What do your constituents think about a new development in the community, or are they interested in their city’s long-range goals? There is nothing more disconcerting as an angry resident who feels that their city is moving in the wrong direction, or they were not involved in determining the outcome of a development that will influence their property’s value and quality of life.
Community outreach and participation meetings are vital to addressing issues and creating consensus. The Mellgren Plannng Group (TMPG) believes that community meetings are democratic governance at its most fundamental and effective form.
THE ABSENCE OF FEEDBACK
The absence of an inclusive community outreach process to address vital community issues means that a local government misses a major opportunity to demonstrate to its citizens that they have the power to effect positive change, as well as to empower citizens to care more about their community. Also, without community involvement, well-intentioned capital improvements, policy changes and regulations may not reflect residents’ collective perception of their neighborhood’s or city’s needs and priorities, and are less likely to be supported by its citizens.
EMBRACING OPPORTUNITY
Community outreach meetings provide local governments with the opportunity to learn from their residents, organizations and business owners, ideally fostering an atmosphere of greater participation and inclusion.
OUR PROCESS
To this end, the TMPG team of community outreach specialists facilitates consensus building through community outreach meetings to assist residents in identifying and prioritizing issues, needs and concerns, as well as to visualize and understand potential solutions and unrecognized opportunities.
TMPG structures visioning sessions using the “you speak, we listen” format. Our visioning sessions provide a guided format to brainstorming and allows us to gather information and determine the high-priority issues. This technique also allows for open-ended questioning followed by a group discussion and then a finalized voting or ranking system to place important values at the top of the list.
Understanding that it is often easier for people to see how something may appear, the TMPG team can create 3-D animations of neighborhoods and downtowns, as well as use photographs and illustrations to help participants visualize possible outcomes.
Combined, the consensus-building process and the visualization techniques enable local governments to obtain the best possible and most acceptable outcome for their community.
