One Boro – formally the Statesboro Commission on Diversity and Inclusion – is hosting a series of seven open, community listening sessions. The first will start at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the City of David Food Pantry, 227 Institute Street.

These will be facilitated group listening sessions, said One Boro chair April M. Schueths, Ph.D. Members of the commission trained in the facilitated group listening process earlier this year.

“Everyone in the community is invited to come and share their views with us,” Schueths said. “We do facilitated group listening, which is a structured approach to focus on properly hearing people’s ideas regardless of whether or not you agree.”

The food pantry is part of City of David Worship Assembly, but One Boro has emphasized the food pantry, which serves the community beyond the church, as the host location. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 9, for the session to start at 6 p.m.

Six more sessions

Doors will also open a half hour before start time for each of the following six listening sessions.

The next two sessions are planned for this Saturday, April 13, at Agape Worship Center, 810 W. Grady St., beginning at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Then One Boro will host a listening session at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 16, in the Nessmith-Lane Conference Center, 847 Plant Drive on the Georgia Southern University campus.

Another will follow on Tuesday, April 23, also at 6 p.m., at the Georgia Southern City Campus building, 58 East Main Street near City Hall.

Two final sessions are slated for 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday, April 27, in the main building at the Kiwanis Ogeechee Fairgrounds on Georgia Route 67, also known as Fair Road.

Topics of interest

All topics are welcome, but One Boro volunteers have some questions to prompt discussion, Schueths said.

 “We have several questions related to what is working well in the city and Statesboro, what improvements do you want to see, just basically ideas, concerns that people in the community have,” she said.

Besides ideas for change in the community, OneBoro is open to suggestions about what it should be focusing on, Schueths said.

The commission has done some door-to-door canvassing to homes and businesses and has heard “everything from traffic to needing more social service resources …, needing more housing and resources for the homeless …, just a lot of topics,” she said.

One Boro is one of three city commissions adopted by Statesboro City Council as official advisory arms of the city after being developed by Mayor Jonathan McCollar and volunteers.