Top Ten Opportunities for Civic Engagement at the City of Gainesville Samantha Wolfe Senior Strategic Planner October 7th, 2015

What is Civic Engagement? Follow us On-line Participate in a Focus Group Apply for an Internship Participate at a Town Hall Mtg. Volunteer at Ironwood Golf Course Attend a Neighborhood Crime Watch Mtg. Serve on a Board or Committee Developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make a difference in the civic life of our community. individual and collective actions designed to identify and address issues of public concern

Citizens’ Academy #1 Offered in the Spring and Fall and is your greatest opportunity to directly connect with city staff as a learning opportunity.

Neighborhood Crime Watch Meetings #2 Monthly meetings, sponsored by GPD in coordination with established subdivisions and communities. Meetings often attended by city staff like Code Enforcement and PDS to address issues or upcoming projects in the area. Visit GPD calendar of events online to learn more about locations and dates.

Town Hall Meetings #3 cityofgainesville.org/openGNV/talkGNV Annually, in-person meetings with the CCOM and executive leadership to kick-off the budget cycle. This year’s forum was held last week at the Hippodrome Theatre’s basement. Informal discussions in small groups to focus on key priorities of the community. This year’s topic was reimagining the delivery of public services and included break-out discussions about Communications & Technology, Development Review Services, Access to Non-Emergency Services, and Senior Services. cityofgainesville.org/openGNV/talkGNV

Local Elections #4 The next City of Gainesville election is March 15, 2016 Held every spring and typical turnout is 12-14%.

Quasi-Judicial Boards Advisory Boards CRA Advisory Boards Boards and Committees #5 Quasi-Judicial Boards Advisory Boards CRA Advisory Boards You will be receiving additional information from the city clerk’s office providing detail of the different boards and committees. Residents and students can voluntarily participate and there are difference eligibility requirements for each committee; some requiring residency in the city and not. Quasi-judicial boards: has some limited authority and makes formal recommendations to the CCOM; ex: Development Review Board Advisory boards: do not have judicial authority and simply advise the CCOM; ex: Bike/Ped Advisory Board CRA Advisory Boards: a board to represent each of the four CRA districts & provide advisory suggestions to the CRA.

Citizen Surveys & Focus Groups #6 Similar to the Norm Gainesville as a place to live 78% My neighborhood as a place to live 73% Overall quality of life in Gainesville 72% Like in city elections, typically low response rate. Not everyone receives survey, distributed per statistically valid method so encourage to respond. Gainesville as a place to work 53% xx% Percent responding (Excellent + Good)

We typically have 20-25 paid interns Internships #7 We typically have 20-25 paid interns College age students interested in public service career. Some paid, some un-paid and meet volunteerism requirements. All paid are advertised on the city website.

Volunteer Youth Sports Morningside Nature Center Senior Programs #8 Youth Sports Morningside Nature Center Senior Programs City Hall Front Desk Adopt-A-Street Downtown Festival Hoggetowne Medieval Faire Multitude of opportunities to volunteer. Use contact list on hand out to connect with area of interest.

Charrettes A charrette is a meeting to resolve a problem or issue. #9 Rebuild SE 4th Street Depot Avenue NW 8th Avenue Specific meetings held in communities to address a project or issue. Opportunity to provide feedback and receive more information from city staff. A charrette is a meeting to resolve a problem or issue.

50+ performance metrics shared Online Engagement #10 dataGNV 35+ datasets presented statGNV 50+ performance metrics shared cityofgainesville.org/openGNV engageGNV 580+ statements posted 311GNV 340+ issues reported Social media – 38,000 Facebook fans & 2,100 Twitter followers

Questions?