Arlington Launches PLACE Initiative to Increase Civic Engagement

Arlington County elected officials and representatives of a wide range of community organizations will gather at this week to launch the PLACE initiative.

PLACE -- Participation, Leadership And Civic Engagement -- is the brainchild of board Chairwoman Mary Hynes and is designed to help revamp and reinvigorate the Arlington Way.

The Arlington Way got its name in the 1980s, but the practice of involving residents across the political and socio-economic spectrum goes back to the 1950s, Hynes said. People moved here to support America's efforts during World War II and they decided to stay -- and to find ways to get involved.

"There's this long tradition of people who had all kinds of fancy titles downtown doing important national work coming home to Arlington, and bringing those ideas with them and offering them to the local government," Hynes said in an interview. "So, that's our tradition."

PLACE is designed to help the county to engage more groups of people in various decision-making processes. Once those groups come to the table, and make themselves known, county officials will have a better idea of who to invite to specific discussions, Hynes said.

The PLACE kick-off will include 90-minute, small-group discussions about improving civic engagement in Arlington and a community mapping exercise aimed at building a database of civic groups that will help better-connect individuals to each other and the county government to the community, according to a news release.

"The idea is that this will be a long-lasting portal to community activities of all sorts. Nonprofits, faith-based, independent… We don't care, really. If you're a group and you want to tell us that you're here, we want you to be on this page," Hynes said.

"Hopefully, some of what we'll learn… is how do they get the information about the county? What works for them? Are there other ways they prefer to be engaged?"

Already, the county has launched "Open Door Mondays," where anyone can sit down and talk with local elected officials. Hynes has begun a monthly electronic newsletter.

Beyond that, the county government is looking at training or orientation for incoming civic association leaders, commission chairs and county staff. And, Arlington County Manager Barbara Donnellan will add a civic engagement component to local government employees' job descriptions, Hynes said.

The PLACE open house is 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday and 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Artisphere.