Outreach and Engagement
The below guides and toolkits provide guidance on how to conduct outreach and engagement for bike and pedestrian projects that is accessible, equitable and community-centered.
Virtual Public Involvement: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic (2022)
During the COVID-19 pandemic, transportation agencies' most used public-engagement tools were virtual public meetings, social media, dedicated project websites or webpages, email blasts, and electronic surveys. As the pandemic subsides, virtual and hybrid models continue to provide opportunities and challenges.
The TRB National Cooperative Highway Research Program's NCHRP Web-Only Document 349: Virtual Public Involvement: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic discusses gaps that need to be addressed so that transportation agencies can better use virtual tools and techniques to facilitate two-way communication with the public.
Applying the Safe System Approach to Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety webinar (CPBST, 2022)
In this Focus Cities webinar, the Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Training Program team shares their experiences utilizing the adapted Safe System Approach in their work, resources they have created for the communities they work in, and where they’d like to see the Safe System Approach grow in the future.
Principles for Equitable Public Outreach and Engagement During COVID-19 and Beyond (Nelson Nygaard, 2019)
Our work in the transportation and planning sector is critical, perhaps now more than ever, to respond and adapt to changing travel demand during the pandemic as well as to help communities recover after it has passed. It is equally critical that we ensure inclusive, equitable, and diverse public outreach and engagement as part of the important decision-making processes ahead—whether for real-time responses to the pandemic, existing projects, or future transportation funding and planning scenarios.
The following guidance is intended to provide fellow transportation sector practitioners and partners with a set of principles for inclusive engagement, including baseline equity criteria to consider when selecting an engagement strategy and accompanying tools whether analogue and/or digital.
Community Walking Club Toolkit (LA DPH)
The Community Walking Club Toolkit is designed to provide individuals, organizations and community groups information on the health benefits of walking, and to encourage and promote the use of physical activity into your daily routine. Each week, you’ll receive a health promotion tip on a different topic related to walking.
Dignity Infused Community Engagement (Vision Zero LA)
The Vision Zero Dignity-Infused Community Engagement (DICE) approach is a cross-sector effort to center community members in the Vision Zero planning process from the beginning; weaving all perspectives and lived experiences into the technical planning process. Vision Zero is the City’s effort to implement policies, programs, and projects that help eliminate traffic-related deaths in Los Angeles. Beyond promoting an initiative, the dignity-infused planning process is an expansive approach to community engagement that seeks to heal and atone for the negative impacts of systems and practices within Los Angeles as well as the broader field of Transportation Planning.
Public Participation Guide (EPA)
This guide provides a primer in public participation. It is designed with government agencies in mind, to help those who must manage processes where public input is important to decision-making. It is organized to provide you with a clear overview of important considerations in the design and implementation of a meaningful public participation program, while incorporating fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, sexual orientation or income.