Public meetings Friday and Saturday (April 4-5) will be the highlight of the West Virginia University Community Design Team visit to Ripley, Jackson County, this week.

The CDT consists of up to 20 professional volunteers whose backgrounds include landscape architects, transportation engineers, specialists in tourism development, historic preservation, public administration and economists who spend time gathering information from community members before formulating recommendations for the community to consider as part of a revitalization agenda.

“The teams suggestions are based solely on the information presented to them during the public meetings, so it is important for everyone in the community to come out, participate, and share their opinions and ideas,”said Jeremy Morris, program coordinator for the Design Team.

Friday evenings meeting will offer the opportunity for the public to learn about the results of the recent First Impressions visit to the community and feature a public meeting that will allow them to tell the team their ideas and issues about the Ripley community. Saturday, the Design Team will present its suggestions for the Ripley community to consider as part of its revitalization plans.

Both evenings will begin with a potluck dinner to allow the public to interact informally with the Design Team members. The community members are encouraged to bring a dish to eat and meet with the Design Team. The community potluck dinners will be from 5:30-7 p.m. both evenings. The meetings begin after dinner and typically last until 9 p.m. All events will take place at the Calvary United Methodist Church, 205 Court St. N., in Ripley.

“The CDT s goals are to help the community work together more effectively toward its future,”Morris explained.”Individuals are invited and encouraged to share their opinions about these or other issues at the public meeting Friday evening and to hear the teams suggestions at Saturdays meeting.”

Following the visit, the CDT will prepare a written report of their recommendations, and the host committee will formulate plans for follow-up activities based on the recommendations. The West Virginia Recruitable Communities Project is funding the CDT visit. RCP is an effort to help communities recruit health care professionals and to understand factors involved in retaining health care professionals. In addition to improving the delivery of healthcare and recruiting and maintaining physicians, the team will look at other issues raised by the community.

The Community Design Team is a program of West Virginia Universitys Division of Resource Management, a part of the Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry and Consumer Sciences with considerable contributions from the WVU Extension Service and numerous agencies and organizations across the state. The team members donate their time, while the host community provides lodging, food and covers administrative costs for the visit.