{"id":9623,"date":"2024-04-03T10:42:15","date_gmt":"2024-04-03T14:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/?p=9623"},"modified":"2026-04-28T12:57:52","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T16:57:52","slug":"montgomery-plannings-approach-to-engagement-audience-centric-data-driven-and-focused-on-building-trust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/2024\/04\/montgomery-plannings-approach-to-engagement-audience-centric-data-driven-and-focused-on-building-trust\/","title":{"rendered":"Montgomery Planning\u2019s approach to engagement: audience-centric, data driven, and focused on building trust"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Bridget Broullire, Acting Deputy Director <\/em>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Community feedback is foundational to developing successful, sustainable plans. Combined with internal and external expertise and data sources, community feedback significantly informs our planning recommendations. However, stakeholder input has sometimes historically flowed from just a small portion of the community with the time and resources to participate in the process. That often led to communities of color, non-native English speakers, low-income residents, and others being excluded or marginalized from having their voices heard in community planning.<\/p>\n

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As part of its equitable engagement, Montgomery Planning hosts a variety of community events and meetings to interact with members of the public and share and receive information.<\/p><\/div>\n

Montgomery Planning\u2019s updated approach leverages a more equitable, transparent, and effective community outreach and engagement process to reverse historical trends and make it easy for all residents, business owners, property owners and leaders to understand and take part in the planning process. Gathering perspectives from a wide range of community members and stakeholders during the master-planning process is critical to developing recommendations that will contribute to more equitable and livable communities in Montgomery County.<\/p>\n

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It is critical that we take an equitable approach because our planning recommendations rely on community input in addition to the expertise of our planners and data sources. Source: Montgomery Planning\u2019s Equitable Engagement Guide<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Our Updated Approach<\/h2>\n

Our approach to engagement is defined by our values, informed by data, and grounded in best practices. In 2020, Montgomery Planning developed the Equity Agenda for Planning<\/a>, which serves as the foundation for our approach to equity and calls on us to\u00a0 include historically marginalized residents and stakeholders in planning, implementing, and evaluating proposed policies or projects.\u00a0 The Equity Agenda for Planning defines our ongoing commitment to systemically dismantle the institutional and structural racism that exists in \u2013 and\u00a0has long influenced \u2013 planning and zoning processes and to prevent that influence in the future.<\/p>\n

The following principles guide our approach to equity:<\/p>\n