Paradise Community Center
The Challenge
The 2018 Camp Fire destroyed nearly all of Paradise’s public facilities, including the Paradise Community Center (formerly the Senior Center), which had long served as a hub for older adults in the community. As rebuilding efforts began, there was a critical need to ensure that the new facility would reflect the actual priorities of seniors and residents rather than a top-down design. With limited staff capacity and community trust still fragile, PRPD needed a proven partner to engage the public, gather meaningful input, and translate that feedback into actionable guidance for the land planning team.
Our Solution
Blue Flamingo led a multi-channel community engagement process to ensure the voices of Paradise residents directly shaped the new Community Center design. We worked closely with the land planning team to ensure information gathered would help shape design decisions.
Key tactics included:
- Online Surveys – Designed and deployed a community-wide survey that reached both current Paradise residents and displaced individuals and project stakeholders. Questions focused on program needs, design features, and accessibility priorities.
- Community Group Outreach – Partnered with senior clubs, faith-based groups, and service organizations to distribute surveys and host discussions, ensuring older adults and caregivers had their voices heard.
- Partnership Distribution – Leveraged established PRPD and Town of Paradise networks to share surveys through newsletters, social media, and local organizations, expanding reach well beyond traditional channels.
- Data Analysis & Reporting – Synthesized survey results and discussion input into a clear, visual report. The findings identified community priorities and provided direct guidance to the land planning team.
The Results
The engagement process was a huge success, producing hundreds of responses that revealed strong consensus around priority needs: flexible community rooms, accessible design, spaces for health and wellness programs, and amenities that foster intergenerational use.
The land planning team used Blue Flamingo’s report as the foundation for design, ensuring that every major element reflected community sentiment. The process not only accelerated planning timelines but also built excitement and ownership among residents, who saw their input come to life in design concepts.
Why It Matters
This project demonstrates the power of community-driving facility planning. Blue Flamingo:
- Set the land design team up for success with clear, community-validated direction.
- Reduced staff burden by handling outreach logistics and data synthesis.
- Rebuilt trust in local institutions by showing residents that their voices shaped real outcomes.
The Paradise Community Center process has since become a model for community engagement in post-disaster rebuilding efforts, proving that when you listen deeply and act on feedback, the results are both efficient and inspiring.