History

In the summer of 1988, seventy people were invited to a half day retreat at Royal Oak to discuss the feasibility of putting together a Citizens Advisory Commission to study Clermont County. The idea was to do research on where Clermont County was and to develop a vision for the future. Of the seventy that were invited 63 came to the meeting on October 6, 1988.

Because of this great turn out we decided there was a great interest and a great need, so we formed a steering committee and in turn formed a Board with John Melvin as chair.

There were over 300 people who studied our county and put together a report in 1991 with recommendations of where we would like to be 10 years hence. Therefore, the name Clermont 2001 was born.

Now we are almost 10 years from that first meeting at Royal Oak. Look what has happened:

• Four leadership programs - Only program in the US with four programs: Youth, Seniors, Educators and traditional Adults.
• Educational Task Force working with a partnership between educators and the business community.
• Clermont Public Issues Forum.
• Roadside Rainbow beautifying the entries to our county.
• A catalyst to work with organizations to help them form needed activities: Philharmonic Orchestra, Arts Council, Milford Red Ribbon Committee, History Task Force, Bicentennial Commission, Safe Communities, Clermont Community Fund, County-wide Convention and much more.

Late in 2002, the Board of Directors announced that effective January 1, 2003, Clermont 2001, Inc. would be known as Clermont 20/20, Inc.: A Vision for Leadership.

We have come a long way since that day in October 1988.

Clermont 20/20 is a catalyst to bring people and organizations together with the mission of improving the quality of life for all citizens of our county.

Clermont 20/20 believes that Volunteer Leadership, people who will volunteer their service, people who will take ownership of our issues and work with the elected officials will be the way to improve the quality of life.

We are committed to the concept of community development of the county-wide community convention which will open the communication channels and improve community involvement. We are committed to be a resource to help any community. We are committed to strengthening the civic leg of the county to help us all work together with government and business to build a very healthy community. A community in which we all can be proud.