Why engage?

Engagement encourages participation, action, personal responsibility and democracy. Kingston belongs to everyone who lives here. We all have a right to have a say in City efforts that affect our quality-of-life.

The Get Involved Kingston platform, being piloted until April 2019, will help present and guide public consultations in a consistent way. It offers a good choice of useful input tools in one convenient place online. Sign-up now to keep in touch with City efforts that interest you.

This online platform is meant to complement the City’s in-person consultations – open houses, pop-ups, coffee chats, focus groups, workshops, etc. All the City’s consultations are now guided by the Public Engagement Framework.

Public Engagement Framework

Developed in consultation with the public over two years, the City’s Public Engagement Framework guides when and how the City engages you in its efforts. It outlines:

• Key principles of public engagement: inclusivity; early involvement and timely communication; respect; transparency and accountability; a clear and coordinated approach; and continuous improvement.
• How residents, council and City employees each play a role and work together to bring forth and hone ideas and decisions.
• Guidelines for participation to ensure a safe space for voicing opinions and ideas. These are echoed in the Public Engagement Charter, the City’s commitment to engage the public.
• The Continuum used by the City to determine the level of engagement used for a given City effort. It is adapted from the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2).
• A five-stage process for planning public engagements along with worksheets.

Explore the Public Engagement Framework documents to see how the City approaches public engagements.

Developing the City’s public engagement framework processes and tools helps deliver on the City’s Open Government strategic priority outlined in the 2015-2018 Kingston Strategic Plan.