Highland Village schedules Dec. 4 teen focus group at DoubleTree Ranch Park

Highland Village city staff announced a teen focus-group event set for Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024, at DoubleTree Ranch Park, to be held in the Sergeant Dennis Oliver Event Center. Food will be served from 4:00 to 4:45 p.m., and the program will begin promptly at 4:45 p.m.; the city is covering the cost so teens will not pay to attend.

A staff presenter told the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board that the city has promoted the event on its social media channels, distributed flyers to local businesses including Froyo Joe's and Awesome Times, and contacted area schools and homeschooling groups. The presenter said about 30 teens were registered at the time of the meeting and staff hope to recruit between 30 and 60 teams for the engagement activity.

Board members asked how many had signed up; the presenter answered, "30," and encouraged several board members to stop by briefly to welcome participants and wear board shirts if they choose. Staff said event registration and outreach materials (including a QR code on the flyer) were included in the meeting packet and staff will handle the engagement process on site.

City staff described the teen event as part of broader engagement work tied to the comprehensive master plan and said the goal is to develop programming that reflects teens' interests. Staff also said they had contacted public schools in the LISD district, some private schools and known homeschool groups to help broaden outreach.

Next steps: staff will continue outreach and confirm food-truck vendors; board members who can attend were asked to come early to greet participants. No formal action or vote was taken on the item during the meeting.