The “Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski — the City Renewed” project (orig. Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski — miasta OdNowa), implemented as part of the “Local Development” Program, envisages strategic, integrated and comprehensive management of the city, aimed at improving the situation of its residents in such areas as broadly understood education, environmental protection and support for the local job market and entrepreneurship. The project will also aim to raise the level of competence, quality of provided services and responsibility of the local administration, contributing to building trust of the residents towards local authorities as institutions administering local development. Based on the results of the diagnosis of the current state, the SWOT analysis and the open public debate with the residents, the following were developed: Local Development Plan and Institutional Development Plan of the Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski Commune.
The project formulated 3 main objectives to solve the key problems of the city. One of which is the creation a city where I want to work. In this area, the priority is to attract new investments, associate and network businesses, increase the number of enterprises, which will affect the creation of new jobs, and thus significantly translate into stabilization of the job market. Promoting and supporting entrepreneurship and local entrepreneurs as well as improving the educational offer for future Ostrowiec personnel will be among the most important tasks within the adopted concept. The city where I want to live is another objective of the project, an important aspect of which is to plan development by improving and, in the long run, changing young people’s perception of Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski. In this case, by creating the image of the city as an attractive place to live, where the quality of life of its residents improves, it is intended to create a new brand of Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski. Increasing the attractiveness of receiving education in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, as well as the use of modern technology to improve the processes of the city’s functioning and facilitate contact with residents, are additional assumptions of the project aimed at achieving the objective.
The city I want to create — it is an objective that mainly focuses on the cooperation of different environments for the benefit of Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, social activation of residents and increasing their involvement in city affairs. To achieve these objectives, it is planned to involve young people in managing the future of the city, to encourage different social groups to work together for the development of Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, as well as to increase the effectiveness of communication and dialog between the city and those using it.
The above-mentioned objectives are not the only ones formulated in the “Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski — the City Renewed” project. One of the most important assumptions of the project is to raise the level of competence and responsibility of local administration, and thus to increase the level of residents’ trust in local authorities as institutions administering local development. Through more effective strategic management focused on improving the functioning of the entire unit, the City Hall will be better prepared organization-wise to implement the new path of strategy development. To this end, it is planned to communicate the assumptions of the adopted city Strategy, including its objectives, to all stakeholders. To achieve the desired effect, it is planned to adapt the organizational structure of local government units to the implementation of the Strategy and the new path of development. It is also assumed that the implementation of organizational changes and mechanisms needed to ensure an adequate standard of support for the economic development of Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski. Implementation of standards of cooperation between departments and organizational units of the City Hall should influence the achievement of the desired effect.
Implementation of the above objectives will help to minimize the economic problems of Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski. Preparation of an attractive investment offer and active attraction of investments will improve the competitiveness of the city for investors and will increase their interest in investing in it. Adjusting the educational offer to the needs of the local job market will reduce the existing shortage of employees with appropriate skills by increasing interest of young people in technical education. Whereas, promoting and supporting entrepreneurship and local entrepreneurs as well as creating mechanisms supporting the maturity of the job market will translate into improving the attractiveness of the job market as well as increasing the average salary level. Minimizing the diagnosed economic problems will improve the situation related to the financial dimension. In turn, improving the attractiveness of the job market will increase the residents’ incomes, which will translate into higher city budget revenues, enabling the financing of subsequent investment projects in the city. The achievement of the set objectives will also be influenced by the use of local resources of Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, its industrial traditions, available numerous investment areas and the cooperation of the city with the largest employers. Implementation of activities aimed at achieving the project’s objectives within the framework of institutional solutions will help to minimize the diagnosed demographic problems and will translate into increased attractiveness of the city in the eyes of its residents. Improving the quality of life of the residents of Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski will contribute to stopping the migration of young people to other cities, changing the unfavorable trends of migration balance and rate of natural increase, and will stop the depopulation of the city. In order to maximize the benefits of achieving the above-mentioned objectives, the city of Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski should take advantage of the potential of such local resources as recreational and sports areas, KSZO Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski football club, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski Culture Brewery (orig. Ostrowiecki Browar Kultury) or activities of the Bureau of Artistic Exhibitions (orig. Biuro Wystaw Artystycznych) and Gallery of Photography (orig. Galeria Fotografii) which are positively evaluated by the residents.
The implementation of objectives included in the project in terms of the social dimension will increase the involvement of residents in city affairs and will translate into an improvement in its attractiveness in the eyes of the residents in relation to other urban centers. An unquestionable asset of Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski is a dynamically functioning Centre of Resident Activity (orig. Centrum Aktywności Obywatelskiej), whose aim is to activate and support the local market in this aspect such as cooperation with organizations, individuals, entrepreneurs and local governments for the benefit of local development.
Some of the activities included in the project will be implemented in cooperation with local partners and NGOs. The Polish Red Cross will be responsible for conducting educational and entrepreneurial activities aimed at developing the creativity and ingenuity of young residents of Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski. In the area of the development of bicycle transport, including the promotion of ecological attitudes, the cooperation was undertaken with the Ostrower Association. The Space for Social and Cultural Initiatives Association (orig. Przestrzeń Inicjatyw Społeczno-Kulturalnych) will be responsible for actions involving young people in deciding about the directions of the commune’s development, which will result in creating a Youth City Council.