DGRI values and relies heavily on robust civic engagement because the practice delivers many benefits:

• Upholds the American ideals of democracy, transparency and responsiveness;
• Empowers the voice of the community, particularly among historically underrepresented communities/perspectives;
• Brings new and good local information, not just conventional wisdom and myth, to the decision making process;
• Enables the decision-making process to address real issues and opportunities;
• Improves the knowledge and skills of participants and builds capacity for leadership among citizens and officials;
• Equips decision-makers to better understand alternatives, and related effects, as well as the various perceptions of benefits and risks;
• Establishes a sampling of informed citizens that can efficiently vet decisions;
• Offers an empathetic forum that incorporates user needs in program design;
• Provides elected and appointed officials a defensible case for change;
• Builds community trust, ownership and confidence in the process and preferred course of action;
• Strengthens the DGRI network to drive positive community-supported change; and
• Makes the preferred course of action more effective and achieves more successful outcomes.

Citizen-Led Alliance Structure

DGRI previously hosted five citizen Alliances organized to advance the five unique goals defined in GR Forward.

Given significant progress on plan implementation, DGRI is reorganizing the Alliance structure to ensure the citizen participation structure evolves and aligns with the city building projects and opportunities in Downtown.