By Buster Thompson, Citrus County Chronicle When the founding members of Citrus 20/20 were envisioning the county’s future in the mid 1990s, they turned to the generation that would be living it. During those conversations and at 20/20’s Vision Fest in January 1995, Citrus County’s younger citizens imagined a hometown YMCA, an expansion of community service opportunities for them and more safe places to play in their neighborhoods. Fast forward to several months before 2020, and many of those visions have become a reality — but the future is always changing. So that’s why Citrus 2030, Leadership Citrus' successor to Citrus 20/20, is being established this year to give county stakeholders — especially younger generations — a chance to shape the county over the next decade.
0 Comments
Special to the Chronicle - Editorial Section
THE ISSUE: Citrus 20/30 community visioning group forming. OUR OPINION: Building on the foundation from Citrus 20/20, it can help steer Citrus County to greater success. You may have heard of Citrus 20/20, but you probably haven’t heard much about it lately. This community visioning group formally dissolved in 2018, though it had been nearly dormant for a couple of years. It was difficult seeing Citrus 20/20 close up shop, because it has been so important in helping shape the county as we know it today. The lives of community-based, volunteer-run organizations are cyclical; after more than two decades of really intense work, Citrus 20/20 just ran out of fuel. But the need for community-based visioning still exists and, although the county has seen many achievements arising from Citrus 20/20 activities, there’s still a lot to do. Now, nearly 25 years after the original group’s founding, a new group is forming to update priorities and continue the work, with gratitude to the original group that achieved so much. The Citrus 20/30 vision title says it all: Destiny by choice, not by chance. By Nancy Kennedy, Citrus County Chronicle In 1995, Citrus County Tax Collector Janice Warren worked in banking, wore her hair permed and curly, had kids still in school — and the year 2020 was still 25 years in the future.She and her husband, Dave, had moved to Citrus County in the early 1970s from Jacksonville where she had grown up, settling in Homosassa. “There were only about 20,000 people in Citrus County back then,” she said. But by 1995, she had seen a growth explosion and all the problems and challenges that brings to a community. And although not a county native, she had some of the concerns the old-timers had. |