As a regional leader in transportation planning, the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) has been recognized with the Champion of Inclusive Engagement Award for its outstanding commitment to engaging diverse and underrepresented communities. This case study explores how NCTCOG leveraged innovative engagement strategies to ensure equitable participation in public decision-making.
Community Profile
The North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) faces a unique challenge: serving a fast-growing, diverse population spread across 12 counties.Â
The region’s residents come from different economic backgrounds and have varying levels of access to technology.Â
This creates real obstacles when trying to include everyone – especially seniors and low-income families – in transportation planning discussions. While most households (86%) have the internet at home, there’s still a significant chunk – about 11% – who don’t have that luxury.Â
Without home internet, these residents can’t easily join virtual public meetings or fill out online surveys. NCTCOG realized they needed to find better ways to knock down these digital walls and make sure everyone gets a say in decisions that affect them. Â
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Households without home internet subscriptions
The Challenge of Inclusive Engagement
NCTCOG had a clear challenge to address: ensuring everyone could participate in transportation planning, regardless of their circumstances. The digital divide was creating an unfair situation – people without reliable internet access couldn’t join important conversations about their community’s future. The transportation department needed to find a way to include all residents in their planning process. Without hearing from everyone, they risked making decisions that might not work for the whole community.
How PublicInput Was Used
To ensure every resident had a voice in transportation planning—regardless of internet access, location, or availability—NCTCOG turned to PublicInput’s multi-channel engagement platform. They focused on breaking down participation barriers, with their phone line feature proving especially valuable. This simple yet effective tool allowed residents to:
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- Call in to join live meetings from anywhere
- Leave voice messages to share their thoughts – no internet required
- Participate equally, benefiting seniors, low-income residents, and others who face digital access challenges
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This phone line approach added nearly 100 additional voices to the planning process. But NCTCOG didn’t stop there:
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- They hosted hybrid public meetings, allowing people to attend either in-person or virtually
- They reached out extensively to the community, sending over 2.55 million emails to keep everyone in the loop
- They gathered 157,544 survey responses and welcomed 47,526 new participants into their engagement network
- They collected 7,564 public comments that helped shape their transportation decisions
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By integrating phone, online, and in-person engagement, NCTCOG set a new standard for inclusive outreach, ensuring that everyone—regardless of their circumstances—had an opportunity to contribute.
The Results: Immediate and Impactful
The impact of NCTCOG’s inclusive engagement strategy was immediate and transformative. By breaking down barriers to participation, they reached new voices that had previously been left out of the conversation, leading to more representative and community-driven transportation plans.
Key results include:
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- A significant increase in participation, adding thousands of new voices through hybrid meetings, phone lines, and proactive outreach
- Expanded access for underserved communities, including seniors, low-income residents, and those without internet access
- More diverse and actionable feedback, with 7,564 public comments and 157,544 responses shaping transportation decisions
- Industry recognition, earning the Champion of Inclusive Engagement Award for their commitment to equitable participation
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By creating an engagement model that others can replicate, NCTCOG has not only improved community trust but also set a new benchmark for inclusive public engagement in regional planning.
Take the Next Step Toward Inclusive Engagement
Register for the Upcoming Webinar
Join us on March 26 for a special session celebrating all of our award winners, featuring community engagement best practice insights from Herocrats author Allison Bell.
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