🗞️ Building Partnerships to Preserve the San Clemente Pier, Engaging Events, Fresh Insights, Hot Jobs, & more!
September 3, 2024 edition
EngagingCities shares outstanding work by our network of planners and changemakers, who actively involve their communities in creating better places and a brighter future.
🔥 Fireside Chat with Amber Gregg
Pier Pride - Building Partnerships to Preserve the San Clemente Pier
Amber Gregg is the CEO of Community Catalyst and Vice President of Pier Pride, which is a non-profit organization in San Clemente, CA that works in partnership with the city and community stakeholders to help preserve the San Clemente pier. Amber talks about the challenges and successes of Pier Pride, community engagement strategies, and the importance of building partnerships and trust. She emphasizes how critical partnerships and collaborations have been in advancing Pier Pride's mission. Forming purposeful, meaningful partnerships with stakeholders and maintaining consistent community engagement efforts have been keys to their success. The episode concludes with practical advice for communities looking to preserve local resources.
Main Takeaways
Building Trust: Establishing trust within the community is essential for successful engagement and can ease resistance to change. Pier Pride fosters collaboration and builds support for local initiatives.
Adaptability: Nonprofits must be prepared to pivot when plans do not go as expected, particularly in response to city priorities and bureaucratic challenges.
Effective Communication: Utilizing both social media and traditional print media can enhance outreach and keep community members informed and engaged.
Volunteer Engagement: A working board of volunteers can drive grassroots initiatives effectively, highlighting the importance of community involvement in local projects.
Continuous Improvement: Regular feedback loops, through surveys and community meetings, are vital for refining projects and ensuring they meet community needs.
Celebrating Successes: Acknowledging and celebrating small victories can motivate volunteers and community members, reinforcing their commitment to the cause.
Learning from Failures: Not all initiatives will be successful; analyzing these failures provides valuable lessons for future projects and helps avoid similar pitfalls.
“Drawing from within your own community might be the best approach to managing your social media.”
Amber Gregg, CEO of Community Catalyst and Vice President of Pier Pride.
👀 Watch or listen to the Fireside Chat here.
📧 Contact Amber Gregg on LinkedIn or Community Catalyst.
🌐 Visit the San Clemente Pier Pride website at www.pierpride.org.
📅 Engaging Events
📌 APA California Chapter Conference, September 28 - October 1
Whether you’re a seasoned planner, a budding urban strategist, or someone simply passionate about building better communities, this conference is your chance to connect, collaborate, and contribute to the ever-evolving field of urban planning. Discover fresh perspectives, share your expertise, and be part of a vibrant community of professionals dedicated to shaping the future of California’s cities and regions. Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to learn, network, and be inspired – mark your calendar for the American Planners Association California Conference from September 28th to October 1st in beautiful Riverside, California! View more information on the conference website.
⭐ Mobile Workshop Highlight: Downtown Riverside Civil Rights Walk
Monday, September 30, 1:30 PM - 5:00 PM
Using downtown Riverside as a living laboratory, we will walk to a series of sites and monuments that represent the civil rights struggle. We will emphasize the importance of these sites in a historical and cultural context and explore both the intrinsic and economic value of cultural tourism. While all of these sites are located in Riverside, they are not unique to Riverside. Lessons are easily transferable to other cities throughout California and the nation. Each stop will highlight a specific civil rights issue AND include other issues of interest to planners. Workshop will include an outdoor performance by Ground Series, a dance and social justice collective that uses performance to practice place-based justice.
— Shared by Miguel Angel Vazquez, FAICP
📌 APA Colorado Chapter Conference, October 2 - October 4
Experience the excitement of the annual fall conference hosted by APA Colorado, the pinnacle event for planning professionals in the state. Our conference promises an unparalleled blend of learning and networking opportunities that will elevate your career. This extraordinary event boasts a diverse array of professional development sessions, all of which are eligible for AICP Certification Maintenance (CM) credits. Immerse yourself in enlightening workshops, captivating sessions, and immersive mobile tours. Hurry, registration closes on August 31st! View more information on the conference website.
🚀 Fresh Insights
💡 Ensuring Diverse Community Voices are Heard and Help Shape Future Development
The voices heard from in community processes around planning exercises and new development projects are typically NOT representative of the population of a community. It's also important to recognize that while public comment tends to be largely negative towards new housing, actual public sentiment says the opposite as proven by 2017 research from Boston University; "These individuals are overwhelmingly likely to oppose new housing construction, and cite a wide variety of reasons. These participatory inequalities have important policy implications and may be contributing to rising housing costs." (Boston University Study from 2017 "Who Participates In Local Government"). See the post here and download the study here.
— Shared by Jonathan Berk.
💡 Three Major Ways to Help Agencies Conduct More Meaningful Community Engagement
Graduate students Courtney King, Elizabeth McLaughlin, Muram Bacare, and Maria Rodriguez Ortega at Tufts University identify best practices for community engagement that can reasonably be applied within Massachusetts transportation planning agencies, and develop a pilot tool that can be used by advocates and agencies to evaluate the impact and equity of current community engagement processes within the Commonwealth. Three major takeaways are:
Move Beyond the Public Meeting
Create Formal Report-Back Processes
Evaluate Community Engagement Practices Regularly
— Read more here.
💡 How Community Collaboration Transformed Francisco Madero Avenue
Francisco Madero Avenue is one of the main access routes to the historic centre of México City, and until 2010, was dominated by cars. When plans to pedestrian the corridor were first announced, business owners vehemently resisted all efforts to remove motor vehicle access.
"Let me just have one day with cones," pleaded the head of the Public Space Authority, beginning by blocking traffic on Mondays, and working with merchants to measure the effect of temporary pedestrianisation. After just two weeks, the program was extended to include Tuesdays.
In three months, it was completely closed to cars, with the City eliminating the curbs and repaving the street. Economic activity increased—with up to 200,000 visitors per hour—and even the most fiercely opposed merchants have changed their tune. See the post here.
— Shared by Melissa Bruntlett.
✨ Read more fresh insights here.
💼 Job Opportunities
📎 Chief Community Engagement Officer - City of New York
📎 Civic Engagement Manager - City of San Rafael
📎 Housing & Community Development Grant Manager - City of Chelsea
🗃️ Find more jobs here.
🙌 Support for APA Interest Group
We believe the practice of Community Engagement should have its own Interest Group within the American Planning Association (APA) as a place to network, find inspiration, and share best practices. Help EngagingCities make the case by filling out this online form to express your support and get updates along the way. You may view the existing Divisions and Interest Groups within APA here for reference.
➡️ Visit EngagingCities.org and follow us on X and LinkedIn for more stories like these!
💬 Do you have an interesting story, event, or job to share? Interested in being a guest on our podcast? Email us at hello@engagingcities.org
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