Engage El Dorado seeks countywide feedback on housing, transportation — survey and pop-up forums begin this month https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HCBKMSQ
PLACERVILLE — The El Dorado Community Foundation, in partnership with El Dorado County, launched Engage El Dorado, a countywide outreach campaign asking residents — especially underrepresented communities — to weigh in on attainable housing and accessible transportation as officials begin planning future policy and funding priorities. Organizers say a short online survey is live now and a series of neighborhood outreach events will run through October.
“We’d love your input! This short survey will take less than five minutes to complete and helps us better understand how we can serve you and our community,”
the foundation’s September newsletter says, inviting residents to attend district-based forums and pop-ups from Sept. 1–Oct. 31. The foundation has posted an outreach schedule that includes stops in El Dorado Hills, Placerville, Somerset, South Lake Tahoe and Georgetown.
Officials say the effort will center voices often missing from planning conversations — low-income residents, rural workers, immigrants, tribal communities and others — so county leaders and nonprofit partners can better align housing strategies with transportation access. The county’s public information bulletin flagged the partnership, listed the foundation’s contact details, and said the online survey and outreach events are intended to inform future county policy.
“This is about shaping solutions that fit people’s daily lives — where they live, how they get to work, to school and to services,” said Amy Pooley, executive director of the El Dorado Community Foundation, whose work has emphasized community-centered philanthropy and local collaboration.
“Every action we take centers around one key principle: we amplify good where we live.”
Why it matters locally: El Dorado County’s recent planning documents and community health assessments have repeatedly identified housing affordability and transportation barriers as top challenges for residents outside the urban corridor. Organizers say the Engage El Dorado feedback will be used to guide policy, prioritize where investments are made and help ensure county strategies acknowledge equity and access across the county’s diverse neighborhoods.
How to participate
• Take the online survey (https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HCBKMSQ).
• Find outreach dates and locations in the foundation newsletter and on the foundation’s event pages — forums are scheduled across the county through Oct. 31.
• Questions can be sent to info@eldoradocf.org or by phone at (530) 622-5621.
Local leaders and advocates say public input now will influence how the county balances land-use rules, affordable-housing incentives and mobility programs — decisions that can affect commute times, the cost of living and access to basic services for years to come. Officials urge broad participation so the resulting policies reflect countywide needs rather than the priorities of a few.
