Note some portions of this page adapted from content developed by Andy Lewis for the Center for Community & Economic Development, University of Wisconsin-Extension.

   

Program Materials

• Connecticut First Impressions One Page Flyer 10-4-18(PDF)
• Connecticut First Impressions Participant Booklet (Revised 2016- PDF.  Also available as printed formatted booklets – contact us to order)
• Connecticut First Impressions: INNOVATE Participant Booklet   (2018)
• First Impressions Media Template 10-2017 For communities to get the word out about their participation in the program prior to visit.
• Find an exchange community! 
  Download [169.00 B]

   

Videos about First Impressions

• 2015 First Impressions Series: http://communities.extension.uconn.edu/firstimpressions/
• First Impressions Video – 2 minute video (Produced by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Ontario, Canada)
• First Impressions Video – 7 minute video (Produced by the  Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Ontario, Canada (Copied with permission from Clare Wasteneys, Program Lead, Community Economic Development Unit. This unit will play in Windows Media Player and may take some time to begin playing
• First Impressions Video – 14 minute video (Produced by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Ontario, Canada)
• First Impressions Video: “Seeing Success in Rural Alberta Communities” – 8 minutes Video (Produced by Alberta Agriculture)

    

Completed Community Reports

• Google map showing the location of participating communities.
• The Wisconsin First Impressions website has a long list of completed reports and other resourceshttps://cced.ces.uwex.edu/preparing-for-economic-development/first-impressions/example-reports/

Research and Studies

• BROWN, L.E., McDonald, J., Chase, L., Sewake, G., Stencel, B., Northrup, A., Kelly, M., & Faulkner, R. (2018). Foundations and Applications of Theory in the First Impressions Program. Journal of Extension.https://archives.joe.org/joe/2018february/a7.php
  Refereed journal.
• BROWN, L.E., Faulkner, R. (2018). A National Review of First Impressions Programs. Unpublished white paper. Retrieved from https://communities.extension.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1301/2020/11/First-Impressions-National-Research-Report-3-8-18.pdf 

Known First Impressions Programs in the US (Updated 3-2018)

Adaptations of the First Impressions Program

The notion of using the “secret shopper” approach to evaluating communities has gotten a number of people excited about using this same approach in other settings. Others have chosen to make modifications to the program for use with their own communities.

• Community Assistance Teams: Increasing Community Readiness for Recruitment of Health Care Providers – Dr. Ken Shannon (shannonk@rcbhsc.wvu.edu), Dept. of Family Medicine, Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center, Morgantown, WV
• Community Connections: A First Impressions Program for Campuses – Steve Kohlstedt, U.W.-Extension Community Educator & James Schneider, Blue Chip Consulting, modified the program to utilize students to evaluate the U.W. campuses at Richland Center & Platteville. Results were shared with the campus in a Powerpoint format.
• Community Swap, University of Illinois Extension
• Downtowns: Kenosha, Wisconsin & Joliet, Illinois
• First Impressions Community Exchange,  Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Ontario, Canada (The program has been used by over 150 communities in Ontario since it was first shared in 2005).
• First Impressions Saskatchewan,  Saskatchewan Economic Development Association (SEDA), Saskatchewan, Canada
• First Impressions Community Exchange, Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Manitoba, Canada
• Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alberta, Canada. See also their YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-5WQ7lbsFY
• First Impressions, Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development, Kansas State University
• First Impressions, Greenville, Maine, Roger L. Merchant, Regional Extension Educator, UMaine Cooperative Extension utilized the First Impressions program in a tourism planning class (PRT470) to provide Greenville with an assessment and recommendations for their tourism industry.
• Community Development, West Virginia University Extension
• First Impressions, Ohio State University Extension
• Main Street First Impressions Program
• Tourism, West Virginia