Strengthening Civic Information, Relationships, and Deliberation in Rochester, Minnesota

Rochester is a city shaped by civic pride, volunteerism, and a growing culture of collaboration between leaders and residents. Attracting residents from across the country and beyond, Rochester is home to a diverse community that values openness and inclusion. These principles have guided new practices like community co-design, where ordinary, affected residents join with planners to design and implement city projects together. Extending this principle to their public meetings, the city partnered with the National Civic League’s Center for Democracy Innovation to bring the Better Public Meetings initiative to Rochester. 

Better Public Meetings in Rochester 

The City of Rochester and the National Civic League launched the Better Public Meetings project in 2025 to better understand how residents, community leaders, youth, and elected officials experience civic participation and public decision-making. In particular, the initiative seeks to extend the success of Rochester’s recent innovative efforts, ensuring that residents feel consistently informed and influential across engagement opportunities.  

Research began with a Civic Infrastructure Scan that examined how residents interact with public meetings, local government, and civic life more broadly. Drawing on interviews, community surveys, meeting evaluations, and conversations with stakeholders across the community, the research identified both Rochester’s strengths and the challenges that sometimes make participation inaccessible or disconnected. Together, these findings highlighted opportunities to strengthen communication, improve transparency, and create clearer connections between community input and public decision-making. 

The research was further informed through a community forum that brought residents together to reflect on their experiences with public participation and explore ideas for improving civic engagement. Through interactive activities, small-group discussions, and collaborative problem-solving exercises, participants shared perspectives on what meaningful participation looks like and how public meetings can better support dialogue, learning, and relationship-building. The forum itself reinforced the city’s commitment to innovating public meetings: facilitators captured input both verbally and digitally; discussions took place in deliberation roundtables; and AI-powered translation glasses demonstrated technology’s potential role in broadening participation for non-English speakers. Ultimately, the forum conversations reaffirmed the central themes of the research: residents care deeply about their community and need clear and timely civic information to translate that care into inclusive participation. 

Research Findings 

The Better Public Meetings research found that Rochester possesses significant civic strengths, including a strong culture of volunteerism, growing diversity, active community organizations, and experience with innovative co-design practices. At the same time, many residents expressed concerns about whether public participation consistently influences decisions, whether engagement occurs early enough to shape outcomes, and whether information about civic opportunities is accessible and easy to navigate. The findings point to an opportunity to strengthen trust, transparency, and relationship-building while building on Rochester’s existing commitment to community engagement. 

Key themes from the Civic Infrastructure Scan include: 

• Civic participation is high, yet confidence in its impact is limited. Only about one-third of survey respondents reported feeling heard or valued in city decision-making. 

• The most common frustration is the lack of visible follow-through; residents often do not know how their input influenced Council decisions. 

• Many participants believe engagement frequently occurs after decisions are largely set, reducing its perceived value and contributing to engagement fatigue. 

• City Council and commission meetings are generally seen as well-run and respectful, but often structured for procedure rather than dialogue or shared learning. 

• Participation in formal meetings skews toward repeat attendees, indicating ongoing barriers for working families, youth, newcomers, and underrepresented communities. 

• Community co-design and compensated engagement stand out as Rochester’s strongest current practices for building trust, inclusion, and shared ownership. 

Stronger Relationships, Clearer Information, and Deeper Deliberation 

Innovative public meeting practices are already in use in Rochester, where the city has implemented the “World Cafe” facilitation method to enrich town halls. Many other improvements are still to come, though. Following the publication of the Civic Infrastructure Scan, the National Civic League developed an Elected Officials Engagement Framework to help Rochester strengthen the relationship between residents and local government. The framework provides a practical roadmap for building trust through consistent outreach, dialogue-based engagement, and visible follow-through. It is designed to support elected officials in creating multiple trusted pathways for the public’s participation. 

As part of the implementation phase of Better Public Meetings, the National Civic League will support Rochester through several pilot tools and engagement strategies drawn from the Engagement Framework: 

• Outreach Playbook for Elected Officials: A practical guide to help elected officials build consistent community presence through neighborhood outreach, relationship-building activities, and effective follow-up practices. 

• Town Hall Design Guide: A framework for designing dialogue-based public meetings that incorporate facilitated discussion, inclusive participation strategies, and structured follow-up communication. 

• Deliberative Study Session Event: A pilot model that creates opportunities for residents, staff, and elected officials to explore complex issues together before major decisions are made, fostering learning, discussion, and more informed decision-making. 

Explore the Better Public Meetings research and recommendations for Rochester, Minnesota