By Greg Keidan

For the past three years, I have been lucky enough to work with Terry Amsler coordinating the Institute for Local Government’s Public Engagement and Collaborative Governance Program.

Much of my work at the Institute consists of asking people about their experiences and lessons learned related to effective and inclusive public engagement in local government decisions and planning, and then conveying what I learn to local officials and staff in California.

Recently, I have been working on a report about strategies for involving residents in regional sustainable community planning.  This is a hot topic in California these days, as a state law known as SB 375 requires regional agencies in all urbanized areas of the state to work with residents and local governments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, primarily by reducing how much people will need to drive through coordinated transportation, land use, and housing planning.

Local and regional agencies seeking to engage residents in long term regional sustainable planning face significant challenges.  Whether the intent is to inform residents, to solicit individual input, or to spark constructive dialogue and deliberation about regional efforts to address and respond to climate change, engaging more than the, “usual suspects” is both essential and difficult.  Planning often involves jargony language and political controversy that puts off the average resident, and those who do get involved may get frustrated by how long it takes to see results.  Regional sustainable community planning requires thinking twenty and thirty years into the future about a large area.  This presents a challenge since most people think more locally and, in this economic climate, some believe that sustainable planning should take a backseat to economic recovery.

Here are some of the key things I have learned from speaking with staff at local and regional agencies and some of the consultants working in the field about how to overcome those challenges.

1. Make it Relevant
Develop messaging that demonstrates how people’s lives will be affected at a local level; bring the issue home.

2. Seek Partnerships with Other Organizations
Cross sector collaborations are one key to engaging a broad cross section of residents.  Nonprofit organizations, foundations, congregations, other faith organizations, businesses, public health organizations, libraries, unions and schools can be essential partners in outreach.

3. Go to Where the People Are
Some regional agencies have found conducting public outreach at popular gathering places such as transit hubs, farmers markets, fairs, shopping centers, and colleges to be fruitful.  Staff from several regional planning agencies have noted that they are generally more successful when they ask community groups to host meetings where their members can interact with agency staff, and less successful when they ask the public to come to a meeting hosted by the agency.

4. Build Relationships with Key Leaders
Especially when trying to reach traditionally underrepresented parts of the community, it is very important to develop relationships with recognizable and trusted community leaders who can champion participation.  Even one active community leader can make a big difference in outreach efforts.

5. Use the Internet to Broaden Participation, but Remember its Limitations
The internet is an incredible tool for inviting participation and for disseminating interactive surveys.  Most residents polled by the Fresno Council of Governments said that e-mail was their preferred way to be notified of opportunities to participate.  However, not everyone has internet access or is comfortable with this mode of participation, so  face to face engagement is also necessary.

6. Focus on Outcomes
Ask people to weigh in only on relevant issues being considered, set parameters of what is realistic and the timeframes involved, and demonstrate how public input helped to shape the final decisions.

7.  Make it Easy and Fun to Attend
Hold meetings at convenient times and locations that are accessible by public transit.  Provide food, childcare, and translation as appropriate to overcome barriers to attendance. Music or other local entertainment can be a great hook to get people to come and to set a positive grassroots tone for a meeting.

8.  Keep it Simple
Avoid technical jargon and acronyms in written and spoken communications.  Use an advisory committee or focus group to provide feedback on educational materials to ensure the language is clear and compelling to the intended audience.

9.  Provide Different Levels of Engagement
Some people care deeply about regional sustainability and may be willing to serve on an ongoing advisory committee.  Others may be willing to attend a meeting or two.  Others may feel they are too busy to attend a meeting, but would fill out an interactive online survey.  Providing many options for engagement that require different levels of commitment will enhance and diversify participation.

10. Get Input Early
When people have an opportunity to weigh in from the beginning of a planning process, they feel more empowered and are more likely to support the final plan than if they are brought into the process late and asked to provide feedback on something they did not have a hand in crafting.

And here are some helpful tips to consider when holding face to face public meetings related to regional sustainable planning:

• Have planners in the room to answer questions and decision makers there to demonstrate that they are listening.
• Give people good background information and sound data so participants can dive into making well informed choices.
• Use small round table discussions with trained neutral facilitators to help enable everyone to speak their mind and hear a variety of perspectives before making choices or recommendations.
• Allow people to talk about their feelings and values early in the process; don’t get bogged down with long educational presentations.  Break up presentations with interactive exercises; people tune out if they hear the same voice for too long.
• Visual representations, from paper maps on tables to high-tech 3-D interactive software, help visual learners envision the outcomes of different planning scenarios.
• Provide translation for residents with limited English skills, and make it known to non-English speaking residents that this service will be available.
• Some communities need more education about regional sustainable planning issues than others.  Know the community and tailor meeting format and materials accordingly.
• Ask participants how they would like to stay involved and to sign up for updates to keep them in the loop and engaged as the planning process unfolds.
• Design exercises that illustrate the trade-offs that go into planning decisions.
• Use interactive exercises that allow people to make choices and demonstrate priorities.
• For small group dialogues, randomly assign groups of 8-10 people to each table.
• One ice-breaking exercise is to ask people to write down what they envision for their region in 20 years, and then ask some to share their visions for the future.
• Use charismatic and engaging presenters and facilitators.
• Use walking audits followed by group exercises with aerial maps in order to encourage thoughtful public input.

This will be fleshed out into a full report by the end of this year, when it will be available along with other public engagement resources tailored to local officials at: http://www.ca-ilg.org/PublicEngagement

Greg Keidan is an Associate with AmericaSpeaks and a public engagement consultant and program coordinator of the Public Engagement and Collaborative Governance Program at the Institute for Local Government.  He lives in Berkeley, California.