If your engagement strategy comprises nothing more than a few flyers and newspaper articles, you won’t reach your most important stakeholders: the residents of the neighborhoods where you plan to work. Leaving them out of the picture until midway in the process will only curb participation and perhaps spark conflict or opposition.
Resident engagement comes with many challenges. For instance, getting more trees in the neighborhood may not be a high priority for residents. They may be grappling with other issues. In fact, you’ll likely find some who object to having more trees planted because of past damage from storm-toppled trees and the work required to rake leaves and clean up fallen twigs and branches. Other concerns may include potential gentrification and suspicion that the city won’t make good on its promise to maintain new trees.
Building relationships and candid communication can break down these barriers.
Focus on all residents, not just owners
Invite renters, residents, property owners and community-based organizations to the table. Ensure time in your agenda for them to share about their own wants, needs and expectations. They are local experts and know their neighborhood better than anyone.
Ambassadors can lead the way
Ambassadors are influential residents of their community – someone to whom neighbors will listen and can lead others to act. If you want to hear people’s real concerns, join forces, issue invitations and visit neighbors with respected neighborhood leaders.
Communicating benefits was more about involving residents in community-wide conversations about trees, whereby tree information could be shared, rather than “preached”. … Peer-to-peer communication (and informal education) was critical to this long-term process. Local conversations needed to occur first to strengthen the social scaffolding and leadership necessary to motivate more formal transfer of knowledge and skills.
The art (and science) of inclusive planning
Casual encounters, even group meetings, rarely offer a solid foundation for building consensus. Empowering residents to become effective advocates for their own goals requires a long, well-thought out process – what planners call charrettes.
