Finley and Trulock introduce MVP
The Madison Visionary Partners (MVP) board. (RECORD PHOTO/Aldo Amato)
By Aldo Amato / Staff Writer
Former Madison mayor Paul Finley, current Mayor Troy Trulock and city leaders introduced a much-anticipated initiative to members of the Madison community Jan. 29.
Mayor Trulock introduced Madison Visionary Partners (MVP) at the annual State of the City address on Jan. 25 in a short video presentation outlining the goals and concept of the program.
On Tuesday, city officials and community leaders gathered at Main Street Café and took a more in-depth look at the plan.
“What we wanted to do was to bring community leaders out to introduce [MVP] because it is going to be the catalyst because we have individuals in the City of Madison that are trying to improve the quality of life here,” MVP board member John Newberry said. “Now we have a mechanism thorough our foundation that they can do that.”
Trulock said that the response following the brief MVP introductory video at Connect 2013 was astounding.
“There were people walking out saying ‘This is absolutely fantastic’,” he said. “Congressman Brooks even said that MVP was a neat concept to help out our community.”
Trulock also said that his office and the City of Madison would be working with MVP however not heading it up.
“This is a great example of private and public partnership,” he said. “The city will run the public side of it and we are just on the board to have oversight and just kind of observe what is being presented.”
Even though the program is in its early stages, board member Paul Finley said that the concept of MVP looks great so far.
“I think you recognize how many people want to give back to the community,” Finley said. “A lot of times they don’t know how and there are instances in which we make it hard for them to do. So we felt that this was a great nucleus and a great structure for us to put together.”
Finley said that there will soon be more information for residents and community leaders who want to give back through MVP.
“We’ll very quickly have a website out that people can go to,” he said. “It is a work in progress but I think it is critical that people get involved and really help our city mature.”
