The next stage of community involvement builds on the input received from the community. A major outreach effort, Touchpoint included a range of activities and options for stakeholder involvement on January 29 and 30, 2020. SCS designed the process and overall structure; the details were established in collaboration with key City staff members and staff from all City departments made the events successful.

On the 29^th, the MCL Grand was transformed into a series of spaces for providing input.  One area asked ‘Blue Sky’ questions about change in Lewisville.  A second area provided the highlights of action on the Lewisville 2025 Plan’s Big Moves since 2014.  It included recommendations for future action received from the community, and Touchpoint participants weighed in on these community ideas.  A “Marco’s Room” gave kids a place to share their ideas.  Stations were also included to provide input online, to make videos of participant ideas and to create art trading cards.  Local arts organizations displayed art created as part of the update as well.

At lunch, the Touchpoint activities were focused specifically on City employees.  All employees – at all levels of the organization and in all departments – were encouraged to come and give feedback on accomplishments of the last five years, as well as possible actions in the future.

During the afternoon and early evening, participants came to an open house setting where they took part in all the activities described above.

The evening session, in the MCL Grand Auditorium, featured speakers who challenged the community’s thinking about Lewisville and its future.  Keynote speaker Patrick Ibarra, partner and co-founder of the Mejorando Group shared a challenging set of ideas about how Lewisville should move toward future success. His presentation on “Creating Our Future” was inspiring and intriguing.  Just one point he made could be the focus of an entire dialogue, particularly right now: “What made you successful in the past is not going to help you survive and thrive in the future.”

Following Ibarra, Karen managed the Future Choices panel discussion with six speakers chosen to address topics of interest to people in Lewisville, based on their comments during the fall community input process.  These speakers, their organizations and topics, were:

• Brandon Palankar, 3BL Strategies: Choose Your Future
• Edward Rincon, Ph.D., Rincon and Associates: Cultural Transformation and Quality of Life
• Katherine Wagner, Business Council for the Arts: The Economic Value of Arts
• George Burmeister, Colorado Energy Group: Sustainability for All
• Bud Melton, Halff Associates: Perspectives on Mobility Alternatives
• Robert Sheets, Westside Baptist Church: Lewisville and the Faith-Based Community

Each speaker made a lively, short presentation on their topic.  Keypad polling gave immediate feedback from the audience on the ideas shared by the speaker.  After the series of speakers, further polling and general comments pursued some of the speakers’ ideas further.  The results of all this input will shape the focus of the Lewisville 2025 update. The next day, January 30^th, a segment of this big Touchpoint event was held again at the Castle Hills Community Center.  Castle Hills has developed adjacent to the City of Lewisville under agreements that mean it will be annexed by the City.  This Touchpoint session gave Castle Hills residents a chance to answer the ‘Blue Sky’ questions at a location closer to home.