10 Tips for a Safe COVID-era Pop-Up
By Nancy Raca Despite all the virtual public engagement we’ve been doing lately due to COVID-19, sometimes there’s just no substitute for meeting people in person. That was the case…
Switch It Up
by Jen Topa Sometimes you need to switch it up! On Tuesday, October 8th, we swapped our typical meeting venue for Downtown Grind, a beautiful cafe on North Main Street in…
Welcome To Our Upstate APA Annual Conference Session Companion Post!
This morning, our team facilitated a session at the Upstate APA Conference in Rochester, New York entitled "This Meeting Could Have Been an Email." Our objective was to share ideas that make…
Your Best (and Worst) Public Engagement Experiences
by Susan Hopkins, AICP A few days ago, I had a chance to unravel the pile of sticky notes we collected during a Cardstorming exercise we facilitated at the Upstate…
Making It Sparkle at the Upstate APA 2018 Conference
By Susan Hopkins, AICP The Highland Team was out in full force last week at the 2018 New York Upstate Chapter American Planning Association (APA) Conference. The conference theme was “Upstate…
Strategic Planning With The Fellows
by Susan Hopkins Last week I had the opportunity to spend a day doing the kind of work that speaks to my heart and gets me out of bed in the morning:…
Public Meeting Design 101
by Tanya Zwahlen Last month, the City of Rochester called André and I for help with public engagement on a project related to the relocation of the police station in…
Commercial Corridor Beautification in Rochester
by Jen Topa Last month, our team participated in two great projects that positively impacted two of the commercial corridors that we work on. On May 5th, the South Clinton…
Public Engagement In The Elements
by Christopher Dunne Mother Nature doesn’t care about your community outreach. That’s the impression we’ve gotten this spring from our public engagement efforts around Reimagine RTS, Monroe County’s transit system redesign…
Participatory Budgeting Returns to Rochester
by Susan Hopkins, AICP For For practitioners of public engagement, the chance to experience participatory budgeting is what I imagine it’s like for a classic car enthusiast to drive a…