1. Meet the Mayors.
There are many opportunities to meet the Mayor of Franklin and Mayor of Williamson County like Franklin Tomorrow’s Breakfast With The Mayors quarterly events.
2. Register to Vote.
You can do this at the Tennessee Secretary of the State’s website: govotetn.com
3. Meet your Alderman by attending a meeting.
Find out who your Alderman is here: franklintn.gov/government. The Board of Mayor & Aldermen meet twice a month on a regular schedule at City Hall.
4. Get in touch with a nonprofit or civic organization working on issues you care about.
United Way of Williamson County and Hands On Nashville maintain engagement and volunteer opportunities in the area.
5. Participate in a Citizens Academy.
Learn more about the City of Franklin by applying for one or all Citizens Academy; Government, Police or Fire Citizens Academies at franklintn.gov/i-want-to/apply-for.
6. Enjoy a festival or Franklin event.
“There’s nothing to do in this town.” Said no one ever. Franklin has a thriving events calendar. Check out VisitFranklin.com to see what’s going on now.
7. Talk with your friend and family about issues that are important to you.
Need some information to start the conversation? Check out Franklin Tomorrow’s On The Table Host Guide: franklintomorrow.org/onthetable
8. Share your voice by actively contributing to online neighborhood forums.
Conversations happen all around us. Be a positive participant in those by joining online conversations pertinent to your neighborhood through NextDoor.com or other social media outlets.
9. Engage with the local school system or place of worship.
The sense of community starts at a young age. Local schools and places of worship have volunteer opportunities for parents and engaged citizens.
10. Get involved with Franklin Tomorrow.
From monthly FrankTalks to quarterly Get Fit Franklin events, there are ample opportunities to plug into the community through Franklin Tomorrow.
Franklin Tomorrow Civic Index results show intense civic pride, while highlighting other civic capital components need attention
Aug. 17, 2021 – Citizens participating earlier this year in discussions across the city as part of Franklin Tomorrow’s Civic Index recorded a strong sense of civic pride in their community, while recognizing challenges exist in other component areas, such as embracing diversity and equity.
Franklin Tomorrow conducted the conversations in late April through late May at locations across the city, including both indoor and outdoor facilities, as well as private and public conversations.
“We initiated the Civic Index as a follow-up to the City of Franklin’s designation by the National Civic League as a 2020 All-America City,” said Mindy Tate, Franklin Tomorrow Executive Director. “As the city’s partner in pursuing the All-America City designation, we wanted to delve deeper to create a baseline measure of civic capital, which has seven components.”
Those seven components are engaged residents, inclusive community leadership, collaborative institutions, embracing diversity and equity, authentic communication, culture of engagement, and shared vision and values.
“These seven components all contribute to the formal and informal relationships, as well as capacities and conditions, that enable a community to address important issues and make decisions in a collaborative manner,” Tate said.
The Civic Index used an online self-assessment tool completed by participants for measuring a community’s civic capital after they participated in one of the conversations about civic capital across the community, which lasted approximately one hour.
Key findings from the survey results were:
• Franklin has a strong sense of community pride.
• Franklin is viewed as having many organizations bringing people together to resolve pressing conflicts and challenges.
• Neighborhood councils and community groups do not reflect the community’s diversity.
• Embracing diversity and equity are the biggest challenges, with one of the biggest challenge appearing to be getting immigrants, new residents and under-represented groups actively participating in community events and discussions.
• New residents (2 years or less) cited more opportunities for improvement.
Recent data released as part of the U.S. Census indicates more than 80% of Williamson County’s population is white, there has been growth overall in the county in the last 10 years in minority segments, including 24.4% growth in Black residents; 44.9% in American Indian; 134.8% in Asian; 74.6% in Hispanic or Latino; and 42.7% in Pacific Islander. Census data for cities has not yet been released.
High marks were given by 78% of survey respondents to the statement, “We are taking ongoing steps to discuss, learn about, and help address historical barriers to participation, inclusion and employment.”
While 58% of respondents responded favorably to the statement, “We have formal discussions about different issues like race, immigrations, drug addition, etc.,” 41% responded this was a challenge for us or we don’t have these conversations.
Echoing the strong sense of civic pride in the community was the positive response by 80% of respondents to the statement, “People have a clear sense of what makes the community unique and a shared vision for what we want to become in the future.”
More than 70 of the 225 individuals who completed the survey offered to participate in focus groups regarding the Civic Index and the outcomes and dozens of individuals offered responses when offered the chance. Franklin Tomorrow hopes to conduct those conversations through the next few months.
Additional priorities for Franklin Tomorrow will be to get newcomers engaged in Franklin, get under-represented groups to actively participate in community events and discussions, and a further focus on inclusivity and supporting the development of leaders from all backgrounds, ages and sectors.
The Civic Index and Community Conversations are presented in partnership with Vulcan Materials. Additional support comes from Gresham Smith and Chandlerthinks.
Franklin Tomorrow has officially launched its new initiative Civic Index and Community Conversations. This initiative is designed to bring Franklin community members together to have a conversation and discuss what Civic Capital means in Franklin. Civic Capital is the formal and informal relationships, networks and capacities communities use to make decisions and solve problems. Franklin Tomorrow is hosting more than 20 events both in-person and virtual around Franklin, which will be open to the public and you are invited to participate! The events will take place from April 19 – May 4. The survey will be available from April 19 – May 12.