Salmon Arm OCP Engagement

thinkmodus
May 13
1 min read

Updated: Jun 2

Celebrating creativity, diversity and inclusivity in long-range planning.

THE CHALLENGE

The City of Salmon Arm sought a creative and inclusive approach to Official Community Plan (OCP) engagement, to ensure the updated plan reflects community priorities.

THE RESPONSE

MODUS designed and delivered a process to hear from diverse community voices throughout the OCP update. Over the four phase update, we offered a variety of opportunities to participate, collaborated with trusted community leaders, and crafted a creative communication strategy to make the OCP update fun, relatable and accessible to new audiences.

To engage a broad cross-section of the community, we hosted public surveys, pop-ups, and celebratory events like the Futures Fair and OCP Showcases. We worked with community organizations to host a series of ‘go-to-them’ events, engaging with equity-deserving groups like youth, Indigenous peoples, people with disabilities, renters, and newcomers and refugees in Salmon Arm.

At key points in the process, we hosted workshops with community partners and interest holders to gather ideas and refine draft policy. We also promoted OCPizza Party Workbooks to all audiences, to enable participants to share feedback on their own terms - where, when, and on the topics that matter most important to them.

Throughout the process, we continued to hear from community members who had not previously participated in an OCP update. Insights from community engagement informed the draft OCP that will shape the next 20 years of growth in Salmon Arm.