Reimagining Civic Engagement in Hopkinton, MA

Is your local government keeping up with its residents? CGR recently completed a comprehensive engagement study for the Town of Hopkinton, MA. By combining community-wide surveys with targeted focus groups, we helped the Town identify why residents weren't participating in local government—and how to change that.

Hopkinton is undergoing significant demographic changes, including overall population growth of 31% since 2010, and 385% growth in the Asian population. Particularly as populations diversify, it can be important to update engagement strategies to ensure they are reaching everyone.

We identified key barriers to participation and strategies for improving proactive outreach, addressing information gaps, clarifying service, ensuring accessibility and promoting the value of government participation. We also created a strategic workplan and best practices guide that outlines a framework for identifying engagement strategies and tools, steps for creating an engagement plan, advice for ensuring inclusivity and accessibility, and a framework for sustaining engagement practices. The goal? A local government that is more accessible, more inclusive, and more effective for everyone.

For more information: contact Associate Principal Alice Carle.

March 12, 2026 CGR Briefs Edition