Public meetings are often associated with words like long, confusing, and inaccessible. Many times, it feels like these meetings are just a formality rather than a genuine effort to engage with the community. As graduate students studying planning, we understand the importance of meaningful community engagement in transportation planning and policy in Massachusetts.

Meaningful community engagement, as defined by the US Department of Transportation, involves actively seeking input from the community, considering feedback, and incorporating it into projects when possible. This process is crucial for inclusive decision-making and building connected communities, especially for historically marginalized populations like low-income communities and communities of color.

With new federal funding opportunities for infrastructure projects, transportation agencies in Massachusetts have a unique opportunity to improve their community engagement practices. Our team at Tufts University’s Urban and Environmental Planning Field Projects set out to identify best practices for community engagement in transportation planning and develop a tool to evaluate the impact and equity of current processes in the Commonwealth.

Through our research, we found three key ways to enhance community engagement:

1. Move Beyond the Public Meeting: Transportation agencies must go beyond traditional public meetings and explore alternative participation opportunities. This could include focus groups, interactive websites, surveys, and online resources to encourage public input.

2. Create Formal Report-Back Processes: Establishing formal processes to provide timely feedback to the community on how their input influenced final decisions can improve the transparency and effectiveness of engagement efforts.

3. Evaluate Community Engagement Practices Regularly: Advocates, community-based organizations, and individuals can use our scorecard tool to assess and hold transportation agencies accountable for their community engagement efforts.

Our research included attending public meetings, conducting interviews with stakeholders, and reviewing existing advocacy scorecards. We observed a lack of community representation in meetings and a need for agencies to provide feedback on how public input influenced decisions.

To bridge the gap between agencies and communities, we developed a tool called “Checking the Box and Beyond: A Tool for Meaningful Community Engagement.” This tool evaluates community engagement efforts based on criteria such as outreach, participation, transparency, and decision-making power. It provides a score to assess the effectiveness of engagement practices and can be adapted for various planning projects.

Our goal is to empower communities, advocates, and agencies to improve their community engagement processes and ensure that the voices of all community members are heard and valued in transportation planning. You can access our full report and scorecard tool for more information on how to enhance community engagement in transportation projects.