the scenario:
You volunteered to help the Parks Department develop a playground plan for your neighborhood park and ...

The original planned community involvement from the Parks Department was a public workshop to present the playground plan (as developed by the Parks Department) and to explain when and how the work would be done. At that workshop, it was apparent that the community members who attended were completely dissatisfied with the plan. What was intended to be a simple public information session became a shouting match.

what could consensus do:
Provide a roadmap for the process that ensured the involvement of the community at a meaningful level.

This would be a cross between an intervention and a team development activity. Since the first need would be for process, Consensus would bring the Consensus Technology Method™ to the table. We would then work to establish a joint community/parks department team. We would then work with the "team" to define a set of criteria to measure the different aspects of the plan. The team would employ the basic Consensus approach on their own and call us in to assist in the final selection process.

a potential outcome:
A playground that was designed and built by the community and which is now a draw to families from all over the area.

A new paradigm for involving the public in community development affairs is established. This paradigm allows the community members to be actual participants in the process rather than onlookers and watchdogs. In addition, each of the team members will have learned a set of valuable skills which will make their future community involvement much more productive.