What Is a Community Review?

The Idaho Community Review is a collaborative project of the Association of Idaho Cities, the Idaho Rural Partnership, the U.S. Dept. of Housing & Urban Development, Idaho Housing & Finance Association, Boise State University, University of Idaho, Idaho Department of Commerce, and a host of other Federal, State, Local, and private organizations.

It's mission is to efficiently and effectively provide the host community with objective information from external community development professionals, create a forum to express internal leadership viewpoints and citizen feedback, recommend resources, and provide follow-up as needed.

This project aspires to help communities bolster their action plans to locally execute and complete community development strategies.

A visiting team of 12-15 community development professionals divides into three groups which tour the community and focus on areas identified by the community such as local economic development, infrastructure, housing, community design & identity, land use planning, education, transportation, communication, health care, natural resources, arts, historic, and recreation resources, seniors & youth, and civic life & community involvement.

The visiting team meets with community leaders, interviews and surveys citizens, and gives an oral presentation of observations, resources, and recommendations. A written report is subsequently sent to the community within a few months with detailed observations and expanding upon possible action items and resources.

The process takes just a few days and is not intended as a cure-all, but has been evaluated as an invigorating, validating, unifying, and vision-creating experience for communities. The community review additionally provides invaluable networking opportunities and sets the stage for future resource referrals and follow up activities to occur in the community with outside sources of support.