Applications for Community Assembly are now closed.

Understanding the Community Assembly

A Community Assembly is a group of randomly selected community members who come together to learn, discuss and make recommendations on a specific topic. Members do not need expertise in municipal planning. If chosen, you’ll get an opportunity to collaborate with other residents to think through one aspect of the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan – a document that sets a 20-year vision about who we want to be as a community and shapes the policies that will get us there. We know you’re busy, so we’re offering those who serve on the assembly $1,000 for their time and commitment

The Community Assembly will explore and create recommendations around how, and where, to implement 15-minute neighborhoods in Boulder. Fifteen-minute neighborhoods are places where community members can meet many daily needs and access essential services with just a short walk, roll or bike ride. This has been a longstanding part of our community’s vision, as captured in previous comprehensive plans, but we’ve struggled to define it, develop clear action steps and make progress toward it.

Your voice matters! Work with community members to collectively define the ingredients for 15-minute neighborhoods in Boulder. This is an opportunity for you to shape such places based on what matters most to you - speak up about sustainable environmental change, the vibrancy you hope to see in your community, safe access and mobility, places for greater social connection and meeting the needs of all ages – or something else! Work with others to create a Boulder specific recipe for 15-minute neighborhoods.

Commitments

Participants must be able to commit to attending all seven Saturday sessions in-person (9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.). Breakfast, lunch and snacks will be provided on session days.

  • May 3, 2025
  • May 31, 2025
  • Aug. 23, 2025
  • Sept. 6, 2025
  • Sept. 20, 2025
  • Oct. 4, 2025
  • Oct. 18, 2025

Eligibility

  • Must be at least 16 years old by May 3, 2025 
  • Must be able to attend all sessions of the Community Assembly
  • City and County staff, elected officials, appointed officials and members of their household are not able to serve on the Assembly
  • Invitation call: Must have lived in the Boulder Valley for at least six months as of May 3, 2025;
  • Open call: Must have studied or worked in the Boulder Valley for at least 6 out of the last 12 months

Frequently Asked Questions

If you received a letter in the mail with an invitation to apply for the community assembly, you definitely live in the Boulder Valley! The Boulder Valley includes the City of Boulder plus about a 3-mile radius of unincorporated county surrounding the city. It does not include the entire Boulder County.

Unfortunately, no. The Open Call is looking for commuters to Boulder- anyone who works or studies in Boulder but does not live in Boulder.

There are many other ways to get involved with the Comprehensive Plan update if you did not receive an invitation to the Community Assembly. Sign up for the newsletter to stay up to date or visit ABoulderFuture.org.

Unfortunately, no. Volunteers must be available for all seven (7) Assembly sessions in person (see dates above). Please confirm your ability to participate in every session before applying. If you can’t join us, please share this opportunity with someone else in your household, age 16 years or older, who can. 

Serving on the Assembly is a voluntary act of public service. A $1,000 stipend, to acknowledge members’ time and energy and to lessen the financial impact of participation, is available to all members. Assembly members may choose not to receive the stipend.  

Yes. There will be opportunities for community members to learn about the work of the Assembly and share their ideas. There will also be opportunities throughout 2025 to share thoughts and feedback about other aspects of the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan. The Community Assembly is one small part of a larger community engagement process to inform this 10-year update.  

We encourage you to visit ABoulderFuture.org to learn more and sign up to receive updates.  

Absolutely! Your expertise is your lived experience and perspectives as a community member and this is what matters most. We do not expect you to have any specialized knowledge about urban planning or how cities are run. Subject matter experts will be available to answer any questions you may have. Facilitators will be on hand to guide the entire process. 

City of Boulder staff and an external facilitation team will co-facilitate the meetings. To ensure a balance of perspectives, an advisory group of independent community members will provide advice to the co-facilitators on the independent guest experts invited to speak and the learning materials. Assembly members will work together to draft the recommendations and final report.

On or before April 4, the 48 members of the Community Assembly will be randomly selected from the pool of registered volunteers and based on the proportion of Boulder Valley population in the City of Boulder (~81% of seats) and unincorporated Boulder County (~19% of seats). The random selection process will also ensure diversity in other areas, like age, gender, geography, housing situation, self-identified race, ethnicity, disability and LGBTQ+ identity. The 48 assembly members will broadly represent the demographics of the Boulder Valley community. 

Random selection ensures that the Assembly membership reflects the diversity of perspectives and experiences in Boulder. The random selection also creates opportunities for people who may have never participated in a city engagement process.  

Staff will ask each selected Assembly member if they want their name and picture to be shared or if they prefer to stay anonymous. Assembly members’ identities are not required to be made public. However, final reports usually include Assembly members’ names to recognize their service to our community. Nevertheless, members can choose to stay anonymous. The Chair will also seek commitment of the group on collective agreements, such as not posting meeting details or pictures on social media.