ICMA's Program Excellence Award for Citizen Involvement recognizes successful strategies designed to inform citizens about the local government services available to them and to include citizens in the process of community decision making. The award concentrates on such areas as community consensus building and adult (nonstudent) citizenship education. In 2004 ICMA presented the award in the 50,000-and-greater population category to Hamilton County, Ohio, and County Administrator David J. Krings for the Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission COMPASS visioning process. This article describes how the county brought together a diverse constituency to develop a common vision, a process facilitated by community brainstorming and technology. Learn more about ICMA's Annual Awards program.
