A discussion about community engagement is set to be held in Owen Sound this week.
The local citizen group Rebound Owen Sound says it is holding an evening of brainstorming ideas about community engagement and talking about solutions to issues that affect residents’ daily lives and environment.
An event poster asks, “Is it true that there is a global downturn in public engagement? Can we turn that around here in Owen Sound?” It adds, “Be heard. Take time to listen. Get up, get out and come mingle with your neighbours.”
Rebound Owen Sound says in a release, guests include Anne Finlay Stewart from Owen Sound’s Hub online newspaper, City Councillor Jon Farmer, and Michelle Palmer who is Senior Manager of Strategic Initiatives and Operational Effectiveness for the City of Owen Sound will be in attendance.
They say, “These three community leaders and thinkers will help lead and listen to round table discussions on the topic of public and community engagement.”
Group Chair Jan Chamberlain says Palmer oversees the City’s new digital platform called Our City Owen Sound which is a website where people can ask the City questions and share feedback about City initiatives, projects and services.
“They are working at getting people to fill out surveys,” says Chamberlain but she notes, they want more feedback “We wanted to help promote that.”
Some questions they intend to discuss include how to encourage the citizenry to attend council meetings and to follow local issues.
Chamberlain says, the group formed during the last municipal election out of a desire to ensure people were engaged in the election period, “Then we went out to have some public meetings and several other issues came forward including people being very concerned about all of the unhoused people in Owen Sound.”
She says the group has had several meetings, but it hasn’t discussed the engagement piece. “If people really want things to happen in Owen Sound, we have to kind of go past just listening to all of the Facebook posts and things like that,” says Chamberlain.
The event is set to be held on Wednesday, May 24th from 7p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Harmony Centre, 9th Street East, Owen Sound.
Chamberlain says monetary donations to Safe N Sound are welcomed.