INTERESTING LINKS: A contributor to The Federalist bemoans The Death of Expertise; Matt Leighninger asks if liberal democracy is its own worst enemy; and an item in the Edmonton Sun looks at the way the Alberta capital is ramping up P2.
Now, read on...
All Hands on Deck!
Plan to join us for the Annual General Meeting!
2017 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Thursday, May 18, 2017, 12:30 - 1:00 PDT
Please join us for the IAP2 USA Annual General Meeting, via webinar. The AGM will provide an opportunity to reflect on 2016 and learn more about what is planned for 2017 and beyond.
Have you been part of a P2 project that exemplifies what this profession is about? Did it break new ground or face down unexpected challenges? If so, we need you to apply for the IAP2 USA Core Values Awards.
Nominations are being acceptedNOW through May 10th in three “Project” categories and three “National” categories.
Need inspiration? Visit the Core Values Awards page to see what past years’ winners did: watch their videos and read their presentations, then get cracking and submit your nomination by May 10!
Membership Spotlight: Larry Schooler
By Lauren Wirtis, IAP2 USA Intern
Larry Schooler is Manager of the Public Engagement Division for the City of Austin, which, Larry jokes, sounds impressive until you realize the division is comprised of two employees. What is truly impressive is all that Larry and his division have accomplished since he started working there in 2009. For one, that was the year Larry became involved with IAP2 USA. After attending his first workshop, Larry thought: “I found it. I found what I’ve been looking for professionally as a field and a secular calling.” During the workshop there was an exercise where participants created headlines they wanted to see for IAP2; Larry still has that posted in his office. Over the years Larry has participated in many of the programs IAP2 USA has to offer.
We are ready to rock this spring with online training designed with you in mind! We are excited to announce we have two courses coming up as early as May 1st, 2017! Take a look and see what these two courses can add to your professional repertoire!
"Choosing the Right P2 Tools: Workshops, Surveys, & Tools - Oh, my!" - If you need to know how to select tools and techniques to fit your P2 process design, understand the huge impacts of tool choices on stakeholder participation, and learn how to ensure equity and inclusion, Choosing the Right P2 Tools - Workshops, Surveys, & Tours - Oh, My!" is the course for you!
"Participatory Budgeting: Real Money, Real Engagement" -We are three weeks away from offering the much anticpated co-produced course "Participatory Budgeting: Real Money, Real Engagement", featuring Maria Hadden from the Participatory Budgeting Project! Maria has years of facilitation and training experience, previously working as a mediator and a mediation trainer prior to taking on her role as Project Manager for the PB Project.
Spaces are limited and we want YOU to be there with us!
Announcing our 2016-2017 IAP2 USA Student Scholarship Award winner!
Congratulations Victor Tran of Portland State University!
Victor is currently seeking a Masters of Urban and Regional Planning at Portland State University. He has worked on a variety of projects from university level sustainability research project, to designing education spaces to enmesh social justice and sustainability practices for youth. Most recently he as been building his experiences by participating in and helping designing two small community projects. During the interview process he opened our eyes to an emerging area of P2, Public Interest Design.
ADD the Denver Conference to your calendar for 2017!
More and more people are realizing they should – and can – have an influence in matters that affect them, and that would seem to be a situation tailor-made for P2. Here are some examples of what you can expect in Denver. (We will continue to showcase sessions, pathways and workshops over the upcoming months. To see all sessions please visit our Schedule at a Glance.)
In “Marches and Hats and Sit-ins,”Priya Singh and Brett Houghton of PRR look at the way things have changed since January 20, how groups that consider themselves underserved – women, people of colour, immigrants and refugees, etc. – are mobilizing in order to be heard. How are people connecting national sentiment with local participation? How has large group interaction changed with respect to attendance, mood and information-sharing?
In this session, you will get a better idea of how your project is affected by these changes in mood and deal with the thorny question of why people should trust your agency now, when they’ve felt shut out of the process in the past.
“Building Good P2 into your Organization” looks at the way companies and public agencies have been developing their own internal P2 processes, based on IAP2 principles. Deanna Desedes of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and Lisa Marie Belsanti of the City of West Hollywood will join IAP2 USA President Leah Jaramillo to discuss how their organizations developed P2 strategies. Then, in breakout sessions, attendees will be able to discuss their commonalities and needs and develop a template that they can take back to their own organizations. The discussion will also cover how to talk to leadership about the importance of an internal p2 strategy and bring them onside.
Love it or hate it, people tend to have very strong opinions about their public transit system. Toronto’s Metrolinx is embarking on 200 km of newly announced and funded infrastructure work, and that means engaging over 6 million people. In “From 10 to 100, Engagement in Warp Speed,” Metrolinx’s Judy Pfeifer will show the many tools and techniques they put to use and will share the lessons she and her teams learned in engaging the public – both what worked, and what didn’t work.
The Conference also offers three pre-conference workshops and Pathways – intensive all-day sessions that work through some of the trickier problems facing the profession.
We’re also thrilled to welcome our first Conference sponsor: 76 Engage, coming on-board as an Exhibitor sponsor! Thank you for breaking the ice! Is your company or organization an active supporter of P2?
Are you a student, member of a community organization or on staff with a non-profit group? If so, we’re pleased to offer you a scholarship to attend the Conference. Download the application here.
Webinar Rewind– 2016 Core Values Award Winners – “Creativity and Innovation” (USA) and “P2 for the Greater Good” (Canada) (April 11)
When public agencies engage in P2, one of the main challenges they face is to gain public trust. Our April Learning Webinar brought out two Core Values Award winners who face that sort of challenge in different ways. CEAN – the Community Engagement Advisory Network with the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority – won the award for “P2 for the Greater Good” for its Advance Care Planning (ACP) Program, a peer-led approach to defining and communicating one’s health-care wishes, while one is still capable of making such decisions. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency had to get “creative and innovative” to reach out to the diverse population along Van Ness Avenue – the historic “spine” of the City By The Bay – in the pre-construction phase of a major improvement project. Find out how they did it, here.
Webinar on Deck
– Montréal Encore –
“Duh, Make it Interesting”
Tuesday, May 9, 2017
2pm Eastern | 11am Pacific
How do you get program communications to stand out when stakeholders are fatigued with information and overloaded with traditional planning efforts?
Join us at our next webinar, Tuesday May 9 at 2pm Eastern / 11am Pacific, as Jamie Harvie and Sam Beresky, JLA Public Involvement, will reprise their presentation from the 2016 IAP2 North American Conference: showing us the importance of developing customized communication tools for a variety of community audiences. You'll see videos, community storytelling, social media campaigns and other creative outreach strategies that have helped communications get noticed ... and motivate people to get involved.
As always, IAP2 Learning Webinars are free for members and only $50 for non-members.
Attn: Members in Transportation!
MetroQuest Webinar: A Recipe for Award-Winning Online Community Engagement
April 25, 2017, 1:00 PM (EDT)
IAP2 USA is happy to co-sponsor this upcoming MetroQuest Webinar in partnership with the American Planning Association. The Webinar will feature the Nashville Metropolitan Transit Authority who will be online to talk about the nMotion Strategic Plan, an outstanding planning project that combined online and targeted face-to-face community engagement to involve over 15,000 community members to turn around a controversial project.
UPCOMING DATES
Congratulations Victor Tran of Portland State University! 
MetroQuest Webinar: A Recipe for Award-Winning Online Community Engagement
combined online and targeted face-to-face community engagement to involve over 15,000 community members to turn around a controversial project.
Tues, June 13 - IAP2 Learning Webinar: