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Caltrans presents draft statewide community engagement playbook; EAC subcommittee presses for chapter 4 input, training and budgeting details
Summary
Caltrans staff presented a draft statewide community engagement playbook and solicited feedback from the Equity Advisory Committee subcommittee on chapter 4 (best practices for working with communities). Members urged broader external input, training for staff, measurable engagement metrics and clearer budget coding for engagement work.
Caltrans staff presented a draft statewide community engagement playbook and sought input from members of the agency’s Equity Advisory Committee (EAC) subcommittee on how the department can improve public engagement across planning and project delivery.
Sarah Rosen, statewide community engagement program manager, introduced the playbook as an internal guidance document intended to "provide general roles and responsibilities for staff on how to do engagement" and said chapter 4 — on "how we work together, best practices" — was the section currently open to change.
Rosen said the playbook effort began in April 2023 with an internal advisory committee, district listening sessions and an internal review period. She described the near-term timetable in the meeting: staff reviewed a draft with internal Caltrans staff from November 2024 through January 2025, plan to share an interim version in September, and hope to publish a first iteration in February 2026.
EAC members used the meeting to recommend changes and ask for clarifications. Anna Gonzalez, vice chair of the EAC, asked whether the playbook would be presented to local agencies and urged tools that could be used by partners. Andres Ramirez recommended developing measurable metrics for engagement, training for staff, and a dedicated budget. Marylou Taylor, from Caltrans' Division of Project Management, said staff are creating work breakdown structure codes so engagement effort estimates can be included in project budgets and in future funding requests to the California Transportation Commission (CTC).
Several members urged stronger tribal and language access provisions. Karen (speaker) asked that projects give early consideration to traditional plants and cultural monitors and suggested QR codes or placards that connect project sites to tribal context. Multiple members recommended practical outreach tactics — going to where people already gather (bus stops, markets, schools), providing food or gift-card incentives, offering real-time interpretation, and using community-based organizations and local champions to host or endorse events.
Caltrans staff said the playbook is currently written as a technical, internal guide and that they do not plan a broad public solicitation on the full document. However, staff committed to share chapter 4 with the subcommittee (planned as an agenda item in August or later this fall) and to work with the EAC on training, case studies and other materials. Jazz Chohan, community engagement resource branch, guided participants through a planned interactive brainstorming exercise using a Mural board; technical access problems with the board led staff to capture input in the chat and by scribing instead.
Members offered examples of successful outreach, citing District 11 (San Diego–Imperial) programs and events that included community champions and creative open-streets programming under a Clean California grant. Staff said they plan further outreach to targeted external partners and will incorporate the subcommittee’s feedback into the advisory committee’s drafting process.
No formal vote or policy action was taken on the playbook during the meeting; the item remained a staff presentation and group discussion. Staff said they would keep the mural open for a week for additional input and would return chapter 4 for targeted review by the EAC.
