Lead With Engagement
by Susan Hopkins and Tanya Zwahlen Before we became focused on community engagement, we were planners working on transportation, economic development, and community revitalization projects. We’ve done our fair share…
Housing Needs Analysis For Washington County
By Susan Hopkins AICP Service providers, elected officials, and members of the public meet to discuss housing needs and solutions in Washington County, NY. Last summer and fall, we teamed…
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:…
Survey Says
by Susan Hopkins Surveys are a classic tool in the planning profession. Every project needs a survey. They’re a cheap and easy way to gather public feedback. Right? Not exactly.…
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…
Public Engagement 101 With Roccity Coalition
by Susan Hopkins Christopher (right) and Andre (center) with members of the RocCity Coalition. The team at Highland Planning hosted an early morning training session called "Essentials of Public Engagement"…
Opt-In With Highland Planning
by Susan Hopkins, AICP We're excited to announce a new initiative called Opt-In, an online panel we created to gather feedback and understand public opinion on a variety of topics impacting the…
Reflect + Vision + Play + Strategize = A Bold 2018
by Tanya Zwahlen We stepped away from the office today for some team building and strategic planning. And playtime. Playtime that included burpees.