Building Trust, Impact & Civic Pride
3 examples of powerful new practices in community engagement
Join us on March 6: Reimagining the Civic Commons, Next City and a panel of innovators from around the country are hosting a webinar to share promising new practices in community engagement — and how you can bring these strategies into your work. Sign up today!
Across the U.S., new practices in community engagement are leading to stronger connections with residents, more trust between practitioners and communities, and projects that a broad range of people, from residents to funders to elected leaders, feel proud of. In contrast to traditional approaches, these new strategies meet people where they are, recognize that communities are diverse, dynamic and full of history, and nurture relationships and local leadership.
Today, we highlight three examples of cities putting these ideas into action.
Shared values, deep listening and a lakefront transformation
PRACTICE CHANGE: Establish shared values early and assess new ideas for how they embody the established values.
In Akron, Ohio, shared values and deep listening allowed the Akron Civic Commons team to create an equitable, welcoming public space along a lake that had been a place of fear. In early conversations, residents of Summit Lake proposed installing a fence along the lake that borders their neighborhood. Through further conversation, the team learned that community members saw the lake’s overgrown shoreline as hazardous and feared their children could fall into the water. Further, many believed the lake’s water was contaminated — an understandable concern given the long history of industrial dumping.
During this time, the team also worked to establish shared values, including the values of equity and public life. Recognizing a fence would not deliver on these shared values, residents and the team worked together to envision an inviting lakefront while addressing concerns about safety and water quality.
After testing revealed the lake’s water was safe for recreation, the team co-created new amenities with residents. Today, the transformed beachhead has places to picnic, grill and fish; opportunities to canoe and kayak; and large boulders that delineate the water’s edge. Additional investments continue to advance the shared vision of vibrant and equitable public spaces.
Local hiring changes perceptions on biking and safety
PRACTICE CHANGE: Hire local or engaged individuals to be part of the work (e.g. for surveying or data collection).
Hiring locals for data collection efforts allowed the Detroit team to not only connect meaningfully with residents but also to reshape existing perceptions. For example, when Fitzgerald neighborhood resident Stephanie Harbin was hired to collect bike counts, she believed bicycling was uncommon in her neighborhood. But during her days as a data collector, she was surprised to see many of her neighbors getting around on bikes — and became concerned for their safety.
As a result of her work as a data collector, Stephanie became a supporter of a “Complete Street” redesign of the community’s commercial corridor and the Fitzgerald Greenway — improvements that provide greater connectivity and safety for people walking and biking in a city where about one in five households do not own a car.
Centering civic participation
PRACTICE CHANGE: Assemble a team of varying backgrounds and expertise that all have different stakes in the project. Prioritize cross-silo work.
Macon, Georgia, is innovating around “democratized implementation.” This means Macon residents and community groups are active participants in planning, designing and building projects and programs, with responsibility dispersed among multiple organizations rather than being centralized within the city government.
Democratized implementation takes place through the Macon Action Plan (MAP). Unlike most master plans that gather residents’ feedback but rely on the government to carry them out, MAP elevates the role of the community to bring ideas fully into fruition.
Through philanthropic support, such as Macon’s Downtown Challenge Grants, people and organizations take ownership of programming and improvements that help achieve the goals outlined in MAP. As a result, local groups have installed civic infrastructure like bike racks, bus stop benches and street lighting. Macon residents have worked together to turn a downtown median into a park, host film festivals and create murals. And philanthropic institutions are getting involved, supporting community-led programs to activate and connect Macon’s downtown.
Join us on March 6 with Next City
These are just some of the innovative ways cities are transforming their community engagement practices to nurture trust, expand participation and promote advocacy.
How are you innovating to bring more people into public life? How are new practices reshaping your relationships with residents and the outcomes of your projects? Share your thoughts in the comments — and join us on March 6 with Next City to learn how you can realize the powerful potential of community engagement.
Reimagining the Civic Commons is a collaboration of The JPB Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, William Penn Foundation, and local partners.
