2022 is a fresh opportunity to seize moments of community connection and feedback, adapting always to whatever the pandemic is presenting. In 2021, Council adopted a Community Engagement Policy, setting the big picture for a more consistent engagement ecosystem, and rolled out the Your Say Whitehorse platform.
A number of matters in Eley Ward have already benefitted from this.
A key for 2022 is that the Whitehorse Community gets to help us construct how the Policy is used and how we activate the things we learn.
It was utterly delightful to be at a first genuinely open launch in December 2021 – that of the Strathdon House and Orchard Precinct. This restored and reinvigorated space has seen a long and interrupted journey. Many of the things we want to see happen will be like this. We also need to sustain efforts to remove barriers to community connection and participation in placemaking.
A discussion with someone who lives with a highly impacting disability reinforced for me that Zoom has created greater inclusion across the past two years. Meeting in-person doesn’t work for everyone, just the same as ‘digital first’ is not what everyone likes. The options that online interactions create can mean that voices we would otherwise not hear, get heard.
My message is ‘be in it’ – whether online or in the increasingly possible face to face moments. Everyone at Council wants to listen.
Happy New Year!
