OutdoorNebraska

How do I promote healthy lifestyles? Public participation is a vital component of creating buy-in for promoting projects that will benefit healthy lifestyles, but it's difficult to know where to begin. It's all about starting with a vision. Creating your vision statement should define what you're trying to achieve and the purpose of the project. Once you have identified your vision, start thinking about your message to your stakeholders and why their involvement is important. Consider jotting down what exactly you're trying to achieve by involving stakeholders and the type of public participation you're looking for. Ask yourself the following questions: • Am I trying to inform them about decisions, consult them for their opinions about the decisions, involve them in the decision-making process, collaborate with them by getting their input throughout the entire decision-making process, or empower them to make decisions about the project? Each of these pieces require varying levels of public participation, and it's important to ask yourself what level of participation is relevant for your project. Once you've identified the level of participation appropriate for your project, consider the following questions. » Do I want a formal or informal public participation process? ‐ Formal (expensive) - Hire a firm to help you conduct surveys and gather input from constituents. ‐ Non-formal (typically free aside from labor and data crunching) - Ask your constituents for input in a non-formal meeting like a school gym or local café. » Do I want smaller focus groups, an advisory committee, and/or other form of stakeholders? » Do I want to have one-on-one sessions with individuals to gain input? » Do I want to have surveys done within the neighborhood at parks, should I go door-to-door, attend community events, go to organizations, or send an electronic survey? » Do I want stakeholders to assist in the longevity of the project (e.g. cleanup days, maintenance and fundraising campaigns)? How should I start planting that seed now through their input and engagement in the planning process? • Once you have identified why you need buy-in and public participation and the type of public participation you're interested in having for your outdoor recreation project, think about who should be involved in your planning process. Start by jotting down age groups and your intended users of the completed recreation project. • Now that you have a list, start reaching out to groups, businesses, stakeholders, and community leaders to start the public participation process. Don't forget to recognize "community champions" in your planning process - it's important to get people involved at the very onset of your planning efforts so they're bought into the process and can be a voice for helping get community or stakeholder buy-in throughout the project. Those stakeholders (community members, avid users of the space, donors, etc.) can advocate for success of the project. Check out the success story at West Point and how they created community champions for their trail system. 76 2 0 2 1 - 2 0 2 5 S TAT E W I D E C O M P R E H E N S I V E O U T D O O R R E C R E AT I O N P L A N HOW-TO DON'T FORGET!

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