Commentary by Cindy Benedict
I’m frequently asked – so what’s community engagement? Well, technically it refers to the process by which organizations and individuals build ongoing partnerships to create a collective vision for a better community.
Now that’s been going on for years in Noblesville. For example, think of all the partnerships between teachers, students, parents and businesses to create our top-rated school district. However, Mayor John Ditslear had a community vision for excellence that would use these principals more systematically for the whole city.
So I, along with great help from Amy Shankland, convene various community teams to examine data and assess the city’s strengths and weakness in the environment, life-long learning, and quality of life issues. When a team identifies an area for improvement we’ll create a task force to work on that issue. Right now we have task forces working on biking, expanding environmental education, examining mass transit, and working on the problem of homelessness. Community teams also created the Noblesville Arts Blueprint and the Noblesville Works! Campaign. Currently 81 organizations and 132 individuals partner with the city to examine issues regarding Noblesville’s future. We also participate on other organizations’ teams, like SERVE Noblesville, to help with citywide projects.
All city departments integrate community engagement principals whenever possible. The Planning Department actively sought citizen input for the rewrite of the Comprehensive Master Plan and on the SW Quad Project. The popular Police Citizen Academy and Neighborhood Crime Watch program educates and engages residents every year, and the Economic Development Department convenes the Noblesville Arts Council and the Workforce Development teams. Parks and Recreation regularly integrates resident suggestions into programming and used many of their ideas in the design of Federal Hill Commons. You can also give the city feedback through the Action Center, found at http://www.cityofnoblesville.org/egov/apps/action/center.egov
Here is something you can be proud of; We are the only city in Hamilton County with a community engagement team. Listening and creating partnerships is the norm in Noblesville, not something we bring out for special projects. We aren’t able to implement every idea, but we do bring together a wide range people to assess our progress, think about the future, and develop solutions to our challenges using the wisdom of the community.
Cindy Benedict is the community engagement manager for the City of Noblesville. She may be reached at 770-2007 or [email protected].
