Strategic Visioning and Doing
The OCE helps organizations, communities, and institutions develop actionable, community-driven strategies through its Strategic Visioning & Doing framework. This approach moves beyond traditional planning by engaging stakeholders in a structured yet flexible process that turns vision into reality.
How It Works
- Collaborative Visioning – OCE facilitates inclusive discussions where community members, leaders, and partners identify shared goals and challenges. This ensures that strategies align with real community needs.
- Asset-Based Approach – Rather than focusing on deficits, OCE helps communities recognize and leverage their existing strengths, resources, and networks to drive progress.
- Action-Oriented Planning – Instead of creating lengthy reports that may sit unused, OCE emphasizes Strategic Doing — a process that breaks goals into achievable steps, assigns responsibility, and ensures measurable progress.
- Continuous Engagement & Adaptation – OCE supports partners beyond the initial planning phase by tracking progress, guiding collaboration, and adapting strategies based on real-world results.
Who Benefits?
- Local Governments & Nonprofits – Develop practical, community-led initiatives for economic development, education, and workforce training.
- Higher Education & Schools – Strengthen community-university partnerships for research, outreach, and student engagement.
- Business & Industry Leaders – Align workforce development efforts with local needs and emerging economic opportunities.
The Southern Illinois Strategic Doing Hub
By combining vision with action, OCE empowers communities to create sustainable, high-impact solutions that drive long-term success.
The Southern Illinois Strategic Doing Hub is a growing network of practitioners using the Strategic Doing methodology to design and guide complex collaborations. The Hub was established with the 2024 Founding Cohort that included Jeff Franklin (SIU System Institute for Rural Health), Miranda Sellars (SIUE We CARE Clinic), Vanessa Sneed (SIUC Business Innovation and Research Park), and Connie Frey Spurlock (SIU System Office of Community Engagement). In 2025, the Pathfinder Cohort expanded the network with additional practitioners committed to fostering collaborative, action-oriented solutions in their communities. Pathfinder Cohort members include:
- Gireesh Gupchup (add dept/units)
- Brian Bray, SIU System Office of Community Engagement
- Leslie Brock, SIU System Office of Community Engagement
- Cindy Scarsdale, SIU System Office of Community Engagement
- JoAnn May, Illinois Metro East Small Business Development Center Director at SIUE
- Rikeesha Phelon, SIU School of Medicine
- Vistrit Choudary, SIU School of Medicine
- Terence Mitchell, Interdisciplinary Implementations
- Tandra Taylor, SIUE Institute for Community Justice and Racial Equity and SIUE Freedom School
- Mark Luer, SIUE School of Pharmacy
- Gina Walker, Macedonia Development Corporation
The SIU Office of Community Engagement coordinates the Hub, providing a shared space for resources, conversations, and peer support.
AHA SD Group
The AHA Strategic Doing group brings together community leaders, residents, and institutional partners to imagine how the Alton Housing Authority can become a model for transforming lives through the provision of affordable housing and wrap around services.
Bunker Hill SD Group
The Bunker Hill Strategic Doing group, known as “Imagine Bunker Hill,” is a community-driven effort to reimagine the city as a cohesive place where everyone thrives and flourishes. Through asset mapping, collaborative planning, and rapid-cycle action steps, the group is working toward a downtown filled with thriving businesses, strengthened community pride, and opportunities for residents of all ages to connect and contribute.
The Village of Brooklyn, Illinois
An example of OCE’s commitment to community-driven strategic visioning and doing can be seen in its work with the Village of Brooklyn, which began in 2021. Students, staff, and faculty from both the Carbondale and Edwardsville campuses have been engaged in meaningful ways in the partnership from the beginning. In spring 2021, for example, a team of faculty and staff from SIUC, SIUE, and Western Illinois University applied for and received an award from Illinois Innovation Network’s (IIN) Sustaining Illinois Seed Funding, which was leveraged to support design workshops with community leaders hosted by SIUC School of Architecture students. The students produced several proposals focused on developing Brooklyn's transportation, housing, business, environmental, and economic growth. Breanne Booker, furthermore, was retained as the partnership’s graduate research assistant with IIN funding and went on to write her 2022 thesis titled, “Community-University Partnerships: Engagement, Transformation, and Revitalization,” about the partnership. Most recently, OCE team members contributed to a MAPPING the Future of Your Community strategic visioning and planning process with Brooklyn facilitated by Western Illinois University’s Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs by participating in each of the five MAPPING sessions and supporting the subcommittees now charged with maintaining the momentum of the Brooklyn Revitalization Project by providing technical assistance and grant development support.
OCE’s work with the Village of Brooklyn illustrates our vision and action steps outlined in the 2025-2026 Roadmap. (See themes 3, 4, and 8.)
To learn more about how OCE can support your organization’s strategic visioning and goals, contact Connie Frey Spurlock at (618) 650-2945 or connie.freyspurlock@siu.edu.
