INTRODUCTION
Municipalities typically develop strategic plans for a 3-to-5-year period, after which the plan must be updated. Part of this process is addressing the diverse and changing needs of residents and businesses, and that requires active community engagement.
Here’s how municipal governments–namely, villages, towns, cities and counties–can engage their communities to develop and update their strategic plan.
PROVIDE AMPLE OPPORTUNITIES FOR INPUT
You can’t simply put a link to a survey on your website and hope people fill it out. Your municipality needs to actively engage the community in various formats to make sure you can hear from as many voices as possible. At the end of the day, involving citizens creates a sense of ownership and commitment, leading to increased support for the implementation of the eventual strategic initiatives.
For in-person strategic planning engagement, you should consider workshops, focus groups, hot lines and office hours. In addition, you should go out into the community, such as by setting up a booth at community events or staffing information kiosks in highly trafficked areas.
For online strategic planning engagement, you should consider surveys and forms, virtual town hall meetings and your existing app. Share links in community Facebook groups, in utility bill inserts and with local groups (e.g., chamber of commerce).
Ensure that your community engagement initiatives are inclusive and accessible to all residents. Take into account factors such as language diversity, accessibility for individuals with disabilities, and outreach strategies that engage underrepresented groups. Creating inclusive spaces fosters a sense of belonging and ensures that the strategic plan for your municipality reflects the needs of the entire community.
ENLIST THE HELP OF STAKEHOLDERS
In addition to the open public input, you need a working group of stakeholders, who also can serve as a de facto task force. They should include community leaders, business leaders, non-profit leaders, representatives from the school district and representatives from the neighborhoods.
Make sure that you don’t use them only as a sounding board. You need to seek their insights, concerns and desires, and they should help you distill information received from the general public.
Plan on at least 2-3 meetings. In the first, your group will help you analyze community input. In the second, you show how the community’s input was applied and gather further feedback from the group. In the last meeting, you strive for their final sign-off (optional). You want these stakeholders to become staunch supporters of the plan to help with widespread adoption.
BE PUBLIC ABOUT SUCCESSES AND CHALLENGES
Throughout the local government strategic planning process, municipalities should celebrate successes and acknowledge challenges that occurred through the previous strategic plan. This helps build trust and maintains community interest in the next iteration of the plan while addressing challenges demonstrates the municipality’s commitment to improvement.
Communicate your successes and challenges in your in-person engagement meetings, through the media and on social media.