Tools for Tricky Twists in Community Engagement

Community involvement is a critical component of most planning projects. Increasingly, community members and stakeholders come from polarized and politicized environments. Creating a process where people work together can come with twists and turns that cannot be anticipated at the beginning. Accordingly, planners need to adjust and adapt their outreach strategy to successfully gain community support for the project and build trust overall.

By the end of this presentation, planners have developed a mini-community involvement plan. They know how to skillfully course-correct by using effective outreach tools and tactics for inclusive and equitable engagement with participants who have many viewpoints. Groups of participants work on different scenarios involving a planning project and a critical issue that must be addressed through community outreach. They develop messaging around the scenario and identify the best engagement tools and tactics to bring people into developing solutions – all in an equitable and inclusive way. Each scenario includes a twist that the participants address, adapting their approaches and engagement messaging strategies as needed.

NPC Peer Reviewers assigned this presentation a learning level of Advanced. For more on learning-level descriptions, visit our General Information Page.