About Our Initiative
We’re designing our future.
What Could BG Be? is a month-long, online conversation hosted by BG 2050 to allow the people of Warren County to share their ideas and help shape the future of our community.
Why are we planning for 2050?
Over the next 25 years, Warren County is projected to nearly double in size.
We have a unique opportunity to imagine – and proactively plan for – our collective future.
In response to this opportunity, the Warren County government commissioned BG 2050. Started as a civic imagination initiative, BG 2050 is now a long-term strategic planning effort, run by more than 100 volunteers representing organizations ranging from municipal services to private businesses. Our volunteers are organized around eight community pillars:
- Storytelling
- Quality of Life
- Tourism
- Economic Development
- Talent Development
- Public Health
- Housing
- Infrastructure
- Storytelling
- Quality of Life
- Tourism
- Economic Development
- Talent Development
- Public Health
- Housing
- Infrastructure
BG 2050 will ultimately deliver a vision document that charts the course from here to 2050. Through What Could BG Be? we're excited to invite the entire community into the conversation.
Behind the INitiative
Innovation Engine is a Bowling Green-based strategy firm that helps organizations unlock new value and drive growth through innovation. Typically, we help organizations do something they’ve never done before, or do something the way they’ve never done it before. Our strategists partner with clients to meet challenges and capitalize on opportunities through creative solutions and repeatable patterns for success.
Founding Partner Sam Ford previously worked with The Computational Democracy Project on multiple Polis deployments, including the 2018 Bowling Green Civic Assembly with the Bowling Green Daily News and Columbia University in 2018.
The Computational Democracy Project leverages data science to align democratic processes with the public will.
Our nonprofit designs, develops, and maintains Polis—the platform you are participating on. Polis is an open-source, machine-learning system for gathering, analyzing, and understanding what large groups of people think in their own words.
Polis is used by governments, journalists, and pro-democracy movements worldwide.
Jigsaw is an interdisciplinary unit within Google that builds technology that inspires scalable solutions. Jigsaw's new Sensemaking tools aim to bring clarity to the complexity of large-scale conversations, helping participants, leaders and the public at large develop insights for action.
Behind the Brand
Local businesses and individuals collaborated to create “The Creative Dept.,” a pop-up agency that built What Could BG Be?
The campaign came together in a highly collaborative local effort. VidMonster Productions, Oliver Creative, Forerunner, Innovation Engine, Hillary Rickel, and Madison Whittle along with a host of guest contributors, camped out in Room 433 to bring this vision to life.
- Oliver Creative – branding and design
- Madison Whittle – digital and print design
- Forerunner – creative strategy, moving portraiture, audio and video production
- Vid Monster Productions – campaign design, website design and development, social media strategy and creative production, portraiture, video editing, and organic content
- CrowdSouth – marketing & media planning
- Hillary Rickel – marketing strategy, project management, campaign coordination
- BBG Events – event design
- Lunae – brand strategy, experience, and audience segmentation
- Innovation Engine – creative direction, community coordination, strategic implementation
Your Voice Matters
Ready to join the conversation?