Citizen Planning Academies Build Capacity for Local Planning

Many communities struggle to recruit volunteers for local planning boards and commissions, and are challenged by communication with the public around planning issues. Citizen Planning Academies are one tool for increasing interest and capacity of residents to get involved with local planning issues.

Building on PlannersWeb.com's 2014 article on Citizen Planning Academies, CommunityMatters takes a look at a handful of examples and offers five reasons to start an academy in your town:

1. Academy graduates understand planning language and processes.
2. Academy graduates run for office.
3. Academy graduates are practiced citizen planners.
4. Academy graduates boost capacity for public engagement activities.
5. Academy graduates teach each other.