Fairfax County: Sustaining a Culture of Engagement

1. Fairfax County:
SUSTAINING A
CULTURE OF ENGAGEMENT
Greg Licamele, Office of Public Affairs, Feb. 7, 2012
1

2. Today’s Presentation/Discussion
Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
1. Three ways we engage
2. Ideas for new ways to engage
At any time, your thoughts/comments
and discussion
2

3. Creating a Culture of Engagement
Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
 “Individuals enhance community life by
participating in and supporting civic groups,
discussion groups, public-private
partnerships and other activities that seek to
understand and address community needs
and opportunities.
As a result, residents feel that they can make
a difference and work in partnership with
others to understand and address pressing
public issues.”
-- Fairfax County Vision Element
3

4. 1.) Issue Engagement
Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
 All of the ways county government seeks input
through public meetings, workshops, surveys,
online forms and other public participation tools
4

5. Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
 Budget
Issue Engagement
5

6. Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
 Tysons
Issue Engagement
6

7. Issue Engagement
Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
 2010 Snow Summit
• 69 ideas submitted
• 1,468 votes
• 120 comments
7

8. Issue Engagement
Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
 Police Citizens Academy
8

9. Issue Engagement
Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
 Board Task Forces/Town Hall Meetings
 Boards, Authorities and Commissions
 Visioning Exercises
 District Town Hall Meetings
 Land Use: Special Studies, Colleges
 District Budget Groups
 And many, many more…
9

10. 2.) Customer Service Engagement
Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
 Many people only engage their government
for services and transactions:
 Phone
 Email
 Constituent letters
 Social media
 Website requests/services (pay taxes, etc.)
 Face-to-face
 and more…
10

11. Customer Service Engagement
Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
 Hundreds of people contact the county
everyday – What are they asking?
How are we responding?
 Coordinate our major department call
centers to ensure:
 Common messages
 Best practices
 Identify trends that need attention
11

12. Customer Service Engagement
Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
Wired Magazine: NYC 311 12

13. Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
Customer Service Engagement
13

14. Customer Service Engagement
Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
 893 department/program phone
numbers in online county phonebook
 Enhance 703-FAIRFAX
“Call, Email or Tweet 703FAIRFAX with
questions for your county government” 14

15. 3.) Emergency Engagement
Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
 Our responsibility to engage our public
before, during and after emergency
incidents:
 Snow/Ice
 Tropical Storms/Hurricanes
 Floods
 Terrorism
 Other Significant Incidents
15

16. Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
Emergency Engagement
16

17. Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
Emergency Engagement
17

18. Emergency Engagement
Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
 New
emergency
blog
18

19. Emergency Engagement
Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
 Facebook  Twitter
19

20. Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
Emergency Engagement
20

21. Three Types of Engagement
Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
Customer
Issue Emergency
Service
Continuum of Engagement
21

22. Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
Future of Engagement
22

23. Future of Engagement
Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
 We don’t want to do this…
23

24. Future of Engagement
Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
 How do we “reach beyond the choir” to
engage more people?
 Common barriers to issue engagement:
 Competing responsibilities
 Intimidated by public speaking
 Intimidated by venue
 Inconvenient location
 Transportation: lack of options and gridlock
 Home-bound
 Language
24

25. Future of Engagement
Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
 Develop comprehensive engagement plan?
25

26. Future of Engagement
Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
 Develop coordinated, common ways we
engage?
 Engagement template for departments
 Engagement template for BACs
 Elements and factors all engagement should include
 Outcome: Public would be engaged in a
coordinated, common way (The “Fairfax
Way”) – with staff using similar
principles/practices
26

27. Future of Engagement
Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
No central way to find engagement opportunities
(unlike centralized resources for customer service and emergencies)
?
Customer
Issue Emergency
Service
Continuum of Engagement
27

28. Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
Future of Engagement
28

29. Future of Engagement
Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
 Create centralized “Engagement Portal”
 One-stop-shop for all active issues open for
comment/participation
 Consider new tools other jurisdictions are
using to manage participation >>
29

30. Future of Engagement
Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
 Berkeley, CA
30

31. Future of Engagement
Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
 Norfolk, VA
31

32. Future of Engagement
Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
 Salt Lake City, UT
32

33. Future of Engagement
Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
 Salt Lake City, UT
33

34. Future of Engagement
Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
 Salt Lake City, UT
34

35. Future of Engagement
Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
 Use new tools: online discussions
 Open to any Board member, department
35

36. Future of Engagement
Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
 Day-to-day issues:
 Snow in Chicago
36

37. Future of Engagement
Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
 Educate and Engage
 Online “courses”?
 Fairfax County 101, 201, etc.
 Land Use College
 Tools and Techniques to Solve Neighborhood Issues
 Our Environment
 Dissecting the Dillon Rule
37

38. Future of Engagement: How?
Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
2011 Global Sales:
• Smartphones: 488 million
• Computers: 411 million
38

39. Retreat Day 1 Thoughts
 Engage diverse communities so we’re not
only hearing from the same people.
 We make better policy when more people
are involved.
 Location of Government Center
discourages participation for many.
 Young residents and older residents are a
challenge to engage. 39

40. Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
Sustaining a Culture of Engagement
 Questions?
 Ideas?
 Discussion?
Customer
 Engage!  Issue
Service
Emergency
Continuum of Engagement
40