CREJ

March 2021 \ BUILDING DIALOGUE \ 27 diverse and often underrepresented populations. • Full translation. Using Zoom’s feature to have live translation of online events enables more people to par- ticipate. Also, Zoom breakout rooms organized by lan- guage provide small groups a nonintimidating venue for discussion. • Community engagement window . Windows of time, spanning two to three weeks, replace date-specific input opportunity. While the window is open, constituents can participate in online surveys, attend virtual open hous- es, watch recorded presentations or videos, interact with websites, stop by a popup kiosk and fill out a mailed sur- vey for a statistically valid survey. • StoryMaps . An easy way to create narrative, illustrate spatial relationships, and add photos and videos to a us- er-friendly website is StoryMaps by the Environmental Systems Research Institute. Combined with embedded survey questions, this is very effective in educating the communities about what the project, issue or topic en- tails. • Live Q&A. Incorporating this into live sessions streamed to Instagram or Facebook to submit a question about the project. • Mimic the real thing. Providing virtual experiences that are user-friendly by replicating experiences that used to be in person whether it be through Mural (a digital work- space for virtual collaboration), Bang the Table (a digital engagement platform often favored by cities and coun- ties) or the easily accessible Google Drive. • Crowdsourcing. Getting people engaged by asking them to help collect data for the planning process through crowdsourcing. This provides people a nice break from being isolated during the pandemic, particularly retir- ees, and a chance to enjoy being a part of the process rather than being “talked to.” In Loudoun County, Virgin- ia, we implemented volunteer trail mapping, and “Share your Story” oral history recordings were collected for another project – Bailey Drive Gateway in Southeast Raleigh, North Carolina, the first African-American neighbor- hood – with the community group Partners for Environmental Justice. The oral histories are now being used to create public art in the neighborhood while the park design is in pro- cess by artist Tiffany Baker. • Hot spots. These can be set up across the town in places such as at libraries, communi- ty centers, arts centers with computers and printed materials so people can have access to the materials and polling. Leveraging rela- tionships with community organizations to advertise materials and paper input oppor- tunities where underrepresented groups are still gathering (i.e., food banks, churches, parks, etc.) • Narrated presentations. Videos that remain on the project website, along with ongoing promotion, also has been a benefit to let people review when their schedule allows. Narrated presentations, prerecorded videos and StoryMaps allow people to access information on their own time, often catering to a different audience than a hosted virtual public meeting. • QR codes. Thanks to paperless menus at many restau- rants, people are becoming accustomed to using QR codes. Take a picture on your smartphone and you are di- rected to the menu. Or in this case, the project website or community engagement. A walking tour for the 56 Acres Park Master Plan in Mariposa, California, was set up with QR codes for people to take the survey online with hard copy options as well. It was combined with a StoryMap/ Qualtrics survey combo for those who didn’t want to go out in person. \\ bzimmermann@designworkshop.com ELEMENTS Community Engagement Full translation: For the Denver Parks and Recre- ation Strategic Acquisition Plan project, the virtual public meeting offered live Vietnamese, Spanish and English translation. The online survey was also of- fered in these three languages. In order to get a more diverse and representative response to the survey, the survey was promoted by working with city staff, youth, partner organizations, and others to share the link in their networks. Due to this targeted engage- ment approach, they received over 1,600 survey re- sponses were received, mirroring the demographics of the city and county of Denver while also building relationships with these ambassadors for future opportunities. Aspen’s fountains delight children and adults alike.