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Reaching Stakeholders through Creative Public Involvement Strategies

In the last 30 years, the public has played an increasingly instrumental role in shaping the projects that affect their communities. From advocating for dedicated funds in order to renovate an aging public library to identifying specific social and economic impacts issues caused by right-of-way acquisition, the voice of the citizen has become an increasingly critical project component. The influence of the general public hasn’t happened by accident, but through the ability to design and implement successful public involvement programs, which is often a legal mandate.

The public involvement process incorporates citizens and stakeholders in the early stages of the planning process and encourages their participation throughout a project’s life cycle. Collaborating with the public allows policy makers to foster a shared project vision and enjoy a higher level of acceptance among planners, citizens, and other project stakeholders.

Over the years, public involvement experts have become more creative in their ability to increase the public’s interest and participation in the project planning process. For instance, an open house/public meeting may result in larger attendance numbers, but may not be as effective as a focus group in fostering two-way communication. Or, a newsletter may be more familiar to most people, but short digital video clips and programs available on the Internet, DVDs, and on municipal television can have more content and reach more people for less overall cost.

Recently, public involvement programs have applied a diverse mixture of tools for reaching out to the public, obtaining their input, managing that input, and reaching consensus among project stakeholders.

We asked our clients to tell us about an effective public involvement strategy that called for the public’s participation in the planning process and/or affected the outcome of a project’s success. Read what they had to say:

“Experimentation with digital video on the Denver Regional Transportation District’s (RTD) North Metro Corridor EIS has been quite successful. We distributed video clips and programs through the project website and DVDs. The video included a project introduction, a corridor tour, and meeting recaps that allows participants to learn about the project, see their community members making comments, and watch the project leaders describe key issues. Creative uses of digital video are emerging as an important public involvement tool.”

Dave Shelley
Denver RTD-Fast Tracks
Corridor and Regional Planning Manager

“Use of the Web to provide information has resulted in the public being better informed and more proactive at meetings. This involvement has helped stakeholders to better understand local issues in developing remedial options and build public acceptance, and in some cases advocacy for cleanup projects.”

John Robinson
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Northern Region Team Supervisor
Short Elliott Hendrickson Inc.

For more information, contact Public Involvement Specialist Bonnie Morey at 866.830.3388.

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