Chester County Commissioners Josh Maxwell, Marian Moskowitz and Eric Roe announced this week the start of projects resulting from recommendations by county citizens, generated through Innovate Chester County.
The Innovate Chester County first-phase projects will support children’s mental health services, veteran resource communication, affordable housing, and the County’s community transit service, Chesco Connect.
“Through ‘Innovate Chester County’ we invited residents to explore new ways to tackle some of the complex social challenges we face in county government today,” said Chester County Commissioners’ Chair Josh Maxwell.
“As we expected, some great ideas were generated by the teams of residents, and they have all been reviewed and prioritized,” added Commissioner Maxwell. “We will now begin working on some of the recommendations that use existing resources, while researching other recommendations that require a greater amount of time, investment and partnerships with the private sector and nonprofits.”
More than 100 individuals were selected to be part of Innovate Chester County’s work groups, following a county-wide call to action for applications. The applications asked for professional qualifications and personal interests, as well as submitted ideas that addressed the noted county government challenges.
“The Innovate Chester County work groups started meeting late last year, and within a short timeframe, each team researched and prepared a selection of ideas to present to us, to our county administrative team, and to our steering committee,” said Chester County Commissioner Marian Moskowitz.
“The ideas ranged from simple volunteer ambassador programs for Chesco Connect and Veterans Affairs, to more detailed recommendations that support a public education campaign on affordable housing, as well as collaboration on children’s mental health services, and communication of our amazing local agricultural and farming products.”
Chester County Commissioner Eric Roe noted, “One of the best things about Chester County is the interest that people have in taking time to make our community a better place for everyone. Asking residents to collaborate on finding ways to address the complex issues of today might not work elsewhere, but it does here.
“We thank everyone who took the time to submit ideas and then meet to formulate those ideas into practical actions that we, in county government can take. We are looking forward to seeing the results of these Innovate Chester County recommendations, not just in the coming months, but for a long time to come.”
Follow the progress of Innovate Chester County at www.chesco.org/innovatechesco.
