The Library's Role in Citywide Community Engagement

After seeing the success of the Harwood Community Conversations at the Largo Public Library, the City of Largo (FL) decided to use the same methodology to change up its citizen engagement process.  Fifteen "kitchen table conversations" took place in March 2015, ten meetings for invited groups and five meetings open to the public.  Some City Department Heads were chosen to be facilitators in the process and library staff was tapped to be the note takers.  The Largo City Commission asked to include a diverse group of citizens that may not have been heard from in the past.  There were over 130 participants and each were sent a thank you letter from Mayor Woody Brown for being part of the conversation. They will continue to receive information about the results via the city website. The facilitators' team reported to the commission in April and with their input, are making strides to create the small pockets of change that will move the city forward.

The "Mad Lib" method was used to write the summary below after facilitators and note takers met to discuss the themes:

Largo residents, business owners, and adjacent residents want Largo to be well maintained, accessible, and inclusive. The word safe was used often in the community conversations, sometimes to indicate a greater police presence, but often to describe cohesive neighborhoods. People want the city to have a clear identity that can be used to clarify boundaries, celebrate outstanding services, and stop the drive thru that Largo has become. In many conversations there was a strong interest in having a thriving downtown that is a destination for both residents and visitors. There is support for engaging youth and families with more things to do, and by encouraging businesses and restaurants to open that appeal to young people and families. Some notable impediments standing in the way of achieving these goals are a lack of communication, coordinated civic involvement and poor support for small businesses. Communication meant different things to the groups, including overcoming language barriers, utilizing a variety of tools to communicate and building relationships in the community. People would like to see improvement in marketing the city's programs and services, but equally felt there is a need to work on the relationship between the city departments and the community, including businesses. One of the top priorities for participants, is to live in an attractive city. In some instances, they even stated that increased code enforcement would be an idea they support. Two groups feel strongly that Largo needs to be more inclusive, and that was echoed by other groups as part of an overall aspiration for the city to be friendly and welcoming too. Accessibility was discussed on many occasions and is described as walk-able, bike friendly, and envisioned as contained activity centers in which participants can park and shop or partake in activities. There was recognition in the groups that the city can't do any of this alone. Volunteerism was mentioned in many of the discussions. Some saw the city as the spark to create more civic involvement. A program in which volunteers can help their neighbors was thought to be a great way to achieve some of the overarching themes that came through in these talks. Most groups agreed that small group conversations were a great way to start working on community priorities.