Marion 100
100 people representative of their city’s residents and ratepayers
The City of Marion had a desire to improve the way the organisation sought out, facilitated, and reported on public involvement in decision making. The Council was particularly keen to include people who were representative of the diverse make-up of the City of Marion’s residents and ratepayers.
The City of Marion had a desire to improve the way the organisation sought out, facilitated, and reported on public involvement in decision making. The Council was particularly keen to include people who were representative of the diverse make-up of the City of Marion’s residents and ratepayers.
Becky Hirst was contracted to undertake a review of the City of Marion’s existing framework, coupled with a community engagement campaign which enabled the Elected Members ideas for better engagement to be explored with the community, key stakeholders and staff.
The ‘signature’ engagement activity for the review process was an innovative Community Summit event, which brought together 100 representative people from across the City. The event was complimented with an online engagement hub where self-selected local people could provide their feedback.
After a promotional campaign via rates notices and other communication channels, 148 people expressed an interest to be a part of the Marion 100.
The final 100 people were anonymously selected to represent the appropriate demographic mix of -
Ages (from age 15 to 80)
Gender
Suburb (ensuring a mix from the south, centre and north of the City)
Cultural background (using languages spoken at home as a measure)
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status
Additional ‘diversity checkers’ were undertaken at the event itself, demonstrating diversity in employment status, disability status and whether participants had been involved with Council in the past.
This work resulted in a report and draft framework being submitted to the Council with a set of recommendations based on what was heard. The Council has continued to use the Marion 100 to engage on other topics.
