Faced with the daunting task of allocating $250 million as part of the Rams settlement fund, the City of St. Louis and the Board of Aldermen embarked on an ambitious digital community engagement strategy to involve residents in the fund allocation process from the start. Recognizing the limitations of traditional...
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By definition, comprehensive plans are complex, long-range, and broad in scope. The planning and engagement processes for these plans often take over two years to complete. This can make it difficult to establish and maintain meaningful engagement with community members throughout the process. Using CitizenLab’s user-friendly and accessible online engagement...
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Digital community engagement can complement offline engagement, but it doesn’t replace it. Offline participation methods are still widespread, as they’ve proven their value for many communities by allowing for deliberation and debate. Aligning online and offline participation We recently launched our online workshop feature to ensure cities can host town...
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Trust is a two-way street. To convince your community that your engagement efforts and digital community engagement platform are trustworthy, they need to feel heard and included. In our experience, it takes time to build trust, but there are several good practices to help you get started. To build trust,...
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If community members are taking the time to visit your community engagement platform and share their ideas, you should take the time to follow up on their input. By communicating actively, you can help build trust with your community. What does follow-up mean in community engagement? For the record: following...
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We hear it often: you want to reach more of your community, and go beyond the same 10 loudest voices in the room. You want your process to be more inclusive so that everyone has the tools necessary to fully participate. However, some groups are harder to reach than others....
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A lot of leaders start their community engagement journey with the best of intentions but get caught up in the details of when to consult their community. Should you do it on the front end, while setting your agenda? Or when you’re drafting a policy? We’re here to tell you...
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