The City of Boulder and Boulder County piloted a Community Assembly in 2025 as part of the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan update. Join City engagement staff to learn how this representative, deliberative model influenced the plan and to explore lessons learned for practitioners seeking new approaches to complex challenges through inclusive engagement.
Organization: Aboulderfuture.org
Presenters: Vivian Castro-Wooldridge, Planning Engagement Strategist and Brenda Ritenour, Community Engagement Manager | City of Boulder
Vivian Castro-Wooldridge is an urban planner and civic engagement strategist with two decades of experience advancing participatory governance and inclusive urban development. She currently serves as Engagement Strategist for the City of Boulder, Colorado’s Planning Department, where she co-managed Boulder’s first Community Assembly. Previously, Vivian spent 15 years with the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, leading municipal infrastructure and policy initiatives across Africa and the Asia-Pacific. Her work focused on strengthening local governance, advancing sustainable urban services, and building inclusive planning processes.
Brenda Ritenour (she/her) has worked at the City of Boulder for almost nine years. She co-leads a team focused on building trusting relationships between community members and city staff, amplifying historically excluded voices, and helping neighbors connect to each other in positive ways. She supports the citywide culture of meaningful and inclusive engagement processes, and was the Moderator for the city’s first Community Assembly. Previously, she was the Community Engagement Manager at the Denver Public Library. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Pepperdine University and an MFA in Theater Directing from the Actors Studio at the New School for Social Research in New York City. Born and raised in Colorado, she loves spending time outdoors - skiing, hiking, and camping with her husband, son and two dogs.
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