	{"id":111001,"date":"2025-03-16T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-15T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?p=111001"},"modified":"2025-03-13T12:36:06","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T01:36:06","slug":"engagementopportunityfor-residents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/engagementopportunityfor-residents\/","title":{"rendered":"Engagement opportunity for residents"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A NEW City of Ballarat expo to be held at the Civic Hall this month will give residents and ratepayers an opportunity to engage directly with councillors and staff.<\/p>\n<p>The Let&#8217;s Chat Ballarat Community Expo will be held on Thursday 20 and Friday 21 March from 4pm until 8pm, during which people can provide in-person feedback.<\/p>\n<p>The expo is expected to become an annual event to ensure the community has input into future planning.<\/p>\n<p>Interactive displays and information on services, projects, programs and initiatives across the City of Ballarat will be on offer, as well as food, children&#8217;s entertainment, giveaways and door prizes.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are absolutely focused on engagement as one of our top priorities and we see this as a fantastic way to get moving on that commitment,&#8221; mayor Cr Tracey Hargreaves said. &#8220;We see this event as just the beginning of a new era of community engagement with our residents and ratepayers.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The expo is going to be fantastic event, and I encourage as many people as possible to attend.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ward-specific engagement opportunities are being planned for later in the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A NEW City of Ballarat expo to be held at the Civic Hall this month will give residents and ratepayers an opportunity to engage directly with councillors and staff. The Let&#8217;s Chat Ballarat Community Expo will be held on Thursday 20 and Friday 21 March from 4pm until 8pm, during which people can provide in-person [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/engagementopportunityfor-residents\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":211,"featured_media":111002,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-111001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Engagement opportunity for residents - Ballarat Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Attend the Ballarat Community Expo! Engage with council, give feedback, and learn about city projects. Your voice matters.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/engagementopportunityfor-residents\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Engagement opportunity for residents - Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Attend the Ballarat Community Expo! Engage with council, give feedback, and learn about city projects. Your voice matters.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/engagementopportunityfor-residents\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-15T17:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/Untitled-design-50_66700.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Miriam Litwin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Miriam Litwin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/engagementopportunityfor-residents\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/engagementopportunityfor-residents\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Miriam Litwin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5d26a285fac71a1bba0f33ca120717d1\"},\"headline\":\"Engagement opportunity for residents\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-15T17:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/engagementopportunityfor-residents\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":187,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/engagementopportunityfor-residents\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/Untitled-design-50_66700.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/engagementopportunityfor-residents\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/engagementopportunityfor-residents\\\/\",\"name\":\"Engagement opportunity for residents - Ballarat Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/engagementopportunityfor-residents\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/engagementopportunityfor-residents\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/Untitled-design-50_66700.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-15T17:00:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"Attend the Ballarat Community Expo! Engage with council, give feedback, and learn about city projects. Your voice matters.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/engagementopportunityfor-residents\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/engagementopportunityfor-residents\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/engagementopportunityfor-residents\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/Untitled-design-50_66700.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/Untitled-design-50_66700.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"Have your say: The Let's Chat Community Expo is a new initiative by the City of Ballarat. Photo: FILE\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/engagementopportunityfor-residents\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Engagement opportunity for residents\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ballarat Times\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Ballarat Times\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2021\\\/10\\\/BALT.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2021\\\/10\\\/BALT.png\",\"width\":739,\"height\":98,\"caption\":\"Ballarat Times\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5d26a285fac71a1bba0f33ca120717d1\",\"name\":\"Miriam Litwin\",\"description\":\"Miriam Litwin is a journalist and digital content lead with the Ballarat Times, Golden Plains Times and Moorabool News, covering local politics and community news.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/author\\\/miriam\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Engagement opportunity for residents - Ballarat Times","description":"Attend the Ballarat Community Expo! Engage with council, give feedback, and learn about city projects. Your voice matters.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/engagementopportunityfor-residents\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Engagement opportunity for residents - Ballarat Times","og_description":"Attend the Ballarat Community Expo! Engage with council, give feedback, and learn about city projects. Your voice matters.","og_url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/engagementopportunityfor-residents\/","og_site_name":"Ballarat Times","article_published_time":"2025-03-15T17:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/Untitled-design-50_66700.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Miriam Litwin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Miriam Litwin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/engagementopportunityfor-residents\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/engagementopportunityfor-residents\/"},"author":{"name":"Miriam Litwin","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/person\/5d26a285fac71a1bba0f33ca120717d1"},"headline":"Engagement opportunity for residents","datePublished":"2025-03-15T17:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/engagementopportunityfor-residents\/"},"wordCount":187,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/engagementopportunityfor-residents\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/Untitled-design-50_66700.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/engagementopportunityfor-residents\/","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/engagementopportunityfor-residents\/","name":"Engagement opportunity for residents - Ballarat Times","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/engagementopportunityfor-residents\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/engagementopportunityfor-residents\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/Untitled-design-50_66700.jpg","datePublished":"2025-03-15T17:00:00+00:00","description":"Attend the Ballarat Community Expo! Engage with council, give feedback, and learn about city projects. Your voice matters.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/engagementopportunityfor-residents\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/engagementopportunityfor-residents\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/engagementopportunityfor-residents\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/Untitled-design-50_66700.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/Untitled-design-50_66700.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"Have your say: The Let's Chat Community Expo is a new initiative by the City of Ballarat. Photo: FILE"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/engagementopportunityfor-residents\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Engagement opportunity for residents"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#website","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/","name":"Ballarat Times","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#organization","name":"Ballarat Times","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2021\/10\/BALT.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2021\/10\/BALT.png","width":739,"height":98,"caption":"Ballarat Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/person\/5d26a285fac71a1bba0f33ca120717d1","name":"Miriam Litwin","description":"Miriam Litwin is a journalist and digital content lead with the Ballarat Times, Golden Plains Times and Moorabool News, covering local politics and community news.","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/author\/miriam\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/211"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111001"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=111001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}