seattle Community Engagement

What if you were able to give the community a real voice in your project?

We believe that Community Engagement is an opportunity for joyful interaction.

By engaging with stakeholders, the design team can create a process and product that benefits both the client and the community.

Let’s talk about your project

A successful Community Engagement process starts early in the project and lays the groundwork for a transparent, positive and productive process. We have designed community design processes for a wide range of communities and projects, involving convening committees, community leaders and relevant experts. Each process is different, but each maintains the goal of maximizing community participation, allowing all voices to be heard, and building support for the project.

Our team has experience working with many different types of groups on many different types of projects. We have run design workshops with rural Central American farmers to design their new village, organized community meetings to gather information for design guidelines in Seattle, and facilitated work parties to plant landscaping at a new community center in Everett. For each project we will work with you to design the best community engagement process for your situation, with the goal of creating opportunities for joyful and meaningful ways for your community to get involved and have their voices heard.

Community Engagement Projects

Garfield Superblock

Central Area Design Guidelines

Central Area, Seattle

Village Planning and Design

Matagalpa Department, Nicaragua

RBAC Growth Center

Rainier Beach, Seattle, WA

CLIENTS AND PARTNERS

Garfield Super Block

Seattle Parks and Recreation

City Of Seattle

King County

King County Public Libraries

Agros International

Trust for Public Land

Central Area Youth Association

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Concepts
1

Setting the stage for Success

Good community engagement starts early. Even before the vision for the building or project is formed, we can help guide how best to involve the community in your process. We have a number of tools we use to help you maximize the impact of your project and build support along the way. We will help you form an appropriate convening group to facilitate outreach and identify hurdles for the project.  Together we will design a process that allows the community to engage in an appropriate and meaningful way, giving them a true voice in the project.

Community engagement processes vary from project to project, but some common tools that we use are:

2

Convening Group

The Convening group is a powerful tool in any community process. They are a group of individuals whose job is solely to ensure the success of the community engagement process. They will be selected from members of the project team- stakeholders, users, and experts, as well as key community members who understand the dynamics the of the neighborhood. This group will help you build a process that addresses the needs and culture of your community as well as boost outreach efforts for events.

3

Community Meetings and Design Workshops

Most people think of community engagement as including large community meetings. These are often boring and frustrating events for attendees who discover that despite being offered an opportunity to speak, there does not appear to be any effort to follow through or address their concerns. These types of meetings quickly turn negative and unproductive- dominated by the strongest voices and leaving a feeling of distrust between the presenter and attendees.

There is an alternative. We view meetings as an opportunity for powerful and joyful engagement. We promote transparency and ensure that everyone gets a chance to speak. These meetings and events take different shapes- as games, model building with kids, large group discussions, open house presentations and more.  The Fivedot team has extensive experience leading community meetings of all kinds. From youth groups in Kenya to rural farmworkers in Nicaragua to the residents of our own Central District as they work to create a set of design guidelines for their neighborhood, we have created opportunities for people to share their ideas and get involved.

4

Early Success Projects

As projects dive into the hard work of technical design and permitting, they often fade from the public view. We work to keep that energy and engagement alive through early success projects. These project sponsored events are opportunities for the community to gather, create art, celebrate, and build ties in a way that supports the project’s end result.

Let's talk about your project.

 
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