📣 Community Voices Panel Session on June 25, 2025
June 2025 Edition
💬 Community Voices
Community Voices is a moderated panel series hosted by the APA Community Engagement Interest Group. It's designed to spotlight diverse practitioners and thought leaders in the field of community engagement, offering participants the chance to:
Hear real-world experiences and timely insights
Ask questions and engage directly with panelists
Be part of honest, energizing conversations on the ideas shaping the future of engagement
This session’s theme:
🎯 Designing Meaningful Engagement from the Ground Up
We all know a creative engagement tactic is only as good as the strategy behind it. This session will highlight what it takes to move beyond surface-level outreach and build engagement that’s intentional, equitable, and impactful.
✨ Featured Speakers:
🔹 Vince Verlaan – Principal/Founder at Engage For 2023
Vince will share actionable insights for creating a strong engagement strategy from the outset, because no amount of creative outreach can fix a weak foundation. He’ll offer key elements of a robust strategy, pitfalls to avoid, and lessons from real projects across Canada.
More on Vince | Engage For 2023
🔹 Christine Edwards Pitkin, MPA – Founder & CEO of Civility Localized
Christine will walk through the power of stakeholder mapping, drawing on her experience leading Civic Impact Academy trainings. She’ll also showcase how her firm successfully partners with local ambassadors, such as college students and neighborhood connectors, to build trust and extend reach throughout North Carolina.
More on Christine | Civility Localized
🔹 Fatima Elkott – Founder of Conscious Community Connectors
Fatima will share creative methods for reaching underrepresented and historically excluded communities, including what it looks like to meet people where they are and design outreach that resonates. She’ll reflect on how to build community trust through culturally rooted engagement in Florida.
More on Fatima | Conscious Community Connectors
👉 What to Expect:
Each speaker will give an eight-minute presentation filled with practical tips and how-tos, project examples, and real talk about what went well and what didn't. After the presentations, we’ll open up the space for interactive discussion. Depending on group size, we’ll either host smaller breakout rooms with each panelist or continue with a moderated large-group Q&A.
Whether you’re a newcomer to community engagement or a seasoned pro, you’ll leave with fresh ideas, validation, and actionable takeaways.
Bring your curiosity and your questions. We can’t wait to see you there!
🗓️ Wednesday, June 25, 2025
⏰ 12–1 PM Mountain Time (Denver)
📌Register now at Eventbrite
🔔 Reminder
EngagingCities is now part of the APA Community Engagement Interest Group and we will be retiring this newsletter soon. Please join or follow the Interest Group by clicking on the links below to get the latest updates 😄
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