The city’s mission is to improve the lives of the people they serve, and its vision is to be the community of choice for residents, businesses, and employees. Additionally, the city’s Strategic Plan and Balanced Scorecard are designed to drive performance throughout the organization towards one common objective – improving the community experience. The results of these projects suggest numerous opportunities for advancing these priorities through engagement. Whether through technology or in person, engaging with residents of diverse backgrounds and ages is a critical success factor.In a time when people are busier than ever and technology has become integral to our everyday lives, adaptation is essential. Cities are no exception as they search for new ways to communicate with their residents and engage with their diverse populations. Communication streams must be accessible and relevant to this technological age; to this end, the City of Glendale aims to increase its community engagement across multiple generations and populations.
Students in PAF 509 investigated many creative strategies for Glendale’s consideration, all aimed at advancing the desire to harness multigenerational engagement. The most prominent strategies suggested include creating a community engagement committee, investing in or exploring the latest in technology, and leveraging the investment in the city’s new website. Creating a focus in these areas would create new opportunities for engaging residents. Students in this course explored various ideas for leveraging multigenerational engagement. One suggestion was to create a mobile application based on the CivicLive website, serving as a platform where residents could report issues, sign up to volunteer, and weigh in on local topics. Another idea explored was to survey millennial residents and spark formal and informal discussions between these residents and the city
officials.