An economic development group expects to soon launch a community effort to envision what the Grand Valley should look like as it emerges from economic distress.

The Grand Junction Economic Partnership plans to start the effort as part of the Western Colorado Economic Summit set for Sept. 30. The survey subsequently will expand to the full community.

GJEP will use survey results to develop a plan to meet long-term goals. The process is expected to take six months and include several workshops. Information about the effort will be posted on the GJEP website at www.gjep.org/grand-vision.

“By state standards, we have been distressed for decades. But in the last couple of years, we have fared better than most counterparts in Colorado, if not the country. We expect that it won’t be long before we surpass the threshold from distressed to thriving community,” said Mike Sneddon, chairman of the GJEP board of directors and president of SG Aerospace & Gas. “We want to hear from the people who live and work here what makes for a thriving community in their eyes.” 

Sneddon and Robin Brown, former executive director of GJEP, brought that question to the GJEP board during its annual retreat. The board delved into a series of discussions and activities centered around how to improve quality of life for Grand Valley residents, a key concept within the GJEP mission. 

A total of more than 20 business executives and community leaders joined in a session led by Shane Kinkennon, a facilitator with decades of experience in leading executive teams through the planning process. 

GJEP plans to open up the discussion to the community with a survey exploring quality of life measures and priorities.  

“GJEP already tracks a number of quality of life measures as defined within economic development —
unemployment rates, cost of living, housing affordability and so on,” said Steve Jozefczyk, deputy director of GJEP. 

“Those will continue to be important measures as we plan ahead,” Jozefczyk said, “But we also want to set metrics around quality of life indicators that may be unique to our community, like access to public lands, location aesthetics, commute times, access to local government. You name it.”