Community conversations are essential to the broad public engagement necessary to inspire leaders for the hard work ahead in developing and implementing action plans for the Detroit Region’s highest priorities. These conversations are key to the vetting of concerns; enriching the scope of priorities and strategies; stimulating early and sustained interest in the planning process; tapping into new leadership; and broadening ownership of the final plan. In other words, community conversations are really the beginning of public engagement, not a one-shot activity that will leave stakeholders wondering what Design Regional Detroit did with their insights.

Community conversations are intended to engage many sectors, including business, education, health care, civic and community-based organizations, the faith community, and government. Conversations will also occur in every county of the region. The resources available to support community conversations will be used to assure a balance of participation across the sectors and across the geographic span of the region. Resource and time constraints may prevent us from engaging all who volunteer to hold community conversations. Those who do not will still be able to offer their perspectives through the questionnaire on the DRD website.

Throughout the region, leaders will be encouraged to convene a small group of their peers to discuss the region’s assets, challenges, and priorities. These conversations can coincide with a regularly scheduled meeting, unless group members prefer otherwise. Hosts will include local chambers of commerce; professional associations; nonprofit and foundation groups; labor organizations; education groups, including students; civic groups, such as Rotary, the NAACP, and faith-based councils; and health care, educational, entrepreneurial, and industry-specific groups of leaders. At the conclusion of the community conversations, participants will be invited to provide their contact information so they can be involved in subsequent phases of DRD.

The community conversations will improve planning by:

• Involving people with diverse and sometimes divergent perspectives
• Tapping into more information, insight, counsel, and criticism
• Identifying barriers to building a regional consensus and outlook

The community conversations aim to build the pool of potential regional leaders from the beginning of the initiative. By threading throughout the planning process methods to not only engage the community but also mobilize regional leadership in communities, Design Regional Detroit will generate with one process a sound set of priorities and a larger pool of leaders to champion those priorities.

Community leaders who convene and facilitate community conversations will need to participate in a training session where they will receive guidelines and tools that will make it easy to hold a community conversation. In some cases, the convener will also facilitate the conversation; in other cases the convener may identify another individual to facilitate the conversation.

As of March 1, community conversations are being scheduled across the region.