The Next Generation of Your Planning Commission

From: Wayne Senville, Editor, PCJ, editor@plannersweb.com

I asked Kit Hodge, who is CEO of the Neighbors Project, if she'd be willing to write an article for the Planning Commissioners Journal, sharing her thoughts on ways in which local planning commissions can seek out younger members -- in particular, younger "Generation Xers" (born 1965-1980) and older "Millenials" (1981-1999). The Neighbors Project focuses on creative ways of involving people in their 20s and 30s in the civic life of their neighborhoods and cities.

We're reprinting below Kit's article, from our just-published Spring '08 issue. Consider posting your thoughts or feedback after you read her short article. What works best for involving younger generations in local planning? And do younger commissioners bring different "generational" perspectives?

The Next Generation of Your Planning Commission
by Kit Hodge

As planners, you have spent a great deal of time thinking about what your town or city should look like in five, ten, twenty years. But have you ever wondered what the planning commission itself will look like in the future? Will you have new, younger members -- drawn from those in your community now in their 20’s and 30’s -- who will be able to continue the great work of the commission well into the future?

The easiest way to ensure your legacy is to attract younger residents to be a part of the commission, either as members or as active volunteers. Need more incentive? Adding a younger perspective to your commission will probably also benefit your economic development efforts.

The roughly 76 million Americans born between 1978 and 2000 are rapidly redefining the economic geography of the country; they tend to cluster in the same locations, and have a large impact on the future viability of the local economy. Many cities and towns are either trying to attract and retain or to manage huge influxes of this coveted new generation of residents. They are the future that will continue to make your city and town a great place to live and do business.

But plugging in younger residents can be easier said than done. Younger Americans are notorious for being addicted to the Internet and shy to meet in person. So if you’re used to reaching people through print newsletters and public meetings, you’ll need to adjust your approach. Here are some basic to advanced tips for attracting younger members and participants to your planning commission:

1. Basic: Make a commitment. Designate a point person or subcommittee of your commission to create a plan for attracting and engaging residents in their 20’s and 30’s. Then follow through, and give feedback on progress made to the full commission.

2. Basic: Be completely online and interactive. Putting all of your content and proceedings online is an absolute minimum requirement of successful outreach. Most importantly, you should create and market opportunities to provide feedback on planning commission issues through your Web site, blog, and e-mail list. Younger residents want to stay in the loop and provide feedback, but the traditional public forum setting often makes no sense to them.

• Web site. Up-to-date meeting announcements, notes, reports, newsletters, and other content should all be in an accessible format on your Web site.
• Blog. If you are hard pressed for money to create a Web site from scratch, use Blogger or other free blogging programs to post your content in a blog format. There are a myriad of free Web tools that let you post and link to documents online, from Google Documents to Slideshare.net, so you can link to them on your blog or Web site. Make sure you allow comments on your blog. Finally, don’t forget to give the commission a human face. Profile the people on the commission and add videos about the commission or specific issues.
• E-mail list. Send out regular e-mails with important announcements, including prominent notices about upcoming events, and opportunities for feedback in the form of polls or questionnaires.

2. Basic Plus: Market your Web site/blog/e-mail list. Just creating your Web site or blog isn’t enough. You need to market it to sites that attract younger residents:

• Outside.in. This increasingly popular Web site aggregates blog posts by location, so users can find news about their town based on their zip code or town name. Add your blog to this Web site. Other bloggers and print journalists sometimes use this tool to develop their own stories.

• Facebook and mySpace. Create a Facebook and mySpace profile for your commission. These are wildly popular “social networking” Web sites, where millions of Americans -- particularly young Americans -- share information with and network with each other. It’s a built in distribution network. Post the new content that you add to your Web site, blog, and e-mail list to your Facebook page. Also, check out the “Neighborhoods” application within Facebook, which allows you to add information about neighborhood resources. Advertise your Facebook and mySpace pages on your Web site, blog, and e-mail list to build up your “friends.”
• Bloggers. E-mail and meet with the individuals behind the blogs about life in your town -- if any -- written by residents in their 20s and 30s in your town. If the bloggers are writing about anything to do with your town already, then they probably would like to know about how decisions are made. By becoming a resource for them, you have a good chance of influencing them to report on what’s happening on the commission. Though don’t expect them to tow the party line; they will ultimately write as they please.

3. Advanced: Meet with local representatives. Ask groups that attract young people in your city or town to make a plug for the commission’s mailing list in their e-mails to their constituents. Be prepared to explain why your work is relevant to their particular interests.

• College young alumni groups. Call the alumni offices of colleges that export a lot of people to your town and ask for the young alumni contact.
• Sports groups. Talk to the head of the local sports league and ask if you can distribute electronic or print information about hot issues at the commission to their players.
• Dog owners. Visit the dog runs in your town. It's a good place to meet many younger residents who have dogs, but may not have kids.
• Major employers. If there are major employers in town who employ a lot of younger residents, ask the employer if you can hold a lunch “meet and greet” (you or the employer should provide free food) with their younger employees to talk about what’s going on in the community.

If this seems like a long list to you, take heart. Some initial concerted effort will probably unearth a younger town resident or two who can take over outreach to her or his peers. Just remember that though we may come from different generations and are used to communicating in different ways -- and perhaps have new ideas for town planning -- we are ultimately all interested in the same thing: living in a great community of neighbors.