Willoughby City Council - Community Voice Panel

Project Overview:

Willoughby City Council engaged Captivate Consulting to design and deliver a bespoke community engagement program to support the development of a new initiative, the Willoughby Community Voice Panel (CVP).

The CVP will provide a more consistent, inclusive, and community-led approach to local decision-making by inviting everyday residents, workers, and students to give feedback on Council strategies, plans, and projects. Captivate was engaged to help establish the first 100-person registration pool for the panel and to design, with community input, a process to recruit 100 more members and support long-term engagement success.

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Objective:

The project aimed to:

  1. Raise awareness and interest in the Community Voice Panel
  2. Engage under-represented and typically disengaged groups using targeted, innovative and accessible engagement tactics
  3. Involve the community in designing a community-led recruitment approach to build a broader and more diverse membership base
  4. Identify barriers to participation and plan an approach to overcome them

Our Role:

Captivate Consulting was responsible for development of the campaign strategy, design of communications materials, recruitment of participants and delivery of all engagement activities in the Community Voice Panel campaign. This included:

  • Designing and implementing a comprehensive promotional strategy to raise awareness of the CVP and drive registrations, including:
    • Print and digital collateral
    • Guerrilla marketing with chalk stencils and mystery QR code posters
    • Targeted letterbox drops and school-based outreach
    • A dedicated Have Your Sage webpage
    • Development of pop-up engagement and deliberative forum activities and resources
  • Managing the recruitment process for the deliberative forum process including participant screening, participant selection guided by census data benchmarks and the onboarding of selected participants.
  • Facilitation of:
    • 5 x community pop-ups
    • 2 x deliberative forums with a 23-person participant group
  • Produced a comprehensive Engagement Outcomes Report and Community Voice Panel recruitment materials for Council handover.
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Outcome:

This consultation period has developed a strong foundation for the launch of the Willoughby Community Voice Panel and laid the groundwork for long-term engagement success.

Key outcomes include:

  • Achieved an approximate reach of 18,082 across the Stage One promotional phase (May 22 – June 19).
  • 107 expressions of interest for the Community Voice Panel in the Stage One promotional phase.
  • A diverse group of deliberative forum participants collaboratively developed an action plan for community-led recruitment.
  • Successful targeted engagement with under-represented groups in engagement, specifically youth participation.
  • Detailed analysis of under-represented groups with recommendations for engaging these groups in the future.
  • A refined scope for the Community Voice Panel format, shaped by community insights.
  • The successful onboarding and implementation of the Community Voice Panel now allow for consultation on projects, managed internally by Council.

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