🗞️ Fashion Meets Mobility With Fatima Elkott, Launch of Official APA Community Engagement Interest Group, & more!
February 26, 2025 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 Fatima Elkott
“ I think people deeply care. They deeply care how their kids get to school. They deeply care about the neighborhood park. They deeply care about their commute to work.”
Fatima Elkott is the co-founder of Conscious Community Connectors. She emphasizes the importance of grassroots community engagement and the power of creativity in urban planning projects. From her early experiences in Hillsborough County to founding her own consultancy, Fatima highlights the necessity of building genuine connections and compensating residents for their contributions. We uncover how collaborative efforts, like the innovative Tampa Connect Fashion Week, can make city planning engaging and effective. Fatima also talks about the challenges and rewards of working with marginalized communities and the need for intentional relationship building in urban development. Tune in to hear her thoughts on youth engagement, social media strategies, and the transformative impact of true co-creation in planning our cities.
📧 Contact Fatima on LinkedIn or fatima@consciouscommunityconnectors.com
🌐 Visit www.consciouscommunityconnectors.com
Key Takeaways
🎨 The Power of Creativity: Creative projects like Tampa Connect Fashion Week demonstrate how unconventional approaches can engage communities in important discussions, such as transportation equity. By incorporating art and culture into urban planning, planners can make civic engagement more accessible and enjoyable for participants.
🧏🏻♀️ Listening to the Community: Fatima’s experience highlights the importance of actively listening to residents to understand their concerns and desires. This approach challenges the common misconception that community members do not care about urban planning, revealing that they are often deeply invested in issues that affect their lives.
🔄 Co-Creation as a Norm: The conversation underscores the need for co-creation in urban planning, where residents are not just consulted but actively involved in the planning process from the outset. This shift can lead to more effective and sustainable outcomes.
🤝 Importance of Relationship Building: Fatima emphasizes that building relationships takes time and effort. Successful community engagement requires ongoing communication and trust between planners and residents, which can lead to more effective collaboration in addressing local issues.
💬 Challenges in Communication: The episode illustrates the difficulties that can arise when introducing new projects to communities, particularly in areas experiencing rapid change. Misunderstandings can lead to distrust, making it crucial for planners to communicate clearly and transparently.
🎯 Measuring Success Beyond Numbers: Fatima encourages planners to look beyond traditional metrics of success, such as attendance at meetings, and consider qualitative measures like community sentiment and engagement in discussions.
🌱 Long-Term Investment in Engagement: Fatima’s insights highlight the necessity of viewing community engagement as a long-term investment rather than a short-term task. Planners should allocate adequate resources and time to build meaningful relationships and trust with residents.
🎉The APA Community Engagement Interest Group is Official!
Thanks to everyone who signed the support form! You helped demonstrate the importance of community engagement and played a key role in launching the interest group.
Check it out here: https://www.planning.org/divisions/groups/community-engagement
Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/apa-community-engagement
If you previously filled out the support form, we’ve already added you as a member—no need to sign up again! Membership is free and open to anyone, regardless of APA membership status. Of course, if you’d like to opt out, just let us know anytime.
We look forward to building this group together!
💬 Share Your Insights
To help us tailor this group to your interests, please take 5 minutes to complete our Getting Started Survey
📅 Engaging Events
🍻 APA Community Engagement Interest Group Happy Hour at the Nebraska APA Conference
Wednesday, March 5, 2025 | 4:00 PM CST
Fyre Modern Grill: 707 Talmadge St, Kearney, NE 68845
Register on the Nebraska Planning Conference 2025 Web Portal
Hosted by Chris Haller
💻 APA Community Engagement Interest Group Virtual Meet & Greet
Thursday, March 20, 2025 | 12:00–1:00 PM PST
Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/a50We6sWQh21l0UicaJwSQ
👋 In-Person Meetup and Networking at the APA National Conference in Denver
March 29 - April 1, 2025
Details coming soon!
🧠 Masterminds
Read the summary of our last Mastermind meeting here
🧰 Resources
Whether you're a local government leader, a consultant, or a community organizer, you can submit your favorite resources—reports, toolkits, case studies, and more—to help strengthen engagement practices across the field.
Visit https://www.engagingcities.org/resources and contribute today!
📚 Plan Showcase
Get inspiration, explore trends, or gain insights by exploring our curated list of community-recommended or award-winning plans here.
➡️ Visit EngagingCities.org and follow us on X and LinkedIn for more stories like these!
The EngagingCities Newsletter is proudly sponsored by Konveio:
Would you like to be featured as a sponsor? Email us at hello@engagingcities.org