Marietta’s Youth Share Ideas for Redevelopment Site
As part of Neighborhood Strategies partnership with the City of Marietta through Ohio University’s Mayors’ Partnership for Progress, our firm created a redevelopment assessment of the City’s historic Harmar Elementary School site.
Grounded firmly in the belief that everyone has a seat at the table when it comes to planning, our firm reached out to the community’s young residents to gather feedback on the project and help brainstorm what they’d like to see happen at the school site. Including the Marietta youth population in engagement activities brought a unique perspective, broadened the possibilities for the site’s redevelopment, and involved young residents for whom community projects will serve for years to come. Additionally, it ensured that a variety of individuals who represent Marietta—especially youth, who typically don’t have a voice in decision-making—had the opportunity to give input and be heard.
A strategic engagement approach was designed to reach Marietta’s youth population using age-appropriate digital surveys and webpages, supplemented with a drawing prompt. Over one hundred students participated in the survey and 76 drawings were submitted that depicted what the children envisioned for the future of the site. We were blown away by what Marietta’s youth dreamed up, and their feedback helped inform the final site assessment that will be submitted to the City in the coming months.