September 20, 2005

SUBJECT: Setting a Vision for Community Building and Engagement; Results from June 2005 Community Building Workshop

REPORT IN BRIEF

The City’s community building initiative was launched in FY2001/02 to encourage participation by Sunnyvale community members in the activities and decisions of local government and the community.  Community engagement encourages a strong sense of community, which is important to a city because it contributes directly to the quality of life, and helps to attract and retain residents, as well as new businesses and other types of investments.  Equally important, as noted in the Community Participation Sub-Element of the City’s General Plan, community member involvement also enables a city to effectively meet the needs if its residents.

In 2002, as part of the initiative, Council developed a draft vision statement for Sunnyvale as an engaged community, but also expressed a desire that community members be given an opportunity to provide their vision of community engagement.  In order to gather that input, staff scheduled a community workshop for 2003, but the workshop was delayed by the budget crisis. Following a staff report on the status of community engagement in January 2005, Council directed that the community workshop be held.  The purpose of this report is to summarize the workshop’s outcomes, and provide a proposed vision to guide Sunnyvale’s future community engagement efforts. 

Staff recommends that Council accept the proposed vision, and that further community building and engagement efforts be incorporated in the FY2006/07 operating budget structure proposed for Council’s consideration.

BACKGROUND

The City’s community building initiative was launched in FY2001/02. The project team included the Assistant City Manager and the directors of the City’s five service delivery departments:  Parks and Recreation, Public Works, Public Safety, Library, and Community Development.  The initiative focused in two areas:  1) improving the City’s communications to community members, and 2) encouraging participation by community members in the activities and decisions of local government and the community. In July 2002, after conducting best practices research, the team presented their findings to Council at a Council workshop. At the workshop, Council proposed the following vision of successful community engagement in Sunnyvale: 

·         Better informed, and more engaged community members

·         Higher attendance at Council meetings

·         Higher voter turnout

·         More resident input on issues

·         Equitably treated neighborhoods

·         More involved neighborhoods

·         Higher community engagement in community events and activities

·         Higher satisfaction levels with City government

Council also suggested that community members be given an opportunity to provide input on their own vision of an engaged Sunnyvale community.  Staff proposed, and Council concurred, that a community workshop be held for this purpose.  That workshop was originally scheduled for 2003, but was put on hold due to the budget crisis. However, in January 2005, following a staff report to Council on the City’s community outreach efforts, Council directed that the workshop go forward.  Consistent with Council’s original direction, the workshop’s purpose was to gather community members’ input on their vision of an engaged community, and a list of priority actions to achieve that vision. 

The half-day workshop, held June 18, 2005 was facilitated by Derek Okubo, Vice President of the National Civic League. Including task force members, 68 community members attended.  As the attached workshop agenda indicates, during the workshop participants developed a community vision of an engaged community, evaluated current community engagement practices, developed new action options, and identified priority actions.

As Attachment B, Workshop Evaluations Summary indicates, the workshop was well received and valued by attending community members.

EXISTING POLICY

Community Participation Sub Element:

7.2A  Achieve a community in which citizens and businesses are informed about local issues and City programs and services.

Goal 7.2B   Achieve a community in which citizens and businesses are actively involved in shaping the quality of life and participate in local community and government activities.

Goal 7.2C Assure that City services, programs, and policy decisions are responsive to community input and feedback while recognizing the limits to the City’s ability to expand municipal services.

Goal 7.2D       Assure that all citizens have reasonable access to City information, services, programs, policy makers and staff.

Goal 7.2E  Create a strong, positive community identify.

DISCUSSION

In March 2005 the Mayor invited the chairpersons of the City’s boards and commissions (or their designees) to serve on the workshop’s Planning Task Force. The final planning task force included representatives from seven of the City’s boards or commissions, as follows:

Arts Commission - Robert Obrey
Board of Building Code Appeals - Darab Ghaffary

Heritage Preservation - Brian McQueen

Housing and Human Services - Nancy Smith

Parks and Recreation - Howard Chuck

Library Board of Trustees - Jackie Harrison (former member)

Planning Commission - Chris Moylan

As indicated in RTC #02-508, Options for Gathering Community Feedback for the Connected Communities/Seamless Services Initiative, the planning task force was charged with identifying and recruiting a group of 30-40 participants from the community, developing the workshop’s process logistics, assisting in "getting the word out," and developing recommendations to Council. Task force members also acted as small-group facilitators during the workshop.

Workshop Outcomes

As the attached agenda indicates, workshop participants developed answers to the following questions:

• What is your vision of Sunnyvale as an engaged community? 
• Where does Sunnyvale currently do a good job?
• What actions can we take to better engage the community?
• What are the priority action items we should be taking? 

Vision of Sunnyvale as an Engaged Community. 

Workshop participants listed more than 100 characteristics of an engaged community, as identified in Attachment C, Vision of Sunnyvale as an Engaged Community. Following the workshop, the task force further sorted the 100-plus items into themes, as was begun during the workshop.  The ten themes are listed below (according to the number of characteristics identified at the workshop that “belonged” to that theme, which is identified in parenthesis). A description of each theme is provided. These themes, taken together, provide a summary vision of an engaged community.  Following each vision theme are the relevant action items identified at the workshop.  Workshop participants also identified the priority action items, which are listed in bold.   

Vision Theme 1: Community members stay informed and take action (23)  

     Community engagement requires opportunities for engagement and community members who are willing to become responsibly engaged.  This process requires community members to find and review information, think about their positions on relevant issues, and take appropriate action to address those issues.

Action Items:

·         Form advisory groups on issues of interest

·         Provide free wireless hot-spot within the City

Vision Theme 2:  Residents and City officials communicate effectively (22)  

          Underscores the importance of responsible, civil, and courteous dialogue between residents and City officials.

Action Items:

·         Make the City’s web site more user friendly

·         Use the Internet to disseminate information

·         Proactively communicate with residents before issues arise

·         Provide forums for community members to meet informally and regularly with Council members (especially more casual venues)

·         Town Hall meetings -- In addition to the “citizens to be heard” segment of the City Council meeting, have a regularly scheduled meeting offered to the public (ex. 1^st Saturday of the month), where residents express their thoughts and concerns to the City Council, boards, and commissions, like when the congressional representative has a “town hall meeting” or “caucus”

·         Have more group meetings including both residents and government reps like this [the Community Building Workshop] focusing on key issues – Sunnyvale town center, parks and recreation usage, etc.

·         Hold neighborhood group meetings with participation, including city officials, to discuss key city issues – this to create additional input at a “grass roots” level.

·         Provide weekly info; Quarterly Report not enough

·         Form advisory groups on challenging issues

·         Hold town meetings in various parts of the community

Vision Theme 3:  Residents know how to get things done (10)  

          Community members understand how their local government works, and how to work effectively with government to achieve their goals.

Action Items:

·         Expand the CitySkills class

·         Reach people by personal contact before they get upset.

·         Educate residents about how the City works. Perhaps over TV.

·         Inform residents about how to get info: e.g. cable, speakers bureau, etc.

·         Market and publicize in a coherent way what the options for citizens are for involvement and training, and disseminate to all groups.

Vision Theme 4:  Strong sense of place (9)  

          Underscores the importance of identifying Sunnyvale as a unique place of which community members can be proud.

Action Items:

·         Post more community event banners

·         Keep non-political special events

·         Pay attention to all geographical areas (e.g. north side)

·         Provide space for community gardens

Vision Theme 5:  Community members volunteer (8)

          Community members give their time, without payment, for civic and   community activities.

Action Item:

·         Inform community members about how to get involved at different levels of time commitments

Vision Theme 6:  Residents, City, and businesses collaborate (8) 

Constituencies work together and communicate effectively to achieve community goals.

Action Items:

·         Survey every resident

·         Explore expanding the flexibility of the City’s online calendar to integrate local community activities and personal calendar applications

·         Provide more business/resident communications through the City

·         Schedule City meetings to accommodate those who work days

·         City square – post notices; hold more concerts, Plaza del Sol and others; speakers’ corner

·         Allow inexpensive access to space/facilities for community dialogue

·         Structure responsiveness and flexibility into policy and procedures

·         Make Leadership Sunnyvale more accessible

·         Market and publicize the options for resident involvement and training, and disseminate to groups

Vision Theme 7:  Diverse participation (7)

Refers to civic participation by community members representing all geographical, ethnic, economic, and age groups.

Action Items:

None identified

Vision Theme 8:  Residents learn about issues/candidates and vote (7)

     Voters attend candidates’ nights and vote on election days.

Action Items:

·         Provide engagement options for teens/youth

·         Provide City information in different languages

·         Provide more cross-generational interaction

·         Invite youth ages 16-22 to apply to attend commission, government, library, etc., meetings as non-voting participants

·         Work to welcome input from a diverse set of citizens

·         Make information available indifferent languages

·         Encourage diversity and participation in city’s service organizations

Vision Theme 9:  Involved neighborhoods (7)  

      Degree to which community members take ownership of, and participate      in, the quality of life of their neighborhoods.

Action Items:

·         Provide info on how to start a neighborhood association

·         Support a local parade that includes local schools and community groups

·         Encourage neighborhoods to hold annual social events

·         Encourage block parties

·         Pay more attention to all geographical parts of the city

·         Assist neighborhoods using the internet

Vision Theme 10:   Trust (2)  

Community members regard public officials and staff as being honest and acting in the community’s best interest.

Action Items:

None identified

Where does Sunnyvale currently do a good job?

The following items were listed as areas in which Sunnyvale currently does well in engaging community members (not categorized; not in priority order):

• Services supporting neighborhood associations
• KSUN-15 coverage of Council and other meetings
• Service groups (Rotary, etc.) engage citizens
• Indian community positively engages Indian community
• Library outreach addresses needs of community
• Volunteers for library
• Library – diverse users, answers needs, belongs to community and diverse services
• Festivals – Hand on the Arts, Art & Wine, Health & Safety Fair, and Farmers Market
• Churches and schools, Sunnyvale Community Services

Task Force Thoughts and Observations

Following the workshop, the task force developed the following feedback, representative of the task force as a whole, for Council consideration (not in priority order):

• The City should review its publications for communication and cost effectiveness.
• Consider the costs of implementing new activities, given the City’s financial hardships. A modest start-up effort is appropriate.
• The City should continue to explore greater coverage of local issues by the Sunnyvale Sun.
• Engagement with local government is only one form of civic engagement.  There are many other ways that Sunnyvale residents are engaged with their communities, including volunteering with schools, children’s sports, etc.
• The vision theme with the most items listed, “Community members stay informed and take action” is not one that the City can directly affect. What the City can do is to make information accessible, provide training on the City’s processes and structure, encourage and welcome civic participation, and provide a variety of opportunities.
• Hands on the Arts is an excellent event, and adds real value to the Sunnyvale community building a sense of community through family activity.
• Communication is important. The Council can take the lead by letting people know that they are listened to. This does not mean that everything suggested by the citizens is done, but that citizens’ concerns are truly heard before a decision is made. 
• While the Community Building Workshop was well received, a similar event should only be held if the City can show progress on community building and on the action items identified at the June 2005 workshop.
• The Quarterly Report is a valuable tool for information dissemination.  Not all community members have access to the Internet, so traditional forms of communication are important.
• Sunnyvale’s excellent parks contribute to Sunnyvale’s sense of place.
• Priority areas of focus should be:

1.      Developing a measure for how effectively community members and City officials communicate;

2.      Publicizing the proposed action items which are already done by the City (i.e. How to Start a Neighborhood Association packet, community e-mail lists for City events and activities, etc.).

Staff Thoughts and Observations

The primary goal of the workshop was to provide Council with input from the community of Sunnyvale as an engaged community. The vision provided at the workshop largely concurs with the vision Council had identified in 2002. Both visions are listed in the following table:

Based on this input, staff drafted the following proposed vision statement for community engagement in Sunnyvale:

“Residents, businesses, community organizations and City officials, representing Sunnyvale’s rich diversity, are active participants in the community. Working together, community members maintain a high quality of life in all Sunnyvale neighborhoods by staying informed about significant issues, communicating effectively, voting, and contributing to community life.”

FISCAL IMPACT

There is no fiscal impact to this report. 

Conclusion

The workshop enabled Council to get input from community members about their vision of an engaged Sunnyvale community and possible actions toward achieving this vision. There was widespread agreement about the importance of civic and community engagement to the quality of life, recognition that many Sunnyvale community members are already engaged in a variety of ways, and a sense of enthusiasm about moving toward even greater community engagement in Sunnyvale. 

PUBLIC CONTACT

Public contact was made through posting of the Council agenda in public places, on the City’s web page, and the publication of the general business/public hearing items in the San Jose Mercury News.  A copy of this RTC was distributed to all Board and Commission members to encourage their comments and suggestions to Council in advance of, or at, the September 20 public hearing.

ALTERNATIVES

1.  Council accepts this report, and staff’s proposed vision of an engaged community:

2. Council directs the City Manager to incorporate community building and engagement in the City’s FY2006/07 operating budget structure proposed for Council’s consideration.

3. Accept the staff report, no further action.
4. Other action as directed by Council.

RECOMMENDATION

1. Council accepts this report, and staff’s proposed vision of an engaged community: 

“Residents, businesses, community organizations and City officials, representing Sunnyvale’s rich diversity, are active participants in the community. Working together, community members maintain a high quality of life in all Sunnyvale neighborhoods by staying informed about significant issues, communicating effectively, voting, and contributing to community life.”

2.  Council directs the City Manager to incorporate community building and engagement in the development of the City’s FY2006/07 operating budget structure proposed for Council’s consideration.

Staff’s recommendation is consistent with Council direction in January 2005 following presentation to Council of RTC #05-015, Update on City-Wide Community Building Initiative.  The recommendations prioritize community building efforts in Sunnyvale, but appropriately delay specific actions until completion of relevant 2005 study issues:

·         Explore Community Support for Community Events

·         Grant Program for Neighborhoods

·         Establish a Former Mayors' Taskforce  to Implement Fundraising Events

·         RTC Posting and/or Agenda Noticing Timelines for City Council Agenda Items

·         Shop Sunnyvale Discount Card for Neighborhood Organizations

·         Places of Assembly Located Within Industrial and Commercial Zones

·         Socio-Economic Element Update

·         Explore the Costs and Benefits of Declaring the Second Saturday in August as “Family Day” and Open Recreation Facilities to the Entire Community

·         Consider New Policies to Reduce or Waive Fees for Community Use of City Recreation Buildings for Specific Types of Events

The recommendations also provide clear direction for staff about the community engagement vision that Council would like the City to work toward.  Specific strategies, action plans, and measures for achieving the vision (taking into consideration the priority strategies identified at the workshop and by the task force), would be addressed in the FY2006/07 proposed operating budget. This approach will provide program flexibility, sufficient time for planning and development of appropriate activities, and resource-leveraging opportunities City-wide.

Reviewed by:

Robert Walker, Assistant City Manager
Prepared by: Coryn Campbell
Manager, Neighborhood and Community Resources

Approved by:

Amy Chan
City Manager

Attachments (pdf)

Attachment A, Community Engagement Workshop Agenda

Attachment B, Workshop Evaluations Summary

Attachment C, Vision of Sunnyvale as an Engaged Community