About the Listening Tour
In fall 2023, Mayor Yemi and Colorado Springs City Council hosted a seven-stop Listening Tour to gather input on the City’s Strategic Plan, which will guide the direction of the City over the next four years. The tour launched in August and ran for six weeks. The tour included a stop in each of the City’s six City Council districts, as well as a citywide virtual listening session.
Wrap up reports
We compiled four “Wrap Up Reports” from the Listening Tour. There is a report for each of our focus areas – public safety, infrastructure, housing, and economic vitality – and each report includes the following sections:
- “What we heard” - A summary of the key themes heard during the tour and a comprehensive list of feedback received.
- “What we are doing” - A summary of the work the City is currently doing to address the feedback that was shared.
- “What we are planning to do” - This section highlights specific goals and strategies to be implemented in 2024 as part of our Strategic Doing Framework. These are short-term priorities that we feel we can meaningfully address this year.
- “How to get involved” - This section showcases various ways you can learn more about specific topics, continue shaping policy, and get involved to stay engaged in all that is happening in the city.
Fast Facts
- More than 1,000 residents attended a listening session the six-week span, one of the largest in-person community engagement processes in the City's history.
- The City received more than 2,300 pieces of feedback over the course of the tour.
- The tour included stops in all six City Council districts, as well as a citywide virtual session, and included participation from seven different City Councilmembers.
- Aug. 4 at Sand Creek High School (District 6) with District 6 Councilmember Mike O’Malley
- Aug. 11 at COS City Hub (District 5) with District 5 Councilmember Nancy Henjum and At-Large Councilmembers David Leinweber and Brian Risley
- Aug. 18 at Hillside Community Center (District 3) with At-Large Councilmember David Leinweber
- Aug. 25 at Liberty High School (District 2) with Council President Randy Helms (District 2) and At-Large Councilmembers David Leinweber and Brian Risley
- Sept. 1 at Coronado High School (District 1) with At-Large Councilmember David Leinweber
- Sept. 8 at Southeast and Armed Forces YMCA (District 4) with District 4 Councilmember Yolanda Avila
- Sept. 9 – Citywide virtual listening session with District 3 Councilmember Michelle Talarico and District 5 Councilmember Nancy Henjum
How feedback was used
2024 Strategic Doing Framework
In addition to City Council and Mayor Yemi reviewing the feedback, City of Colorado Springs department heads and staff also reviewed the feedback received from the Listening Tour. This included several senior leadership meetings reviewing and prioritizing feedback. Along with input received from City employees and community organizations and leaders working in the four key focus areas of public safety, infrastructure, housing, and economic vitality, feedback was used to help create the 2024 Strategic Doing Framework to address short-term goals and priorities in 2024.
This framework does not represent every action the City will take in 2024, however, it does represent what the community asked us to pay attention to and focus on in the near term. There are a total of 20 initiatives in the framework that will be supported by cross-departmental teams and detailed workplans around each initiative. Each workplan will provide specifics around team members, partners, steps and tactics, as well as key performance indicators. The City will report this information to the community through online dashboards and regular communication.
The City’s Strategic Plan
Additionally, the City is also using feedback received from the Listening Tour to shape the City’s Strategic Plan, a four-year plan that sets forth City priorities and commitments from 2025-2029. This plan, with the help of several community members and City Council appointees, is currently in development. We are beginning to build the strategic direction for the four-year plan and define metrics, reporting, and tracking for potential goals.
