Durham Strategic Plan Dashboard

Shared Economic
Prosperity

Create a Safer Community Together

Connected, Engaged, and Inclusive Communities

Innovative and High Performing Organization

Thriving and Vibrant Environment

Status Indicator: In Progress | On Hold | Complete/Ongoing

Initiative: 3.11 Assess and build innovative pathways that facilitate equitable community engagement

Connected, Engaged, & Inclusive Communities

Description

This effort will evaluate the City’s current engagement practices, identify opportunities for improvement, and outline new pathways to make equitable engagement a standard practice across the organization. The evaluation will produce recommendations on how to staff and train engagement roles, increase points of connection between staff and residents, and ensure that both community members and employees are well-informed about engagement opportunities. This evaluation will also help determine where existing structures, such as community boards, official City meetings, and ambassador programs, can be strengthened or reimagined to better support equitable resident participation in decision-making.

Key Measures & Data Analysis

Cumulative Engaged City attendance tracking is currently paused.

Staff continue to advance foundational engagement work, including finalizing resource library tools and preparing for staff capacity-building efforts such as International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) training.

Why is it important?

This initiative addresses the historic harm experienced by underrepresented and disproportionately impacted communities, much of which stemmed from exclusion in policy decisions. This initiative increases the City’s equitable engagement, resulting in equitable infrastructure, programs and services. With additional resources and expertise committed to improving engagement processes, we can reduce future harm, promote equity, and make Durham a community where all residents have an opportunity to a high quality of life.

What have we been doing?

Over the past six months, staff have focused on strengthening how the City designs and delivers community engagement so participation is equitable and connected to decision-making. Budget Community Conversations served as a key opportunity to test new engagement approaches and gather community input to inform budget priorities.

Key activities include:

Facilitating Budget Community Conversations to gather resident input.
Testing structured engagement methods and facilitation approaches.
Strengthening coordination and knowledge-sharing across departments.

What's next?

Work to institutionalize equitable engagement across the City will continue through the following activities:

Document Lessons Learned – Synthesizing insights from Budget Community Conversations to guide future engagement efforts.

Resource Library Development – Launching the first phase of a centralized library of engagement tools and guidance for staff.

Engagement Standards and Tools – Developing shared frameworks and practices for planning and evaluating engagement activities.

Staff Capacity Building – Expanding training and support opportunities to strengthen engagement skills across departments.

City Website Home Page: Durham, NC | Official Website (durhamnc.gov)
Budget Website Page: Budget & Management Services Department | Durham, NC (durhamnc.gov)

Budget and Management Services Department
Office of Performance and Innovation
Strategy and Performance Division