card – for their participation in a survey to share priorities for American Rescue Plan funds in 2021. This approach is an excellent framework example for getting a holistic picture of the true needs of the community and to determine how to spend government funds such as those available through this historic legislation.
The American Rescue Plan has been uniquely successful at ensuring federal funding reaches the local level, allocating funding to every county in the US. The next question for many of these communities becomes: for what projects should this funding get used? For many communities, their needs have been under-invested in for decades, while the civic leaders are often a bare-bones group working on a voluntary basis. Using an engagement framework like the one Engage Winona created is an excellent way to ensure investments are spent on the needs truly felt in the daily lives of residents.
