On Monday, August 3, nearly 100 Gwinnett community leaders gathered to kickoff the largest-ever transportation focused conversation in the County's history. The effort , called the Gr8 Exchange on Transportation (#thegr8exchange), is a grassroots effort to bring people together to talk about one of the most pressing issues facing Gwinnett County. The week of August 24-28, these leaders as well as hundreds of other volunteers will be holding conversations around the County about what role transportation plays in shaping Gwinnett's future and what they want that future to look like.
 
"This isn't an effort to prescribe what type of transportation people need to be talking about; it's a more organic approach to the public input process," said Chuck Warbington, executive director for the Gwinnett Village Community Improvement District. "We hope to reach portions of the community that  have not always been represented at the table."
 
The Gr8 Exchange's leadership team is made up a group as diverse as the community it intends to bring together. Groups from all around Gwinnett will be mobilizing to take part in the Exchange.
 
The leadership team is currently in the process of recruiting volunteers to help take the message into the communities in which they live by passing out materials at local restaurants, cafes or sporting events. Volunteers will have the opportunity to host conversations which can be anything from a happy hour or dinner to a neighborhood meeting. They will also be asked to pledge to have more personal, one on one conversations. Every person who participates in a conversation will be asked to take a text survey with eight simple questions that get to the heart of what they want Gwinnett to be 20, 30 or 40 years from now.
 
"We can't reach everyone on our own," said Joe Allen, executive director of the Gwinnett Place CID. "For this effort to be a success we need people from all over Gwinnett to take ownership of this program and use the tools we've created to reach their own networks."
 
The goal is to have 50,000 conversations the week of August 24th.
Here are a three other ways people who live and/or work in Gwinnett can help support this county-wide, week-long conversation:
1. Spread the word!  We've made it easy to share with your friends, colleagues and peers in Gwinnett. Just click here to share on Facebook, Twitter and more.
2. Host a conversation! The Gr8 Exchange is looking to have 500 hosted conversations on transportation the week of August 24th. Check out the planned conversations here and post your own here.
3. Volunteer! The Exchange will need help spreading the word all across Gwinnett. They're looking for volunteers to help initiate conversations by passing out post-cards, flyers, texting cards and more. Sign-up here.