Once you decide to run a community engagement initiative, there are a lot of participation methods to choose from. Ranging from in-depth offline deliberation to direct online voting, it can be overwhelming to decide which method to begin with. Below are ideas of what your engagement could look like.
Identify the best tools to reach your engagement goals
Depending on the type of feedback youâre looking to receive from your community, decide on the tools and methods that could help you reach your goals. The most popular methods are:
- Input collection: gathering written input or asking your community to pin ideas on an interactive map
- Participatory budgeting: including your community in the allocation of public budgets
- Polling or surveys: collecting your audienceâs questions on predefined questionsÂ
- Initiatives: opening a continuous dialogue with your community through a digital âidea boxâ
- Strategic scenario planning: presenting different options for your audience to comment and deliberate on
To dive deeper, read our article on the participation ladder to help determine which methods are best based on the type of engagement you are seeking.
Combine offline and online methods to maximize reach
Online community engagement platforms provide local governments with a single hub to collect, share, and discuss community feedback and ideas. By complementing these online methods with more traditional offline strategies, and vice versa, you create a more inclusive participation process.
Donât just take our word for it – hear directly from civil servants like yourself who have successfully launched, and continue to launch, community engagement projects.
We asked the community to give us feedback on how to spend the funds, and they came back and said, âWell, let me tell you!â The process forced us to ask for input on the content versus just the final plan â people werenât just asked to review a long document, they were able to give feedback on the process, and contribute ideas and contentâ that got them so much more engaged.â
Milzy Carrasco, leader of Lancasterâs Mayorâs Office and Department of Neighborhood Engagement (DoNE)
For more on hybrid methods of engagement: read the full Lancaster case study