The Portage Community Revitalization Corporation's (PCRC) been taking a look at your input from their recent ongoing survey. The survey along with an open forum last night revealed priorities the community would like to focus on including opportunities for children and youth, as well as attracting youth and families to Portage. Southern Health/Santé Sud community participant Doretta Harris says she led the discussion.

Doretta Harris"We went over why these were chosen by the participants, how we can address that choice, as well as the benefits," explains Harris. "These include maintaining momentum to keep families in Portage. So, safety came out very loud and clear."

Creating more things for youth and children to do were also big concerns. Harris notes volunteerism was a huge topic of the discussion which she says isn't surprising. Partnerships were also a big part of everyone's ideas. Volunteerism was strongly emphasized which also isn't surprising seeing as the consultants presented their preliminary findings and a very strong response resulted. Over 600 responses were gathered from the city in the survey that's still ongoing, indicating Portage is very vested in growing itself and making it a great place to live and thrive.

Harris adds it's important the community works together to make these differences. PCRC will provide as many opportunities as possible to enable people to volunteer and provide opportunities to let you make your voice heard, such as the forum last night.

You can still fill out the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/9F8MXCQ

Participants selected top two issues outlined in survey