Cincinnati officials are proposing a new plan for community engagement, and they want your input. The city's department of Planning and Engagement started working on the plan more than two years ago in response to a request from City Council.
The city has added two new Community Engagement Specialists since then: Jeremiyah Hairston and Eunique Avery.
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Hairston says this draft policy includes a lot of public input already.
"The goal is to outline the way that city employees are to interact with the public, and to lay a framework for how we would expect engagement to look moving forward, and also some of the goals that we have for community engagement," he said.
Officials also worked on a year-long grant from the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation last year. The result is a nine-page plan for the city to have a well-organized and cohesive approach to equitable engagement practices.
The goal is to collect input over the next few months and implement the new policy starting Jan. 1, 2024.
"Hopefully we can start strengthening these relationships, expand on the great work that's already been done and reach some of our goals that we've outlined in the policy," Avery said. "In order for us to do that we really need the community to share their thoughts."
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City staff will hold several "pop-ups" throughout the city over the next few weeks, aimed at interacting with residents who wouldn't typically attend a public meeting.
There are also two more traditional public meetings scheduled (the first was last week).
"We have two interactive activities in which we work with the community to first come up with some of our definitions, and then help us provide action steps for how they would like to see engagement moving forward in the future," Hairston said.
You can also take an online survey to give input.
See the full draft plan below [story continues after]:
Cincinnati Draft Community Engagement Plan 2023 by WVXU News on Scribd
How to give feedback
Online survey available through the end of October, embedded below or at this link:
Public meeting: Tuesday, Oct. 24 at 6 p.m.
Hirsch Recreation Center in Avondale
Register at this link
Public meeting: Thursday, Nov. 2 at 6 p.m.
McKie Recreation Center in Northside
Register at this link
