Reflecting on a year of community engagement

A photo collage of Stuckless Consulting Inc. engagement activities in 2024.

Last week (December 12), I hosted my last in-person engagement activity for 2024, and it has me feeling reflective. This year was a big year for in-person community engagement and outreach for me.

Stuckless Consulting Inc. hosted 40 engagement activities and connected directly with 1,980+ people about projects related to active transportation, shared micromobility, and municipal programming. It was a lot of work, and a lot more travel than I have done in years, but it’s rewarding to connect with people about what they want and need. It’s also really fun to be out and about in communities across the country.

What We Did

Engagements this year included an emphasis on community pop-ups, where we try to meet people where they are. There were 15 community pop-ups across 4 projects, including pop-ups at parks, libraries, grocery stores, community events, festivals and malls. Pop-ups are a great way of letting people know that a project is underway, and connecting with people who may not otherwise be reached through standalone meetings and online engagement. I find the feedback at pop-ups to be really insightful and often quite positive as people are generally happy you took the time to come out and ask for their input.

Pop-up at a community event.

I also really enjoyed hosting listening sessions and focus groups in 2024. There were 18 listening sessions and focus groups across 5 projects, including sessions with accessibility groups, diversity, equity and inclusion committees, community leaders, and food bank clients. These can be particularly informative early in a project to inform engagement next steps, or to focus in on specific engagement questions with key audiences later on.

A first for me in 2024 was coordinating 3 Public Information Centres (PICs). These more formal public input sessions were a great learning opportunity, and there are at least 5 more for me on the horizon in 2025.

Pop-up at a playground.

Another 2024 highlight was getting back to my professional roots of school travel planning when I hosted 4 in-school workshops to get student feedback about active travel. I had a great time with these, and I hope the students did too. Youth feedback is so important, especially when we are making plans that impact their mobility today and over the next 30+ years.

Pop-up at a community festival.

Thank you

A huge thanks to all of my community engagement and outreach clients this year, including partners at O2 Planning + Design and WSP Canada who subcontracted Stuckless Consulting Inc. to lead and / or support engagement activities in 2024.

It’s a pleasure to partner with clients to connect with community members to gather input and inform local policies and programs. I’m proud of the reach we have helped to facilitate for various projects this year, and I am looking forward to more community engagement in 2025.

If you’re interested in working together on engagement and outreach, let’s chat!