Flint Hills Discovery Vision and Mission Statement

Our Mission:

The Flint Hills Discovery Center inspires people to celebrate, explore, and care for the Flint Hills.

Our Vision:
The vision is what the community would like to see the Discovery Center accomplish. Based on the input and feedback from the initial interviews and Project Concept Workshop, the community would like the Flint Hills Discovery Center to be a place that:
•	Responds to public needs and recognizes the Discovery Center as a living, growing, evolving institution.
•	Celebrates the diversity and depth of people’s experiences in the region and reaches out to and welcomes every member of the community.
•	Fulfills long-term sustainability goals of the building, as well as the community and region.
•	Inspires in community members a sense of ownership, belonging, pride, and stewardship.
•	Helps the Flint Hills region to establish a community identity that is grounded in the ecology, history, and culture of the region.
•	Generates enough earned and donated revenue to minimize the need for taxpayer support.
•	Attracts visitors to the region.
•	Changes the way people see, understand, and connect to the Flint Hills.
•	Serves as a landmark and center of community life with a wide variety of programming.
•	Develops exhibits and programs that are authentic, exciting, surprising, and of interest to a wide variety of audiences.
•	Develops continuously changing exhibits and programs that are based on the latest and best scholarship and research.
•	Has engaging activities that encourage local people, especially families, to return frequently.
•	Serves as a gathering place for community events.
•	Inspires people to experience the ever-changing beauty of the Flint Hills.
•	Promotes inter-generational and life-long learning.
•	Engages in active, ongoing partnerships with schools, universities, and other institutions, organizations, and destinations throughout the Flint Hills.
•	Supports the cultural and economic revitalization of Manhattan’s south end.