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City staff brief Civil Rights Board on Imagine Kalamazoo 2035 engagement and requests a board liaison
Summary
City staff summarized Imagine Kalamazoo 2035 outreach (roughly 4,300 points of contact) and said the process moves into the design phase this winter; staff asked the Civil Rights Board to designate a liaison to attend design-phase events and help bring equity perspectives.
City staff presented an overview of Imagine Kalamazoo 2035 to the Civil Rights Board on Dec. 3, detailing past outreach and the coming Design It phase. The staff presenter said the Imagine It and Plan It phases included a combination of public meetings, pop-up engagement, surveys, topic focus groups and neighborhood outreach that together yielded nearly 4,300 points of contact.
The presentation recounted specific participation figures: staff cited roughly 735 meeting-on-the-go participants, more than 256 pop-up engagement attendees, 199 presentation attendees, 565 public meeting participants, 1,000-plus completed surveys, 50 partner meetings, 942 participants in the community book activity and more than 118 youth art projects. Staff said the project will move into a design phase this winter focused on neighborhood meetings, online activities and additional focus groups.
Staff asked the board to designate at least one board liaison to take part in Design It activities, attend community meetings, and help ensure equity is included in the design-phase conversation. "They just ask for participation from the board because they have a unique perspective as being board members and being a part of the community as well," the presenter said.
Next steps: staff will present a draft strategic vision to the city commission for public comment and a review period before the commission’s final review; board members interested in serving as a liaison were encouraged to volunteer.
