Our Advocacy Efforts
The Coalition for Collaborative Governance organizes advocacy efforts to achieve our mission to promote more collaboration, transparency, and accountability in our local governments’ cultures, budgets, policies, and practices.
City of Lawrence 2026 Budget Process
To facilitate greater understanding and transparency regarding the City’s 2026 Budget, our coalition has
Conducted independent analyses of the City’s current and proposed budgets.
Published several independent reports and news articles to educate our community about the City budget.
Asked the City for increased transparency and public engagement regarding their budget, including submitting dozens of well-researched questions to City staff.
Hosted A Community Conversation about the City Budget.
Produced our own community engagement survey to capture the public’s opinions about the City budget.
Presented at multiple City Commission meetings about their proposed 2026 Capital Improvement Plan, budget, and Parks & Rec fees.
Outdoor Swimming Pool
Holly Krebs led an advocacy campaign to retain the size of the Lawrence outdoor swimming pool in the fall of 2024. She gathered almost 1800 signatures on a community-wide petition and organized a coalition of supporters to lobby the City Commission to reverse their decision to significantly shrink the size of our pool.
On Oct 12, 2024, this coalition presented a coordinated series of public comments before the Commission, which convinced them to reverse their decision. On Nov 19, 2024, we gave another series of comments outlining the significant flaws in the community engagement and planning process for this renovation. While the Commission did not grant our request for a citizen oversight committee of the remainder of the project, they did assign future community engagement to their Communications and Community Relations department, which has been great to work with.
Write Our City Commissioners to Make Your Voice Heard!
To: commissioners@lawrenceks.org, ccagendas@lawrenceks.org
Subject: [Include your specific request or complaint here]
Email content: Dear City Commissioners,
[Insert short message about your request or complaint. You may want to address how the issue at hand affects you.]
[Close with a respectful salutation and your name]
Notes:
The Commissioners receive a lot of written information each week, so they may be more likely to read your full email if it's short and to the point.
If you want your comments to be public, include the "ccagendas" email above, and your email will be published at the end the Commission's weekly packet.
You can also email individual Commissioners here: Amber Sellers, Bart LittleJohn, Brad Finkeldei, Lisa Larsen, and Mike Dever