News & INSIGHTS

Excerpt from "Lets Talk" Wheat Ridge webpage:

Let's Talk Resident Engagement Program

We know every Wheat Ridge neighborhood is unique. Our Let’s Talk program is designed to learn more about what’s important where you live. What do you love about your neighborhood? What could improve?

The program breaks the city down into 10 neighborhoods. Over the next couple of years, each neighborhood will see a 3-4 month “blitz” of engagement opportunities

During these “blitzes”, we’ll first send out a survey to residents to start the conversation. After that we’ll follow up with a range of in person and/or virtual events to home in on what’s important to residents in our unique neighborhoods.

When we’re in your area, we’ll add a What’s Up Wheat Ridge page for your neighborhood. Our first two “blitzes” are in East Wheat Ridge and Bel Aire.

If you live in these areas, join the conversation!

Why are we doing this?

In 2018, city officials heard loud and clear that residents want more and better opportunities to weigh in on issues that impact their neighborhoods. This resulted in the 2019 adoption of an updated Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy (NRS) by City Council. The update was led by a 26-member Wheat Ridge resident committee.

The NRS is a citywide policy document that reflects a year of robust community input. The primary recommendation is for the city to conduct focused engagement of residents at the neighborhood level.

Let’s Talk Program Goals

Specifically, the program goals are to:

• Develop a thorough, well documented understanding of the issues and opportunities at the neighborhood level;

• Build trust between city staff and neighborhoods through demonstration that the city is listening and being responsive;

• Better empower neighborhoods to take initiative and work effectively with the city for positive outcomes that respond to neighborhood changes;

• Ensure that all neighborhoods in the city have an opportunity for focused listening and responsive actions from the city within approximately two year cycles; and

• Ensure that the feedback received during the engagement “blitz” is robust and represents a diversity of opinions in each neighborhood.

Questions about the program? Review the Frequently Asked Questions section, and feel free to email lets-talk@ci.wheatridge.co.us(External link) with questions.