Visit Durango needed to figure out how to improve the quality of life for residents of La Plata County while responsibly maintaining its competitiveness as a Colorado Destination. We conducted a community engagement project, “Listening to Locals,” in 2022 to initiate a dialog with residents by using parts of the Continual Improvement for Social Responsibility Model. Through fourteen two-hour and five one-hour workshops, we interacted with over 50 organizations from for-profit and non-profit sectors, as well as over 25 residents across La Plata County, to identify more than 30 economic strengths, 30 environmental strengths, and 50 social strengths in addition to 30 financial risks, 30 environmental risks, and 50 social risks, while also highlighting 60 economic opportunities and 50 environmental and social opportunities.
Keywords: community engagement , risk management , stakeholder involvement, workshops