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Page 4 of 6 <br />City of Redwood City 1017 Middlefield Road, Redwood City, CA. 94063 Tel: 650-780-7000 www.redwoodcity.org <br />members feel burned out by requests for their time and attention. At the same time, long-range <br />planning efforts can feel distant and theoretical without a clear tie to day-to-day life such that busy <br />stakeholders feel less urgency and/or capacity to engage. As a result, the project Team will seek to <br />balance the need to undertake a rigorous and thoughtful community engagement process for the Plan <br />with strategies to help minimize engagement fatigue and ground topics in stakeholder experiences, <br />including: <br />Seeking, whenever possible, input and feedback at times and places where communities are <br />already meeting. For example, the Team will request permission to join the agenda of regularly <br />scheduled meetings of community-based organizations so that their members are not asked to <br />attend a separate dedicated meeting for the Plan. City staff will also set up pop-ups at regularly <br />scheduled public community events throughout the calendar year such as the weekly Saturday <br />Redwood City Kiwanis Farmers Market, Music on the Square, and National Night Out; <br />Providing multiple methods to become involved in the planning process to account for different <br />schedules and various engagement preferences of community members; <br />Streamlining engagement, when feasible, by combining engagement events where staff are <br />seeking input on different but related efforts/topics; and <br />Collecting and analyzing pertinent data from recent previous community engagement efforts <br />across City departments in order to mitigate duplicative data collection efforts. For example, the <br />project team will fine tune the community surveys scoped for the Plan to account for relevant <br />data that City staff previously collected and can access (e.g. the National Community Survey). <br />7.Communication and Transparency: The project Team will prioritize a robust and transparent <br />communication strategy in order help community members and decision-makers follow the planning <br />process and understand the decisions being made. In particular, the Team will: <br />Clearly and concisely identify and explain policy tradeoffs so that there is a communal <br />understanding of how the vision, goals, and implementation of the Plan may affect the <br />community, and; <br />Through multiple channels and media including a dedicated website, regularly communicate with <br />the community and decision-makers about how their input and feedback are being incorporated <br />into and are shaping the Plan. <br />8.Flexibility: While the Community Engagement Strategy provides a strong outreach framework for the <br />Plan, engagement needs and expectations may evolve over the 2-3 year anticipated timeline of the <br />planning process. As such, the project Team will regularly evaluate the Strategy and adjust it as <br />needed, to ensure that it remains relevant, effective, and responsive to community needs. For the <br />first time, City staff, with the support of the consultant team, will actively track a set of performance <br />metrics to help gauge the success of outreach activities and identify ways to adjust the strategy if we <br />are falling short of our goals. While the team will generally seek to reach a large, broad audience, the <br />quality of community input—that is, input that is specific, detailed, and topical—will also be a critical <br />metric for successful outreach. The outreach team will work hard to balance these metrics to ensure <br />the engagement process supports a high quality Plan. <br />As highlighted in the Community Engagement Strategy, there will be multiple opportunities throughout <br />the planning process for community members, the City’s Boards, Commissions, and Committees (BCCs), <br />8.A. - Page 4 of 17 <br />67