When?

Finding a weekday evening when members of your community have an open spot in their family schedules may be a challenge. It’s a safe assumption that adults with young children will be extra busy with outdoor activities, especially sports practices and games, in the spring and summer. Many communities choose the September through November time period (avoiding the winter holidays) and others prefer a February through April schedule. Most communities avoid the budget review period (May and June), given the extra demands on staff and the elected board at that time of year.

Whatever time of the year you choose, your choice of a regular meeting day is going to be limited to Monday through Thursday. Eliminate the day that your elected board meets, or you will be setting up conflicts for your department heads and other staff members. Some organizations find that Wednesday evenings revolve around church activities for many families, and so they avoid Wednesdays, but you will need to assess those competing activities in your own community.

If you choose a late fall or winter timeframe, you may need to include one Saturday morning session if you plan to offer tours of any facilities best seen in daylight (such as a park, an economic development project under construction, or a wastewater treatment plant).

Where?

If your facilities allow, try to schedule the classes in different locations each week. This approach underscores the wide range of functions provided by your organization and gives participants a chance to take a quick “behind the scenes” tour as part of each evening. Another advantage is that changing classroom spaces each week encourages more interaction among the participants, as they will not have the chance to stake out “assigned seating.”

Some issues to consider with this approach are:

• Transportation: If some members of the group do not drive or do not have a car at their disposal, you may need to limit yourself to sites near public transportation or make arrangements for carpooling among the participants.
  
  
• Parking: Think ahead about parking issues at sites that normally house only a few employees, are muddy or difficult to navigate in the dark, or that will be extra busy on a weeknight (such as a recreation center).
  
  
• Accessibility: Ensure that all sites are handicapped accessible if you have participants using wheelchairs or walkers.

Consider all of these locations and any others that are unique to your community: town hall, water or wastewater treatment plant, fire station or fire training facility, recreation center, library, police substation, public works garage, recycling center, and civic center.