Figure 4-1: Outreach Timeline

4.1 OUTREACH STRATEGY

A major component of the Master Plan is developing a comprehensive needs assessment which is derived from community outreach, surveying, and user interviews. This process seeks to develop a list of prioritized recommendations, assessments on funding, operations, maintenance, and site-specific conceptual designs. This chapter summarizes the outreach process and includes information on recreational trends nationally and within the City. Additional information related to the comprehensive outreach can be found in Appendix III of the Master Plan report. In commencing the project, the team developed an outreach strategy that focused on ways to engage the community. The City is committed to making the planning process a collaborative effort with the community, stakeholders, and staff. As such, the team made sure that engagement with people through a series of public workshops, surveys, online maps, and other meetings were the emphasis of the outreach strategy so that feedback could be gathered for the Master Plan. The outreach plan further outlined a diverse set of outreach strategies to ensure the planning process gathers feedback from people of all ages and demographic backgrounds. Additional emphasis was placed on underserved communities that disproportionately lack easy and comfortable access to parks, open space, and other recreation facilities. The team developed key messages and outreach strategies to gather feedback, paying particular attention to the Hispanic/Latino community and providing all data in translated versions. The team also utilized the City’s database of previous resident and stakeholder involvement to further boost outreach efforts.

Figure 4-1: Outreach Timeline

Outreach Strategy Plan Document

4.1.1 COVID-19

The project team’s priority above all was the safety and welfare of the community of Montebello. The spread of COVID-19 and the Global Pandemic triggered necessary safety measures regarding public gatherings of any size. As of the writing of this engagement plan, State and local regulations prohibited all social gatherings of more than 10 people. Due to COVID-19, typical methodologies for community engagement were altered, turning all in-person public engagement for the Master Plan into video-chat (virtual) meetings. Public engagement shifted to online through community outreach surveys as it was deemed safer to conduct virtual rather than in-person workshops to gain feedback from residents. The team implemented methods to help provide equal access to the community.

Outreach included alternative methods for meaningful community engagement through online tools, recorded public meetings, printed and online surveys, and other methods. This was fundamental in keeping the Master Plan moving forward while ensuring that public input was adequately met. While nothing can replace in-person engagement, the following strategies and tools were utilized to gather the feedback needed for the planning process.

Remote Engagement Tools utilized during the project: GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar, SurveyMonkey, ConstantContact, Esri StoryMap and Online Interactive Maps, Mentimeter, & Youtube.