City Park Conservancy (CPC) launched a new user-friendly strategy for residents to offer feedback and provide input into The City Park Plan long-term planning for the park, using a familiar New Orleans staple dish as a metaphor. While “Foundational Planning” and “Place-Making Planning” can be dull terms for those not familiar, the CPC is spicing up this year-long process officially naming it “Making Gumbo,” and breaking it down into culinary steps to help the average New Orleanian better understand each process. Here are the steps: Making Groceries: The CPC will continue to bring unheard voices (including youth and marginalized communities) up to speed, inviting them to review and add to the input already received – a “list of ingredients and seasoning” that will inform the City Park Plan. Stirring the Roux: Together, using previous community input, the CPC will review and confirm the “base” created from shared intentions that will hold the City Park planning process together. This is Foundational Planning. Prepping the Ingredients: With the “base” made, the CPC will imagine ways to preserve and enhance spaces that people are passionate about, identifying potential opportunities that will diversify visitor experiences. This is Place-Making Planning. Mixing the Gumbo: Add the ingredients in, while bringing Foundational and Place-Making Planning concepts together, the CPC will visualize how new opportunities can be realized within the City Park Plan. Taste-Testing the Gumbo: Review the proposed City Park Plan to confirm it represents everyone’s interests and ensures the best outcome for City Park’s future. Further feedback will be incorporated in the following phases of design. “Over the past several months, we have deepened our engagement efforts, meeting with neighbors, Park user groups, community leaders and others to help inform our strategy for enhanced public input on the City Park Plan going forward,” said Rebecca Dietz, CPC president and CEO. “It is important for us to take the time to be collaborative and ensure that the entire community—especially our youth—feels included.” This deepened community engagement approach will include multiple opportunities for community members to participate, including: A Community Fellows program that invites residents who represent the broad spectrum of New Orleanians to serve as project ambassadors on the planning team Ideas Youth Committee meetings for youth ages 15-25 Pop-up engagement events held in all five councilmember districts Iterative community engagement meetings at City Park Virtual engagement via distributed surveys and activities To augment these efforts, CPC and landscape-architecture firm Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc., partnered with Concordia – an award-winning architecture, planning, and community engagement firm based in New Orleans – known for its work in encouraging people of all ages and backgrounds to take an active role in planning and design processes, and helping to shape their outcome. Concordia is leading the recruitment and facilitation for the Park’s Ideas Youth Committee, as well as guiding the expanded community engagement process. CPC will hold its next citywide community engagement meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 11, from 5:30-8 p.m. at City Park.