Community Readiness Index (CRI)
A PR IVAT E - S E C TOR A PPRO ACH TO E CO NO M IC A ND C OMMUNI TY DEVELOP MENT
W HAT I S T HE CO M M UNITY RE ADINE SS INDE X?
• The CRI is a numeric score measuring a community’s self-awareness
and alignment of goals, which helps identify legitimate private-sector
investment opportunities.
• The CRI is a deeper drill-down of the Community Asset Inventory and
Rankings (CAIR).
• We focus on providing a tool to the communities that are dissatisfied
with the current state of their community and economic development
performance.
• Step 2: CBER compares these data sets (via an online assessment
tool) with actual secondary data. The OCRA+BBC team
recommends... A.) to hold community conversations to build selfawareness or B.) to begin PWR3 TM.
• PWR3 TM (power cubed) is the culmination step of aligning a selfaware, self-assessed community toward a common good from which
programs and projects can be launched. SEE REVERSE FOR A DETAILED
EXPLANATION OF PWR3 TM.
• Step 1: A leader assessment of goals, participation, and alignment
(an understanding of the conditions in a community). This
assessment is targeted at key appointed and elected leaders.
HO W T HE PR O CES S W O R KS
SCREENING PHASE
Ask Indiana counties and communities to participate
in the Community Readiness Index
Step 1
Decline participation
Accept participation, sign up
Step 2
Bad reasons
Good reasons (already
a healthy community)
Take leadership assessment
Leadership not
aligned with goals
Leadership
aligned with goals
Step 2a
Hold goal-alignment
conversations
Step 3
PO LICY D E V E LOP M E NT
Take community assessment
Step 4
Community awareness conversations
Step 5
County/community performance report
PWR3 TM (a market-based policy tool)
IM PL E M EN TAT I ON
Step 6: Use report to implement policies
Policy 1
(entrepreneurship)
Policy 2
(agriculture)
Policy 3
(tourism)
Policy 4
(miscellaneous)
W HAT I S P WR 3
TM
?
PWR3 TM (power cubed) is a market-based, empirically grounded,
economic development community planning tool designed to aid local
communities, entrepreneurs, and small businesses in crafting growth
strategies that reflect the realities of the regional environments in which
they operate. It will provide online data and analysis tools through the
presentation of key economic data, which is localized to the community
by census tracts and is applied within a region.
The PWR3 TM name is an acronym representing the five economic activities and elements applicable to any regional economy and broadly applicable to any business sector: Production, Wholesale, Retail, Residents,
and Recreation.
• Production reflects the presence of wealth-generating, private-sector
employment opportunities within a region for residents of the host
community and those of other communities within the region.
• Wholesale reflects the myriad warehousing, wholesale, transportation,
distribution and logistics-related activities within a region.
• Retail reflects the purchase and consumption of goods and services
within the region, the resulting economic activity generated therein,
and the wealth creation and retention outcomes resulting from regional retail entrepreneurship.
• Residents populate a region and its communities with 1.) the workforce necessary to produce goods and provide services within the
region, 2.) the consumers who create demand for retail products in
the region and avail themselves of the recreational amenities, and 3.)
business owners who create new wealth in their communities and
regions.
• Recreation includes public and private, natural and human-made
recreational amenities that aid in defining the full range of regional
economic activities.
PWR3 TM is designed to help stakeholders better understand the roles
that community assets and limitations play in forging a place within the
regional economy. It will enable communities to determine in which of
the PWR3 TM elements they possess strengths, and how to leverage those
strengths to increase regional wealth. The proposed scope of services is
designed to coordinate with the Community Readiness Index to provide
data, analyses and on-site follow-up with communities to help them
better connect their local economic development activities with their
economic regions.
C OM MU N I T Y EXAM PL ES USING CRI & P WR 3
TM
E X A M P LE 1 : C OM M U NITY X
E XA MPLE 2: C OMMUNI TY Z
• Assessment using the Community Readiness Index.
• Assessment using the Community Readiness Index.
6 , 5 0 0 P E O PLE , 37 MILES FROM NEAR ES T M ETR O AR EA ( OF 65,000 PE RSO N S)
• Step 1: Elected leaders take an online assessment (the CRI, a surveylike tool). The leaders report that they want... 1.) to grow manufacturing
jobs, 2.) to have new agriculture/energy development, 3.) to improve retail
environment, and 4.) to redevelop the downtown. They have broad and
deep community participation from those elected, the service and fraternal
groups, the school board, etc.
• Step 2: Data suggests manufacturing employment is steady (production
grows) in Community X. Retail leakages are high, but the area has seen a
great deal of new energy/agriculture-related production (ethanol) with new
retail development. The small town center is in fair shape (mostly intact)
with little high value retail. Community X has a large festival (85,000
annual visitors) each summer.
2 , 7 0 0 PE O PL E , 1 3 M IL E S F RO M N E A RE ST M E T RO A RE A ( O F 6 4 5 , 0 0 0 PERSO NS)
• Step 1: Elected leaders take an online assessment (the CRI, a survey-like
tool). The leaders report that they want... 1.) to grow manufacturing jobs,
2.) to attract several small supply chain manufacturers.
• Step 2: Data says the county is growing at three times the national average,
and residential location into this community will begin in earnest half-way
through the coming decade.
The BBC+OCRA committee determines that the community leaders are
not aligned with the data, and asks the leadership to conduct an extensive
community conversation to consider the future of Community Z. The
committee does not assign a CRI score to this community, but provides
technical assistance for the community conversation.
The BBC+OCRA committee determines that this community is clearly
aligned and is ready for the next step. The committee assigns a CRI score to
the community.
• Community members take the online assessment (the CRI) and hold a followup community conversation to hear results. Community self-assessment says
members want manufacturing growth, better retail, a better downtown, more
attention/exploitation of the festival, and more things for young people to do.
• PWR3 policy development process begins, which identifies several policies.
• Diversify the economy.
• Develop a program to research retail opportunities, which are then
presented to franchise investors. The program is designed to keep more
visitors in town during festival, which includes an online “rent a couch”
tool and a motel study.
• Promote agriculture.
• Zone for CAFO, include railhead access for a new agricultural production
facility, and adopt an agriculture program in high school vocational
training.
S UCCES S FUL MOVEMENT OF READY, S ELF-A LI G N E D,
S ELF- AWARE COMMUNITY TOWARDS PR I VAT E
S ECTOR INVES TMENT OPPORTUNITIES !