Tips for Planning Commissioners and Board Members

As members of a planning commission or board, you have contributed an important voice in making your community a great place to live, work, and play. You have endured endless night meetings, fought tough battles, and formed life-long allies. It's time to celebrate these efforts by helping raise the visibility of planning in your community, and in turn, helping you push forward your agenda to fulfill your mission as members of a planning team. 

Use this October as an opportunity to help citizens, businesses, and politicians appreciate your work. Here are a few ideas: 

Celebrate National Community Planning Month in your community by:

Engaging in a public outreach campaign
Use the month as an opportunity to gather input and foster enthusiasm about a specific plan to improve a street or neighborhood in your community. Engage both developers and service organizations in the campaign. 

Suggesting a street or neighborhood for APA's Great Places in America program
Enter one street and one neighborhood in your city or town to be designated by APA as a Great Place in America. Ten streets and 10 neighborhoods will be announced each October during National Community Planning Month. Read about the program, and learn how to make a suggestion at www.planning.org/greatplaces.

Holding a neighborhood forum
Discuss the virtue of these great streets and neighborhoods and suggest ways that community members can help preserve and improve them. See below for more information.

Organizing a photo competition
Celebrate your beautiful hometown by hosting a photo competition. Ask participants to submit photos that best capture the essence of the great streets and neighborhood in your community. Invite a local small business or community organization to offer the winning prize. 

Creating a community documentary
Feel like creating your own Hollywood star? Ask creative citizens to produce a hometown documentary and help them. Feature community leaders as well as citizens who contribute to the greatness of your streets and neighborhoods. Show off the unique characteristics of this heritage and forward-thinking visions of your community. Learn about best practices in creating community documentaries in a Planning Advisory Service Report, details below.

Guiding a tour
Organize a bus, bike, or walking tour through your great streets and neighborhoods for the public to rediscover your community. Collaborate with local business and nonprofit organizations to promote diversity and vibrancy of your local paradise.

Engaging elected officials
Use National Community Planning Month as an opportunity to reach out to your local, state and congressional representatives. Ask them to help tell your local planning story and educate the public about the importance of planning. Click here for more ways to engage elected officials in your area.

Resources

• The Commissioner is a quarterly publication that provides planning board members, planning commissioners, and other appointed and elected officials with practical features to enhance your experience. Click here for more information and to request a free sample.
  
  
• APA's Media Kit will give you tips on how to promote National Community Planning Month events to target audiences, including residents, elected officials, allied partners, and the media. It also includes sample proclamations, Public Service Announcements, fact sheets about APA, logos, and customizable press releases.  
  
  
• Lights, Camera, Community Video-Engaging Citizens in Creating a Community Documentary and Vision (APA PAS Report 500-501) will show you how to use video technology to both stimulate and document a community visioning exercise. It will guide you through equipment needs, getting the word out to the community about your video project, scheduling interviews, choosing filming locations, editing, and more. Click here for more information.
  
  
• Read about the 2007 Great Streets and Great Neighborhoods designees on our website at www.planning.org/greatplaces.  Don't forget to suggest your own street or neighborhood for next year's designation. 
  
  
• Coming soon — ways your community can help preserve great streets and neighborhoods in your city or town.