Benchmarks are the indicators we use to measure our annual progress. To achieve these benchmarks, residents of Shawnee County will need to work together in unprecedented ways to achieve the more than 100 goals set in the Heartland Visioning Strategic Plan. Click here to read our this year's Report to the Community.

Six Foundation Teams were created to make these goals more manageable:
Education, Quality of Life, Infrastructure, Economic Development, Government and Private Sector Leadership.

A seventh Team, “Benchmark”, led by Doug Sterbenz, Westar Energy, and Nancy Johnson, Community Resources Council, monitors the progress of each of the other six teams.

The following is information to-date on the key goals of the Heartland Visioning Strategic Plan:

Growing Community
Goal: Future Shawnee County population will increase 1% annually for 10 years and 1 1/2%  annually for the next 10 years.

How we're doing: In 2008 Shawnee County population grew 0.8% and in 2009 grew 0.7%; good progress during a difficult economy.

Prosperous Community
Goal: Future Shawnee County average earnings per job will increase each year at 0.75% above the U.S. average.

How we're doing: Shawnee County average earnings increased 1.6% during the first quarter of 2009; nationally, there was a decline of 2.5%. This is a 3.35% improvement over the benchmark.

Quality of Life
Goal: Arts, Culture and Leisure Activities: Before 2028, the Topeka Metropolitan statistical Area (MSA) will be in the upper 25% of the “Cities Ranked and Rated” score for arts and culture and leisure activities.

How we're doing: Current information is unavailable; data was last updated in 2004.

Public Safety
Goal: Shawnee County will be the safest county with a capital city above 100,000 in the United States.

How we're doing: From 2006 to 2007 crime in Shawnee County declined by 12%, a greater decrease than the U.S. average. Shawnee County remains ranked at 22nd out of 31 counties with capital cities. Refining the data to cities only, The City of Topeka experienced a decline in crime of 6.4% from 2007 to 2008, ranking Topeka 4th out of 12 capital cities with populations between 100,000 to 200,000.

Dynamic Downtown Topeka
Goal: Invest an appropriate amount of public and private sector funds in downtown and the riverfront on the north and south sides of the river each year.

How we're doing: The annual amount is to be determined.