A new organization in Rapid City is addressing community issues.
The Rapid City Collective Impact Coalition is laying out plans to tackle concerns in the community. They could include topics like homelessness, education, mental health, or substance abuse.
Dr. Albert Linderman is the chair of Rapid City Collective Impact. He says the first step of the project is to understand issues the community deems important.
“It may very well be that homelessness is an issue and housing is an issue. I don’t want to necessarily guarantee what those issues are, there may be several,” says Linderman.
Rapid City mayor Steve Allender says the coalition could find that a relocation of the Journey Museum is necessary. Critics say the museum is located too far away from the main tourism routes. Allender says a homeless shelter or other community orientated building could be housed at the museum instead.
“So if that scenario were to play out successfully that could potentially deal with two issues at once. There’s no guarantee that’s going to work, no guarantee that building is appropriate or that these problems will need to be related somehow, but it’s discussion,’ says Allender.
The next phase of the Rapid City Collective Impact is a workshop scheduled May 24 through the 26. Organizers plan to hold meetings and gather information from stakeholders throughout the summer. The coalition plans to start applying its research in the community this fall.