For the first year and a half, Greenville Magazine wrote an article about Vision 2025. Greenville Magazine and the Vision Voice, sponsored by the Cliffs, is an important vehicle in teaching Greenvillians more about the Vision and its status. These are good summaries of the visions.

"Making the Vision a Reality" (January 2007)

"A recent headline in North Carolina read: 'Raleigh: Greenville with envy.' This regional admiration points to the fact that Greenville has become a place where people want to work and live, and other cities would like to find a way to copy that success. One of the contributing factors to that enviable quality of life is Greenville's Vision for the Future."

"Healthcare & Wellness" (December 2006)

"All of us have opinions on health care in the Upstate because all of us have experience with it. Whether we are insured or uninsured, running a small business or a large corporation, an administrator or a consumer, suffering from chronic illness or not, we have ideas, concerns, and questions. The Vision 2025 Health and Wellness Task Force is getting ready to collect those ideas through a series of community dialogues planned for 2007."

"Meet Greenville Forward" (November 2006)

"Almost every business or organization has at least one: a strategic plan that required hours and hours of effort but was forgotten almost as soon as it was published. Greenville Forward was established to see that Vision 2025 never becomes a dust-gathering shelf ornament."

"Internationalism" (October 2006)

"It's not your mother's Greenville anymore -- at least, it's not the Greenville she may have known growing up. It's a much more diverse place to live, a place that's been enriched with an influx of people from many different parts of this country and many other nations around the world."

"Government" (September 2006)

"The goals for government set forth in the vision 2025 plan include having an efficient and effective government, reducing hte number of independent taxing districts, cultivating an informed and active electorate, and having both district and at-large representation on Greenville County Council."

"Planning and Infrastructure" (August 2006)

"Whether you call it little Atlanta, home to the shops at Gridlock, or simply your worst traffic nightmare, Woodruff Road has become Greenville's most obvious example of what happens in the absence of planning. Thanks to shop after shop, and strip mall after strip mall, all emptying onto a thoroughfare that can't accommodate that many curb cuts, getting around is difficult at best."

"Transportation" (July 2006)

"Ignore some issues and they go away. Ignore other issues and they become problems. That's where Greenville stands with the issue of transportation. It is a long-ignored issue, says Pat Haskell-Robinson, one on the verge of implosion. 'Unless not only planning is done, but financing for the plan is also found, we are not going to be able to continue our economic growth,' she says."

"A Master Plan" (June 2006)

"It's hard to have a meaningful discussion if you don't have the right people at the table. That's why the Vision 2025 Parks and Open Spaces Task Force has brought Greenville County together with a make-up that includes representatives from Upstate Forever and Friends of the Reedy River, along with recreation directors from Greenville County and each of the cities in the county -- Travelers Rest, Greenville, Simpsonville, Mauldin, Fountain Inn, and Greer..."

"The Ties that Bind" (May 2006)

"If you build it, they will come. Or maybe they'll come back. That's the idea behind efforts to increase opportunities for young professionals so that they'll want to move to Greenville and stay in Greenville, a priority that emerged from Vision 2025 discussions. One such effort began in October 2005 and just eight months later, is going strong. The ideas behind Professionals United for Leadership and Social Enrichment (PULSE) came out of focus groups conducted after the Vision process...."

"A Center for the Arts" (April 2006)

"Vision 2025, the plan for Greenville's future unveiled last year, calls for the area to become an internationally recognized center for the arts in the next twenty years. This, planners say, is an entirely possible goal and one that we're making tangible progress toward. 'I think Greenville has started on the right track,' said Don Koonce, president of Envision, Ince. and chair of the Vision 2025 Arts Committee....."

"Regionalism and the Vision" (March 2006)

"As the Vision 2025 process continues, many people involved in the plan for Greenville 's future see that if the plan is confined only to Greenville rather than taking a broader view of where we are headed, it will be shortsighted. That's why the word 'regionalism' has been used in conjunction with many different aspects of the Vision 2025 plan.

To understand regionalism, it is important to take a look at what happens in the absence of regional planning. According to Dr. Barry Nocks, . "

"Moving Forward" (February 2006)

"Vision 2025 was developed by community leaders and area resident who came together to create a vision for Greenville's future. The plan, unveiled a little over a year ago, consists of 16 areas of interest, ranging from coolness to diversity. Its aim is to drive the area's growth by making Greenville and the surrounding region distinct from other parts of the country...."

"Branding Greenville" (January 2006)

"In this column, we take a look at Vision 2025, a plan for Greenville's future that covers the arts, coolness, diversity, economy, education, environment, families and social services, government, health care, international issues, parks.... This month, we talk to two people involved in the planning stages of the Vision and in the implementation of Vision initiatives. The topic is the branding of Greenville and the Upstate region...."

"Diversity" (December 2005)

"...this month the topic is diversity, with questions answered by Audrey Dodson, assistant director of Furman University's Richard W. Riley Institute of Government, Politics, and Public Leadership, which has developed the Diversity Leadership Academy of Upstate South Carolina..."

"Rails to Trails" (November 2005)

"Rails to trails is shorthand for turning abandoned railroad rights-of-ways into hiking, walking or biking trails. From just a few minor stretches in the early 1980s, the movement has captured the imagination of communities across the country. Today, more than 13,000 miles of former rail lines serve as active trails."

"What is Coolness" (October 2005)

"This month the topic is coolness, and input is provided by two young professionals--Erin Hartness and Brian D. Coker--who recently participated in a focus group conducted by Russell Stall of Greenville Forward designed to gain information on the best ways to attract and retain young talent in Greenville."

"Q&A with Russell Stall" (September 2005)

"This month, questions have been directed to Russell Stall, executive director of Greenville Forward, a new organization dedicated to seeing that the goals set forth in the vision are achieved."

"Q&A with Josh Lane" (August 2005)

"Each month, this column gives a voice to Vision 2025, the plan for Greenville's future unveiled late last year. In this space, we'll be talking to many people involved in developing the plan and making it a reality. Since a plan is only a plan until it's implemented, we talk first to Josh Lane, who heads a Leadership Greenville alumni group charged with keeping the effort from being just words on paper."

"For the Future" (July 2005)

"Vision 2025 was designed by community leaders and area residents who came together to create a vision for Greenville's future. the plan, unveiled a little over a year ago, consists of 16 areas of interest, ranging from coolness to diversity. Its aim is to drive the area's growth by making Greenville and the surrounding region distinct from other parts of the country."