A recent Next City article argues that community engagement is not only a democratic responsibility but also a fiscal necessity. TPMA’s Economic Development team recently discussed the article and shares their insights below:
Based on our experience as economic development and planning consultants, Next City’s framing of community engagement is accurate. Meaningful engagement acts as both a risk-mitigation strategy and an economic development tool. It is not just an input for planning; it is a central system that enables better decision-making.
We see a consistent pattern across both rural and urban communities. Those who effectively and earnestly engage with their communities spend smarter, build trust more quickly, and implement solutions more successfully. Those that don’t often face higher costs, louder opposition, and stalled progress.
How communities engage matters just as much as whether they engage at all. This is especially true when issues are complex, politically sensitive, or likely to provoke divisive perspectives.
Consultants often act as neutral facilitators, creating structured spaces for honest dialogue, which is important for individuals who are hesitant to participate or have historically felt excluded or unheard. Once completed, a high-quality engagement process reveals viable ideas and solutions that might never surface without the proper structure, tone, and facilitation.
Engagement Reveals Nuance No Dataset Can Capture
While data is still essential, it is often lagging, incomplete, or unreliable, especially in small, rural, or rapidly changing communities. Engagement helps confirm whether quantitative findings really reflect current conditions and lived experiences.
Hundreds of facilitated conversations with residents, business owners, nonprofit leaders, institutional partners, and local officials have shown us that authentic engagement reveals insights that no dataset can provide on its own.
And, while technology and AI can summarize engagement data or model scenarios, they cannot replicate the trust, empathy, and contextual understanding that develop through guided, consistent, and good-faith human conversation.
When people feel safe sharing their experiences, plans become more grounded, realistic, and actionable. This “safe space” effect does more than enhance conversation quality. It offers a layer of protection for participants who may fear that sharing honest opinions could risk their professional reputation or public image. In many communities, people remain silent not because they lack ideas, but because they are trying to navigate environments where there could be political or workplace repercussions. Thoughtful engagement design enables people to speak truthfully without risking their standing—an easily overlooked but vital part of effective planning.
The Fiscal Cost of Weak Engagement Is Real
Communities facing mistrust, budget backlash, or resistance to new development or structural change suffer the consequences of inadequate engagement, both in quantity and quality. Too often, engagement is inconsistent, reactive, or disconnected from decision-making, leaving residents unsure if their input truly matters.
Effective engagement requires regular feedback. When residents see how their perspectives are considered alongside their neighbors’, they are more likely to feel heard and to develop a better understanding of different priorities. This transparency is vital for reducing misinformation, garnering support, and preventing costly delays.
Local governments, however, often face constraints due to limited staff and competing demands. Maintaining meaningful outreach can also be politically sensitive, resource-heavy, or risky. This is where a collaborative approach, partnering with trusted community organizations, becomes crucial.
Economic and community development organizations, other nonprofits, neighborhood groups, faith-based organizations, and educational institutions are often eager to help but not always empowered to do so.
With a solid strategy, these partnerships can expand reach, enhance legitimacy, and create continuity that government alone cannot provide.
Clarifying the Purpose of Engagement Improves Outcomes
One of the most common challenges we see is that engagement is viewed as a single activity instead of a collection of tools meant for different goals. Clear purpose enhances both effectiveness and efficiency. Methodologies include:
- Public Engagement
Broad-based outreach designed to surface community perceptions, identify emerging trends, and build awareness around policy changes, planning efforts, or significant investments. - Collaborative Partner Engagement
Structured dialogue among organizations, institutions, and leaders whose missions intersect. These conversations often spark new partnerships as participants recognize shared goals and opportunities for alignment. - Information-Gathering and Co-Creation
Directly incorporating community insight into decision-making or inviting residents and stakeholders to help shape solutions collaboratively. - Educational Outreach
Providing clear information about policies, processes, timelines, and constraints, helping the public understand not just what is happening, but how decisions are made and what the government can and cannot do.
Our engagement practices frequently combine these methodologies. Educational outreach is important not just for public engagement, but for more targeted stakeholder sessions as well. And while communities’ instincts are often focused on key stakeholders for input on strategies and policy initiatives, it’s important to ensure the public has a chance to weigh in on the direction of their community whenever possible.
However, every combination isn’t needed in every circumstance. Choosing the wrong engagement approach for the project wastes time and money. Choosing the right one builds understanding, trust, and momentum.
Engagement Builds Legitimacy; Legitimacy Builds Efficiency
When engagement is carried out effectively, it enhances the legitimacy of public decisions. As residents become aware of fiscal constraints, regulatory requirements, and competing priorities, they develop a greater understanding of the trade-offs faced by local governments.
This legitimacy reduces friction, accelerates implementation, and stabilizes long-term results.
Engagement shifts from a procedural checkbox to a cost-saving measure, minimizing opposition and increasing the chances that plans move from paper to action.
Communities Need Long-Term Engagement Plans, Not One-Off Events
Engagement frequently fades once a plan is completed, undermining the trust and momentum built during the process. Increasingly, communities are recognizing the need for sustained engagement systems, and seek out resources such as:
- Practical engagement toolkits with templates and facilitation guidance.
- Train-the-trainer models that build internal and local capacity.
- Scalable engagement approaches aligned with available resources.
- Post-plan technical assistance to support early implementation.
These approaches help institutionalize engagement rather than letting it fade away when a consultant leaves.
The Language and Value of Engagement
Finally, how engagement is described influences how it is experienced. Terms like “stakeholder engagement” can seem abstract or transactional. Communities respond more positively when engagement is framed around collaboration, dialogue, and shared purpose.
It’s equally important to address the question residents often implicitly ask: Why should I participate? When people understand how their input will be used and what benefits are derived from engaging, participation becomes more meaningful and lasting.
Our Takeaway
Community engagement is not a mere addition to planning; it is an essential part of fiscal, strategic, and operational efforts. The communities most likely to succeed in the long run are those that view engagement not as a one-time event or requirement, but as a continuous relationship and ongoing commitment to listening, learning, and collaborating with the people they serve. That relationship is the basis for trust, smarter investments, and lasting results.