“You can’t fight city hall.”

This truism has earned its weight in American cities and counties. Whether you visit your local government to request a permit, pay a bill, or talk with an elected official, chances are the process hasn’t been exactly user-friendly. It’s their way or the highway. 

It’s widely accepted that in order for the government to perform its core functions, it must consider the needs of its residents; one of the core conceits of a democratic system is that civic engagement creates better results for all. But, whether due to understaffing, funding restrictions, limited timelines or little will, it seems many governments and agencies are slow to catch on. 

A landmark survey from the National League of Cities in 2009 provides valuable insight into civic engagement trends in local governance. 95 percent of local leaders surveyed believed that public engagement is valuable and, further, that their peers also consider resident opinions important in informing their work. 

However, the structures in place simply didn’t match the initiative: half of the respondents said local government staff lacked the know-how to effectively conduct civic engagement processes, and only 14 percent indicated that they used technology to facilitate two-way interactions between residents and government. That was in 2009. 

Today, considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, an increasingly digital world, political polarization and more, local governments are increasingly good on their word. 

Civic engagement is trending. 

Why is civic engagement important for local governments?

In the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Melody Barnes and Paul Schmitz claim that “community engagement matters, now more than ever.” 

As government decision makers learn more about the complex, systemic challenges that face many Americans disproportionately, they must decide where to allocate funding most impactfully. Yet as demand for change increases, unfortunately the funding is not. 

According to Barnes and Schmitz, as decision makers “shift resources to data-driven programs, they must ensure that community engagement becomes a critical element in that shift,” or else they risk wasting valuable funding on programs and policies that residents don’t want, need, or feel any ownership over. 

The relationship between data-driven decision-making and community engagement is increasingly clear. 

But here’s the catch: community engagement must be meaningful. The trust gap between the average resident and local governments is large. Halfhearted efforts, like reaching out mid-project for resident approval or asking for feedback after completion, won’t bridge that gap. 

Meaningful civic engagement creates better outcomes, increases trust in government, and builds community. In short, it’s in city hall’s best interest to work with its residents, not against them. 

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The community engagement tools and strategies local government employees need.

As Barnes and Schmitz emphasize, effective community engagement is more than just another government process. It’s a promise to the public, an undertaking that must be incorporated into the vision and mission of the organization and supported accordingly in order to deliver on that promise. 

If governments aren’t being thoughtful about creating community ownership rather than community sign-off, then they’re simply checking a box, not building trust. 

For most localities, thoughtful, strategic community engagement requires a top to bottom evaluation of their current communication and engagement capacity. 

Fearless goal-setting and an organization-wide gap analysis are the next steps to charting out a complete community engagement infrastructure. Practically, this requires investments in technology, human capital, and even traditional outreach tools like printing. 

This can be daunting, but a great first step is understanding what the field has to offer, allowing case studies from similar localities and the breadth of the market to fuel limitless brainstorming. 

Here are ten tools and strategies local government employees need to empower civic engagement:

1. A virtual city hall, for residents and employees.

City Hall can be intimidating to many residents, whether they need to navigate services in person, live with a disability, or speak a language other than English as their primary language. 

Mitigate those challenges by creating a virtual city hall where residents can access the same services and complete the same in person tasks.

This will feel like a revolution in service delivery for residents, especially if you are able to digitize complex, time-consuming processes like permitting or personal property tax management. 

Better service delivery builds trust in your organization, and a virtual city hall directs residents to your digital footprint, increasing familiarity and engagement with your broader offerings. They visited for the online bill payment, but they’ll stay for the engagement opportunities!

2. Streaming made simple. 

No matter how busy you might be as a government worker, you can’t be in two places at once. The same goes for residents. Between work, childcare, elder care, commuting, housework, volunteering and hobbies, your residents are engaged with a lot more than just the civic sphere. 

Reduce their barrier to engagement by bringing important government topics to them, via stream.

Council and commission meetings, press conferences, public-facing project team meetings, and even events like a “coffee with the mayor” series can all be stream-ified, likely using the equipment your AV team has on hand.

The challenge is ensuring you’re streaming to the right platforms and properly archiving the content afterwards so that folks can engage at their leisure. Modern content management systems (CMS) designed for government agencies typically include a video streaming service or an easy means to embed one, so consider using that technology to direct residents to your website. 

When it comes to streaming materials core to your organization’s mission, like council meetings or press conferences, invest in a quality, flexible CMS designed for the public sector instead of relying on social media platforms, which reach distinct audiences and fluctuate in relevance. To take advantage of your social media capital, you can incorporate call-to-action messaging into your social media posts and direct users to your optimized website.

3. Digital meetings to drive participation. 

For the same reasons folks might not prioritize being at a council meeting in person, they might not prioritize being at a more interactive public meeting. No matter how much free food, childcare or interactivity you promise, some people are just going to be more likely to take a meeting from their couch. 

Thankfully, the COVID-19 pandemic proved that virtual meetings are possible on a local government level. With the right security protections and a trained facilitator, a virtual meeting can be as productive and informative as an in-person meeting, for all parties involved. 

There are a number of variables you’ll want to consider when looking at the market for digital meeting platforms.

• How much control do you, the local decision-maker, want over the agenda and discussion?

• What features does your community engagement software need to ensure proper language and ability access?

• How do your residents want to be able to engage: writing notes, commenting audibly, or voting in polls?

The answers to these questions will inform your search for the perfect meeting software. 

4. Language access for a diverse city.

Nearly 22 percent of U.S. residents over the age of five don’t speak English at home. This number can vary greatly between localities; for example, nearly half of New York City residents speak a language other than English at home. 

If your community engagement strategy does not include accommodations for residents who cannot or choose not to speak English, then it is not equitable. And you might be out of step with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. But beyond the legal considerations, you’re definitely missing out on valuable input and insights!

Your community engagement blueprint needs to ensure residents who do not speak English are every bit a part of the conversation as an English speaker, even if special accommodations need to be made in digital or in-person settings.

Any tool you consider purchasing in furtherance of your community engagement goals should acknowledge and account for this priority. This could include a closed captioning option for digital meetings, an auto-translation feature for webpages or emails, or even headsets for live simultaneous interpreting at in-person engagements. 

5. Personalized messaging that reaches the right residents. 

Who are you designing your engagements for? It’s all too common for government employees to assume audience interests to span as widely as theirs do, asking a broad swathe of residents to engage on a broad swathe of issues.

However, the best way to drive conversions in the community engagement space is to personalize the experience as much as possible. 

For example, Tom the urban hiker may be a moderately engaged resident. He emails his city council member once a year and attends neighborhood association meetings. But he isn’t interested in “planning and development,” so he won’t spend his time providing feedback on the city’s master plan.

Yet as soon as you reach out to Tom the urban hiker letting him know that the master plan proposes 20 new multi-use path miles, you’re speaking his language. 

Many communications softwares allow residents to sign up to hear about only the topics they’re interested in, allowing you to reach out with specific engagement opportunities without risking burnout. You’ll maximize conversions while minimizing fruitless, generalized efforts. 

6. A survey builder designed for what you do. 

A survey is a fantastic tool to learn about your audience, when designed and executed directly. When a survey is designed to elicit a specific result or without readability and audience experience in mind, it can become more harmful than helpful. 

When looking for a survey builder, consider platforms that are designed with the government user in mind. Software designed for use by the government considers public records laws, the unique time constraints you operate under, data use regulations, and more nitty-gritty elements of public engagement, versus corporate engagement. 

You might also consider your options for engagement platforms, rather than simple survey builders. No matter how expertly crafted your survey is, it’s of little use to you if nobody can access it. A separate digital platform (that can seamlessly integrate with your local website) can do more than a simple survey can, helping you build user contact lists, promote other engagement opportunities, and learn more about your survey respondents to better communicate with them in the future. 

7. Open conversation forums to build community and consensus.

When it comes to soliciting ideas or feedback, surveys are inherently and intentionally limiting. They allow the user to determine how the user must organize their insight, especially if questions are closed-ended. This can be perfect in some circumstances, but what about when you want residents to get creative?

Digital engagement platforms often offer levels of feedback control, meaning that you can ask residents open-ended questions, sit back, and watch the magic happen.

Whether they’re posting digital sticky notes, doodling on a digital white board, or participating in a Reddit-style “ask me anything,” residents will be pleased with the level of autonomy, and you’ll be surprised by the innovation that occurs. 

Of course, reasonable community guidelines and ground rules should be in place to prevent bullying and harassment. Look for platforms with an option to create and enforce these protections.

8. Next-level meeting materials.

When’s the last time you went to a meeting, sat through a 50-slide PowerPoint presentation, and thought, “This has inspired me to action!” Probably a long time ago, if ever. 

Don’t expect different outcomes for local governments. Something heard often around the government communications office: “Just because we’re the government doesn’t mean we have to look like it.”

There’s an assumption that government must be boring and bland, but agencies can deliver legitimacy without being lackluster. Generally, this should apply to your government’s brand. But it applies doubly to any efforts you make to engage residents.

Elevate your meeting materials with fun, whether you’re asking folks to participate from their seats, walk around the room, or sound off from the couch at home. 

Use handheld voting buttons to take silent, low-effort polls of your audience in person, or use digital meeting features to do the same for your virtual crowd. Get creative with maps and mockups, asking residents to place pins or post sticky notes that reflect their feedback or ideas. With the right tools, you can even digitize that experience on your CMS, ensuring all residents have the opportunity to participate. 

9. Flexibility to embrace individual preferences.

Some residents prefer in-person meetings because they lack technological literacy, don’t have a stable internet connection, don’t feel heard in a digital setting, or want to visit with friends and neighbors in a shared community space. 

Some residents prefer virtual meetings because they don’t have the transportation to get to an in-person meeting, need to stay home to look after kids or elderly folks, live with social anxiety, or don’t want to miss their favorite TV show. 

Individual needs and preferences will always impact your ability to reach your residents, so the best strategy automatically accounts for those variables.

The tools you invest in, whether it’s technology or not, must span the digital-physical divide, allowing you to design and execute an engagement strategy that combines the two spheres. 

This may be hard to imagine, but think of the best customer service experience you’ve ever had. Maybe you bought a pair of shoes online, realized they didn’t fit, and returned them to the brick and mortar store, no questions asked. That customer journey, with its seamless interplay between the digital and non-digital experience, is what your residents should enjoy. 

10. Training, training, training!

Remember, half of respondents to the National League of Cities engagement survey stated that “local government staff lacked the know-how to effectively conduct civic engagement processes.” This challenge won’t simply disappear with the introduction of new tools to the toolbox. In fact, it’s likely to become more serious. 

But with the correct training, local government staff can be champions of community engagement and, in doing so, become champions of the organization’s mission in a public-facing way.

When searching for tools to execute on your community engagement strategy, look for vendors that offer implementation support and ongoing training, rather than just the tool itself.  

Building a community engagement strategy begins with understanding yourself and your citizens. 

Don’t let this list intimidate you. The task ahead may seem overwhelming, but this list is just an illustration of the wealth of opportunity that awaits you when you embrace community engagement.

Creating a community engagement strategy, and determining which tools are needed to support that strategy, is just another example of strategic planning.

It requires much of the same steps: evaluate your current state, establish goals, define objectives, and map out what tasks are required to reach those objectives. 

To evaluate your current state without these useful communication tools and strategies in place, you’re going to have to get scrappy. Understanding your internal strengths, limitations and growth points may be simple, if time consuming.

However, meaningful engagement requires interaction with your audience from Day 1. Begin with the most important questions to ask when information-gathering:

• How do you want your local government to communicate with you?

• How do you want to interact with your local government?
  
  

Citizen engagement isn’t a process. It’s a principle. 

Meaningful community engagement projects don’t just “check boxes.” Similarly, your community engagement strategy shouldn’t arise out of a sense of begrudging obligation. If you ever find yourself thinking, “I wish we didn’t have to listen to these people,” give yourself grace (and probably a well-deserved break) and remember the principle behind what you do.

Your local government’s community engagement policy will be toothless if it’s not constantly supported by and vocally advocated for by the public servants working within the organization. As long as you continue to be a champion for community engagement and innovation, these tools will be put to good use. 

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