1. Community Involvement Training
Engaging Citizens
Community Involvement Training

2. Community Involvement in the City of Longmont
Located 45 minutes north of Denver, Longmont has 93,000 people and 850 time staff
Community Involvement was discussed at the City Council Retreat in 2001
As a result, City Council set one of its 2001 work plan goals: “to develop and implement a comprehensive approach for involving the Longmont community in City service delivery and problem-solving efforts”.
This began the designing of the Community Involvement process for Longmont

3. What is Community Involvement?
The City of Longmont’s community involvement process invites residents, elected officials, and individuals from public agencies, private enterprise, nonprofit organizations and voluntary associations to come together to think collectively and act cooperatively to identify issues and to find solutions to them. The City believes that building relationships between City officials and community members is an important part of community involvement, so that all partners take responsibility for sustaining solutions that are developed and implemented.
The City of Longmont’s community involvement process is not a canned program that the City has simply adopted and implemented. The best community involvement strategy fits an issue and the people concerned about that issue. Therefore, the City has developed a framework for helping City officials and community members determine which issues are appropriate for some level of community involvement and also identify different types of strategies that can be effective in drawing out meaningful public participation on issues.
Acknowledgements
The City of Longmont gratefully acknowledges the contributions of the International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) and the Jefferson Center to our development of the Longmont community involvement plan and in providing foundational materials for this training, which is tailored to the needs in our community.
Community Involvement is any process that involves the public to achieve an objective.

4. Longmont’s community involvement process invites:. - residents
Longmont’s community involvement process invites: - residents - elected officials - public agencies - private enterprise - nonprofits volunteers to come together to think collectively and act cooperatively to identify issues and find solutions.
READ THE SLIDE
Development of this program, itself was a community involvement process because we went out to the community and asked folks how they wanted to be involved and when—at what point in the process they wanted to be involved.
Our organization has a strong commitment to involving our community in solving issues and addressing concerns whether it be on a citywide level or within a single neighborhood. The program we developed recognized what we were doing well and built on efforts that staff was already using in its work. It also challenges staff to create new opportunities and approaches to community involvement at all levels.

5. Why is Community Involvement Important to the City of Longmont ?
- To strengthen the relevant skills and knowledge of City staff in keeping with the City’s expectation that all City staff will utilize effective community involvement, rather than delegating this responsibility to others.
To address the need to create productive, inclusive and innovative approaches to complex issues.
- To help us strengthen our ability to develop connections with and build capacity of community members.
The City of Longmont’s community involvement process invites residents, elected officials, and individuals from public agencies, private enterprise, nonprofit organizations and voluntary associations to come together to think collectively and act cooperatively to identify issues and to find solutions to them. The process helps City officials and community members determine which issues may be appropriate for some level of community involvement and ways to effectively draw out meaningful public participation on these issues.
It is an expectation that all City staff members will utilize effective community involvement strategies in our work, rather than delegating this responsibility to a specific division or select group of employees.

6. Levels of Community Involvement
Increasing Level of Public Impact
Increasing Level of Community Involvement
Inform
Consult
Involve
Partner
Give information to the community
Obtain feedback from the community
Community input and feedback influences the process
The City and community work as equal partners

7. City of Longmont Structure
Community Involvement Steering Team – representation from each department, serve as liaisons, consultants and trainers
Community Involvement Facilitators (50), available for consultation or assistance
In the first three levels of involvement - inform, consult and involve– the city is the decision maker.
At the partner level, the decision is a partnership between all the parties.
Turn over to Jon Clarke and others who will complete the presentation

8. Mayor and City Council Involvement
Council members are trained as they take office and during their retreat
As we tackle issues, Community Involvement frames the conversation

9. Engaging Citizens