Work with us
We offer consulting services for both public engagement projects, as well as those looking to replicate our work in their own communities
Why do we do consulting?
While grants, donations, and memberships support our work, we are working to build a long term financial strategy that is not reliant on any single source income. Consulting uses our expertise in public engagement to earn us revenue for our services. This earned revenue allows us to continue offering all of our programs for free to the public. This also serves our mission to help the public better engage with the important issues happening in our community.
We only do consulting work for projects and entities that align with our mission.
Transparency
At CivicLex, we believe strongly in transparency and disclosure. Therefore, we see it as essential for us to disclose consulting relationships. This is a requirement of working with us.
Current and past consulting clients & partners:
Gresham Smith, Element Design, Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, EHI Consulting, Rasor Consulting Solutions, Kentucky Nonprofit Network, TSW
CivicLex offers a suite of services for companies, organizations, and associations looking to gather public input and engage with the broader Lexington community.
We’ve also built a "Build Your Own” handbook for those that want to replicate CivicLex in their own communities to learn from our successes and failures.
What services do we offer?
“Build Your Own” Handbook
Our handbook covers everything from the theory behind our work, to how to build an effective board, to how to cover city hall, to how to build programs that help your community understand how your local government works.
All of this can include:
A 6-unit handbook that covers the context of our work, understanding your local civic context, planning and building your organization, implementing and evaluating work, and how to grow and scale effectively.
A civic field scan to help you get a sense of your community’s civic landscape and if a civic health organization like CivicLex is necessary.
A 7-course Technical Assistance process with CivicLex staff to provide insights on how to implement handbook items, run our workshops, and more.
Community Engagement Services
Running large-scale survey processes, including marketing, community-specific targeting, data and sentiment analysis, presentation, and more.
Organizing public education campaigns, including designing marketing strategies, communications support, canvassing, and more.
Convening community meetings, including input and listening sessions, design charettes, facilitation, and more.
Advising on effective public and governmental engagement strategies.
CivicLex is only interested in partnering with entities that see authentic public engagement as core to the success of their project or operations.
Mini Case Study: Imagine New Circle Road
We were approached by Gresham Smith, an Atlanta-based urban design firm to lead their public engagement process for Imagine New Circle Road, a contract with the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government to design a long-range plan for one of Lexington’s most prominent highway roads.
We worked with Gresham Smith through the bid process, and once the contract was secured, designed a multi-phase engagement strategy designed to get truly authentic public input from residents and business owners along the corridor.
Here’s how we did it:
Neighborhood Canvassing of houses along NCR. We started by door-to-door canvassing hundreds of houses on streets in neighborhoods immediately abutting New Circle Road, leaving behind information about the projects and opportunities for engagement.
Business Canvassing Sessions along North New Circle Road. We canvassed over 50 local businesses and surveyed them about their experience on New Circle Road. We wanted to understand what would improve their business, what kind of transportation they see their employees and clients use, and more.
Neighborhood Meetings. We hosted several neighborhood meetings along the corridor to help residents meet the project planners the project team and from the City of Lexington to build trust and get input.
A widespread online survey about North New Circle Road. All of this culminated in a survey that helped New Circle Road area residents provide input about potential transportation, housing, and business improvements to the corridor. That survey received over 1,200 responses! Read a summary of the responses here.