Community Engagement for Actionable Insights – Fargo Park District ​

The Fargo Park District faced backlash after announcing plans to close a senior center in the north part of the city. In response, the Park District, including Valley Senior Services, wanted to better understand the experiences, needs, and expectations of older adults across the community.

We assisted with a two-phase project, guiding the Park District from engagement planning in the first phase through community facilitation and final reporting in the second.

The first phase focused on identifying ways the Park District could receive meaningful input and feedback from the people it serves. We developed an engagement roadmap that defined the purpose, stakeholders, key messages, and other elements.

During the second phase, we carried out community engagement activities, including guided small-group discussions, visual feedback activities, and a targeted survey. We then summarized and analyzed the feedback in a final report to help the Park District make informed decisions about future programming.

“Reach Partners has a real talent for taking individual comments, even on emotional topics, and turning them into meaningful data that helped us make thoughtful, informed decisions,” said Cassie Doll, Marketing Program Manager for the Fargo Park District. “I would recommend Reach Partners to any organization looking for a collaborative partner that listens well, communicates clearly, and helps turn community input into actionable results.”
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The work culminated in a full summary of key findings and themes the Park District could consider when making programming decisions. 

The Result

The Fargo Park District confidently decided to keep the senior center open after hearing from constituents. In addition, they gathered insights for future decision-making and built trust among seniors across the community.

Return to Our Work

One of the biggest benefits was having a neutral third party sort through a tremendous amount of community feedback and identify the themes and priorities that mattered most.

Casandra (Cassie) Doll
Marketing Project Manager, Fargo Park District

Type and Duration of Work

• Strategic Planning
• Facilitation
• Reporting 

Timeline: 6 months

What Reach Partners Did

• Developed a project roadmap
• Identified varied activities and events to gather feedback from community members
• Facilitated community engagement activities and operational insights from staff
• Synthesized community input into actionable recommendations
• Helped leaders turn community input into informed action
• Reported and presented insights from community engagement activities