The City of Durango has been named the 2025 Organization of the Year by the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2), a remarkable honor recognizing exceptional leadership, innovation, and impact in public engagement.
This recognition underscores Durango’s work to foster a culture of engagement rooted in collaboration, trust, and transparency, where community voices play a central role in shaping local decisions and opportunities to participate are accessible, inclusive, and impactful.
At Social Pinpoint, we’re proud to support Durango on this journey and are thrilled to see their commitment to meaningful public engagement celebrated on a global stage.
Investing in People and Processes
Effective public engagement requires more than good intentions—it demands deliberate investment in both personnel and processes. Recognizing this, the City of Durango set out to build a program capable of reaching the entire community, fostering trust, and creating genuine opportunities for residents to participate.
A cornerstone of this effort was the creation of a Community Engagement Specialist position, tasked with reimagining the City’s approach to public participation and addressing long-standing challenges such as fragmented outreach and inconsistent communication.
Funding this pioneering role marked a pivotal moment in Durango’s commitment to transparent, inclusive engagement. The position filled a critical gap between leadership, staff, and the public, providing the expertise needed to build a modern engagement program from the ground up—designed to break down barriers, rebuild trust, and create two-way channels for resident input through surveys, workshops, and online platforms.
By positioning the Community Engagement Specialist within the City Manager’s Office, Durango ensured staff training, coordinated focus groups, aligned messaging, and established clear pathways for resident participation. Creating this shared understanding of project goals internally allows residents to receive consistent, clear information, making every opportunity to engage more accessible, meaningful, and impactful.
Engage Durango: A Digital Hub for Community Input
Building on stronger internal coordination and a shared vision for engagement, the City of Durango took the next step: expanding into digital participation.
The launch of Engage Durango, Durango’s Social Pinpoint-powered online engagement hub, marked a pivotal moment in centralizing community input and modernizing the way residents interact with local government. The platform allows residents to explore projects, stay up to date on initiatives, and provide feedback on their own terms, offering a user-friendly, interactive experience that makes participation both accessible and engaging.
Intuitive search, filter, and sorting options across 12 categories help users find projects that align with their interests. Projects are organized into three stages: open (currently requesting feedback), active (in development or construction), and closed, which gives residents a clear view of the lifecycle of local initiatives.
With more than 40 interactive tools at their disposal, Durango staff can tailor each project page to the specific needs of the initiative—whether collecting quantitative data, qualitative insights, or spatial feedback. This flexibility ensures each engagement opportunity is aligned with project goals while creating an experience that encourages residents to participate and return for future input.
In its first year alone, Engage Durango attracted over 24,000 visitors. Today, the City continues to leverage the platform alongside in-person events and community programs, meeting residents where they are and providing convenient, interactive, and impactful opportunities to share their perspectives.
Creative Engagement and Focused Feedback
To complement its online engagement efforts, Durango has introduced hands-on initiatives that make participation both fun and impactful.
One standout example is Nerds Night Out, a monthly trivia night focused on Durango history and municipal government processes. The event offers a lively way to engage younger residents while also serving as a valuable feedback tool. For instance, a question about a past sales tax reauthorization revealed gaps in public knowledge, helping City staff identify opportunities for clearer communication and civic education.
Another example is Durango’s Neighborhood Walk and Rolls outreach effort, which brings City Councilors directly into local neighborhoods to connect with residents who may not typically attend formal council meetings. These casual, two-way conversations allow residents to share their perspectives on local issues and successes, strengthening community relationships and providing real-time feedback. Locations and times are tailored to community needs, and sessions are designed to be informal, with no agendas or presentations, so residents can speak openly and comfortably.
Durango has also implemented a Focus Group framework as part of its broader engagement strategy. Unlike traditional boards or task forces, focus groups are small, targeted discussions that allow staff to gather diverse perspectives on specific projects, ensuring recommendations are informed by direct community feedback. To remove barriers and foster inclusivity, the City provides translation and interpretation services, childcare, and food at these sessions, helping ensure participation from a wide and representative cross-section of the community.
A New Era of Engagement
The City of Durango has redefined public engagement. It is no longer limited to participation on boards and commissions or treated as a routine formality. Instead, engagement is embedded in every decision-making process, ensuring residents are informed, heard, and able to influence decisions that shape their community.
Being named the 2025 IAP2 Organization of the Year is a well-deserved recognition of Durango’s innovative approach and unwavering commitment to putting residents at the center of governance. We’re proud to see their leadership acknowledged and look forward to watching them continue to raise the bar for inclusive, impactful engagement in the years ahead.
Ready to elevate your approach to community engagement?
Schedule a call with our team of engagement experts to get started.
