It has never been easier to stay connected with others than it is today. You can call or text from your cell phone, send an email, Facebook message, Tweet, pin a picture on Pinterest, the list goes on! However, local governments are still looking for ways to reach the community and create a positive working relationship. This is much easier said than done but having a positive and effective relationship with the community can yield all sorts of  amazing benefits. These benefits can include increased public trust, more creative solutions to public problems, increased civic engagement, and even can help save you money!

To help you build a more positive relationship with your community check out these resources and start a discussion on the Knowledge Network Questions section to see what other local governments are doing! Learning from each other and staying up to date on best practices will help you make the most of your community relationship.

• Engaging Your Community: The Right and Smart Thing to Do! This article will break down what is important when it comes to community relations and citizen engagement and how you can cut through all the buzzwords and strengthen your relationship with the community effectively.
• Cool Ways to Engage Your Community: No Suited Consultants or Boring Town Hall Meetings This is the story of how the Suwanee City Council was able to think outside of the box when it comes to citizen engagement and build a strong relationship with the community through the strategic planning process.
• Palm Bay, FL Begins Telephone Town Hall Meetings Read about how this local government created a way for all residents to connect with town hall meetings as a way to strengthen the community’s relationship with the local government.
• E-Town Hall Meetings for a Budget  Reach more people with your town hall meetings by broadcasting them like the City of Colorado Springs, CO and allowing them to ask questions beforehand.
• Civility: The Art of Positive Dialogue Creating a positive dialogue goes a long way towards solving the challenges of that local governments and communities face. This blog post will show you how you can create a civic dialogue that will give your local government what they need from the community.
• Staying in Touch with Your Community Will show you how to get started when it comes to building a long lasting positive relationship with your community.
• Finally the Community Relations topic page has all the latest community relations blog posts, documents, questions, articles and more. Check back often since new material is being added every day!

If your local government has cultivated a strong positive relationship with your community please show us how by adding a document or blogging about it on the Knowledge Network! Contributors like you help keep the Knowledge Network great.

Best,

Robin Saywitz

ICMA Knowledge Network Intern

rsaywitz@icma.org