We all know that we need to involve other people in finding solutions to our community’s issues.  But too often all we come away with are complaints, ugliness and impossible requests.

That’s not their fault – it’s the result of public participation methods that don’t provide enough structure and don’t challenge people to meaningfully grapple with the issues facing their communities.Giving them meaningful involvement and providing a structured, guiding format makes all the difference between a useless experience and a great one.

At the Wise Economy Workshop, we draw on two unique perspectives to create community engagement that works — for the participants and for your organization.

  • We usethe best methods available from teaching and group management, including cooperative small group learning and appreciative inquiry, to transforn the usual dynamics of public meetings – eliminating confrontations, avoiding simplistic approaches, keeping the process focused and helping people grapple with and make useful contributions to the challenges that we need to address.
  • We have become an industry leader in selecting and deploying online public participation tools.  If you want broader participation, quality feedback, constructive perceptions and significantly lower costs than typical meeting-heavy methods, we can help you develop online tools that will change everything you ever thought about public engagement.

Whether in-person or online, chances are you can not only get the public participation you need, but get the kind of public participation you really want.  But the old methods won’t do it for you.  Let the Wise Economy Workshop help you discover the possibilities.

Here’s a few examples of how Wise Economy approaches have helped communities engage residents and businesses in ways they never thought possible:

Plan Build Live  Online and In-Person Public Engagement

City Plan  Solutions Workshops

Campbell County Idea Sessions and Solutions Workshops