Documenting Neighborhood Memories
by Tanya Zwahlen This weekend, on behalf of the City of Rochester, we conducted outreach at the Bull's Head Community Fair. This engagement was part of the Bull's Head Brownfield Opportunity Area project,…
If It’s Broke, Fix It (Don’t Burn It To The Ground)
by Christopher Dunne Sometimes our staff meetings get a little off topic. Last week, a conversation about our core principles and our recently damaged tent led to us enumerating a fifth core…
The Neo Traditional Vacation
by Tanya Zwahlen I was on vacation last week in a planner's paradise. Rosemary Beach is located along the Gulf Coast of Florida and, in spite of the 22 hour…
How Do People Engage? Results From Our First “Opt-In” Survey
Opt-In is an online panel we created to gather feedback and public opinions on a variety of topics impacting the future of communities in Western New York. Topics include transportation, parks, economic development and quality-of-life. In our first Opt-in survey, we asked the panel about how they engage, what they find most frustrating about participating in public decisions, what what makes…
March Madness
By Christopher Dunne “Gamification” is an ugly word but it's also one of our favorite techniques for making complex information and tough choices more fun and engaging for members of…
Sue Heads North for IAP2 Foundations Training
by Tanya Zwahlen Sue went up to Toronto this week to take the International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) Foundations in Public Participation course. It's a three day course, and…
Community Engagement is a Lot Like Parenting
by Tanya Zwahlen This weekend, my daughter, Claire, and I traveled to Kripalu, a yoga and retreat center in western Massachusetts, for a workshop on Mothering and Daughtering. The purpose of the three-day…
Bringing Surveys to Life
by Susan Hopkins It’s been a month since we officially launched MetroQuest and we’re pleased to say it has earned an important spot in our engagement toolbox. What is MetroQuest?…