Public spaces should be equitably distributed, open to everyone, and inclusively designed. It’s no wonder that many urban planning processes now focus on placemaking, the people-centered approach to planning and design of public spaces. The inequities of community development were hard to ignore in 2020. Whether you lived close to...
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Online community engagement platforms provide local governments with a single hub to collect, share, and discuss resident feedback and ideas. But how can you reach those who aren’t online? For our latest webinar, we spoke with Milzy Carrasco, Director of Community Engagement for Lancaster, PA and Rebecca Woodbury, who runs...
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Traditional, top-down governance systems are increasingly challenged by more collective, consensus-oriented approaches. This means that we’re seeing more non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working actively in consortium with local governments or launching community engagement projects themselves to increase civic participation. This uptick in organizational involvement has resulted in the creation of several...
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Community engagement platforms can increase civic participation, improve trust between residents and governments, and can help collect data that increases the impact of your projects. When you optimize the way you use social impact data, there’s a real opportunity to assess a project’s performance and outcomes, improve future processes, and...
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When we intentionally plan for inclusion, community engagement projects turn into more diverse, representative efforts and can lead to more equitable outcomes. Our recent webinar featured Jacqueline Broadhead, Director of the Global Exchange on Migration and Diversity at Oxford University’s Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS). Together, we discussed...
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We find ourselves consistently impressed by the types of projects launched on our platform. In this monthly inspiration series, we’ll spotlight some of the innovative ways governments and organizations around the world are activating and engaging their communities virtually. Let’s dive in! Belgian football club KV Mechelen brings their fan...
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Participatory budgeting (PB) is a process through which community members decide how to spend part of a public budget. While PB may have started over 30 years ago, the first PB project didn’t launch in the U.S. until 2009 when Chicago became the first city in the country to try...
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