A DAO in the Life March 2022

By Mike Parks, Harrisonburg Director of Communication

As I’m sure nearly every local municipality across the state has been doing the past few months, the City Manager’s Office staff with the City of Harrisonburg have spent a lot of time considering how best to engage with our public regarding the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). It was immediately clear to us that a traditional communications and engagement plan like we would utilize for many of the smaller projects we undertake would not be sufficient. Such a plan would run the risk of not creating the buy-in we desired to ensure as many of our residents as possible felt they had a say in determining how this once-in-a-lifetime infusion of funds would craft our community’s future.

The Harrisonburg City Council, upon beginning deliberations around the City’s $23.8 million ARPA allocation, instructed City staff to engage with a consultant that could lead the public engagement process and bring to life our goal of bringing as many of our 51,800 residents into the discussion as possible.

With that in mind, the City Manager’s Office began conversations with the Institute for Constructive Advocacy and Dialogue (ICAD) at James Madison University – located a few blocks away from City Hall here in Harrisonburg. The organization specializes in “the practice of designing and facilitating conversations that help communities talk and think together.”

Bringing on a consultant such as ICAD to organize and manage our community engagement on this important topic has a number of benefits for our community and City staff. It provides experienced representatives that can bring not only their extensive knowledge but also vitally needed manpower. For an engagement campaign the scope of what we envisioned – with multiple large public meetings and potentially as many as a dozen small community conversations – City staff did not have the numbers or the time to adequately wage such a campaign.

And though we commonly meet with our residents and listen to their concerns and feedback, ICAD’s facilitators are trained in getting the most out of those conversations. Too often we listen to our residents, but we don’t talk with them. We hear what their concerns are, but we don’t fully understand how those concerns are impacting their lives. To make sure these ARPA dollars are going to be used to improve the lives of our residents, we have to truly understand what needs to be improved, and why 

Our engagement plan will officially kick off on Saturday, March 5, with a public forum in what could be considered as a historically disadvantaged neighborhood. The importance of beginning the public engagement in this location shows our commitment to getting these funds into the locations where they can cause the most good.

Attendees will be split into different focus areas to ensure smaller groups of people where more detailed connections can be established. We will carefully explain the importance of hearing from attendees about how the pandemic has impacted their lives, and what services the City can help provide that would improve their situation. We will work to direct the conversation around community health, public infrastructure, and other areas where we believe ARPA funds can legally be used, while still encouraging feedback regarding all community needs that may help inform future budgets and spending plans. And we will ensure we make a connection with each and every attendee, so when it comes time to rank all the priorities collected at the end of our public engagement campaign, we will be able to invite them back to make sure they still have a say in the final process.

Smaller meetings will be held with individual groups where more focus is needed, or where individuals may feel more comfortable than in the large group setting. This will include meetings with diverse segments of our population, such as immigrants and refugees who have resettled in our community or with those who do not speak English. We also will offer a community survey in five languages most commonly spoken in our community to encourage individuals to take part even if they are not interested in coming to a public gathering. And all these opportunities will be publicized in numerous ways through earned, paid and owned media: ads inside City buses encouraging you to take the survey; push notifications from our partners in Harrisonburg City Public Schools to every parent; radio advertisements; yard signs and banners in neighborhoods where a public engagement meeting will soon take place; a detailed social media campaign using every City social media page; and much more.

Of course, when turning your engagement over to a consultant or really any group outside your organization, you do lose certain controls and that has to be weighed in your decision-making process. The timeline for engagement will rely on not only your availability, but that of the consultant. There is obviously a cost involved that you would not face if managing the process in-house. You are bringing a new face and name into your community that your residents haven’t established trust yet with like they may have with your organization.

As we embark on this two- to three-month process, we are eager to see the results. And we acknowledge that we as City staff are also stakeholders, with a number of City projects we hope ultimately make the list of what our City Council decides to fund with ARPA dollars. Our ideas and priorities will be combined with those our community members suggest, and ICAD will present those findings to City Council in May for the tough choices to begin. Council has already indicated they will set some funding aside for construction of a fifth fire station in our community, and for the establishment of a permanent shelter in Harrisonburg for those experiencing homelessness.

Regardless of what is selected, our community will be better for it. As we move closer every day to our 2039 goal of being the Capital of the Shenandoah Valley, we know The Friendly City will greatly benefit due to the hard work of engagement we do today.

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