Winning Political and Community Support for Your Project

This half- or full-day workshop provides planners with the tools to turn a planning vision into political reality. Participants learn how to develop an effective lobbying plan; how to avoid and manage hostile audiences; and how to reduce community resistance to controversial plans and projects and mobilize citizens to publicly express their support.

The basic workshop covers:

1. Identifying public officials' decision-making standards, including conflict-avoidance, rule-orientation, risk-tolerance, and receptivity to rational, emotional, and peripheral persuasion.
2. Dealing with booing and hissing, insults, personal attacks and hostile questions.
3. Minimizing community resistance to controversial plans and projects and mobilizing citizens to publicly express their support.

This workshop is conducted by Debra Stein, President of the nationally recognized community relations firm, GCA Strategies. Stein is an attorney, a registered lobbyist, and the author of several books on NIMBYism. She has more than 20 years experience building governmental and community support for low-income housing, commercial development, social service facilities, and industrial development projects across the United States.

Fee: Travel and lodging expenses; speaker's fee is negotiable.

Packaged Training Workshop Inquiries
Contact Nathan Randall at 202-349-1007 or nrandall@planning.org.