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Business View Magazine
from a project initiated by the city’s business group,
the Association of Commerce and its Leadership FDL
Program, which hired a consulting firm with experience
in community visioning. “And for better than a year, the
Envision steering committee, working closely with the
consultants, spent hours and hours reaching out to
the community,” he says. “We hosted a lot of work-
shops and listening sessions. We had an online site for
folks to access. Basically, we said to the community of
Fond du Lac: ‘What do you folks think?’”
As a result of all that input, Envision Fond du Lac fo-
cused on three big ideas: recalibrating the city’s econ-
omy for the 21st century which includes becoming
a primary hub for entrepreneurship, small business
start-ups, and quality job growth; enhancing the com-
munity’s identity, brand, and distinct sense of place;
and investing in the city’s children while attracting and
retaining young students and professionals to replen-
ish its aging population.
Envision Fond du Lac contains many strategic objec-
tives and actionable items distilled from its three main
areas of focus, as well as several “moon shots” - big
ideas that the city can embrace, both immediately
and incrementally, to achieve its goals. For example,
although Fond du Lac is a “lake city,” it is not well-
known for its waterfront. Therefore, embracing Lake
Winnebago and investing in the city’s Lakeside Park
is a moon shot that can transform the waterfront area
and redefine the city, both for its residents and tour-
ists, alike.
“Lakeside Park is how this community accesses Lake
Winnebago and it’s how folks using Lake Winnebago
can access the community,” Molitor says. “It’s really a
