St. Joseph leaders gain insight into furthering Imagine St. Joseph 2040 initiative

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV) --  The St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce, United Way of Greater St. Joseph and St. Joseph Community Alliance hosted an Imagine St. Joseph 2040 refresh Tuesday morning at inspireU.

Attendees enjoyed breakfast and heard from futurist Rebecca Ryan, who shared ideas on shaping St. Joseph's future.

Ryan spoke about 10 trends to better St. Joseph for the future. The trends were churn, brown, homing, managed retreat, uptown, senolytics, China, magic, 'R U OK' and Schismogenesis. 

Ryan said the 10 trends she presented were really to help St. Joseph residents lift their eyes to the horizon and to see a broader picture.

“Not all of these 10 trends apply to St. Joseph, but the ones that do. The audience knows like churn, moving in and out of the community," she said. It’s how we’re thinking about our Downtown, it’s how we're thinking about thinking being a community that works together or works separately. Those are the big three takeaways."

Ryan said there have been some changes in St. Joseph since 2018, specifically Downtown.

“Seeing what happens Downtown is really cool. You know, this is becoming a place where people want to be. Things for residents, guests, etc. I was surprised in the audience today how many people said yep, I had neighbors or colleagues leave the state, but I also had them move in from out of state. So there’s a lot of churn in this community coming and going.”

Attendees also participated in a workshop designed to guide the evaluation and refresh of Imagine St. Joseph 2040.

Ryan said in the workshop that they will look at the four focus areas that were in the 2040 plan.

“Asking what's done, and we should celebrate it. What’s still need to be done, and how are we gonna get it done? Are there any new things in these four focus areas? Like one of them is about Downtown and creating a place for all people," she said. "What needs to be changed in this 2040 plan. There is one other area where we feel like the original 2040 plan that was done in 2018 does not hit the mark, and we brought that forward, and it’s about how digtal back bone in the community. We’re bridging that forward as a new goal for them to considered weather they want to embrace it or not."

Ryan said one thing residents can do to better St. Joseph is to consider how their decisions for the city will benefit the future generation and the current generation.

“It’s very common for decision makers to do the thing that is popular now. We have to slow down and sit down and say, will our next generation value you this," she said.

Ryan adds that she wants to encourage residents to start thinking like futurists.

"What that means is don’t just read the newspaper or watch the news that you always watch. Widen your aperture," she said. Talk to people who think differently than you and ask what they are paying attention to these days. Where do you think things are going? It great way to increase your ability to listen for the weak signals that eventually often shape the future."

Ryan said overall, it’s an honor to be a keynote speaker at the event.

“This is our first opportunity to come back eight years later and ask if we are on track with our 2040 plan. If we're not on track, what do we need to do differently so it’s a healthy and necessary thing to do,” she said.