A Celebration of Excellence in Public Participation:
The IAP2 USA Core Values Awards
What are the IAP2 Core Values Awards?Each year, IAP2 affiliates around the world recognize leaders in the profession through the IAP2 Core Values Awards. The awards go to projects which best demonstrate IAP2's Core Values and help to raise the bar in the field of public engagement by sharing best practices and inspiring the P2 community to learn from one another.
Competition for the 2023 AP2 USA Core Values Awards offered some outstanding projects. Our appreciation goes to our judges for their challenging work. | Public participation is based on the belief that those who are affected by a decision have a right to be involved in the decision making process. Congratulations 2023 Core Values Award Winners!The 2023 IAP2 USA Core Values Awards were presented September 14, 2023 at the North American Conference Core Values Awards Celebration in Seattle, Washington. |
Core Values Award: Creativity and Innovation Award"Imagine Deliver"Minneapolis, Minnesota |
International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) USA awarded Imagine Deliver the IAP2 USA Core Values Award in the Creativity and Innovation Category for their project Transforming the Future of Healthcare: The Art of Community Engagement & Strategy Design – Imagine Deliver, Arden Hills, Minnesota.
A nationally recognized, multi-billion-dollar safety-net healthcare system in Minneapolis, an acute care, teaching hospital, research center and the area’s only Level I Adult and Pediatric Trauma Center sought to create a more equitable and responsive healthcare system.
In the summer of 2021, Imagine Deliver partnered with this large, midwestern healthcare system to design and lead a community driven development process. The process engaged patients, families, black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) communities and team members to more deeply understand the values, cultures, and needs of the people they serve.
The insights led to creating a holistic framework for approaching and articulating a community-driven 10-year campus development plan and healthcare strategy. The healthcare system is now working to implement equitable healthcare strategies in its service delivery and physical space design.
"The most elegant solutions come from those closest to the problem. When we engaged with the residents of Hennepin County to discuss their aspirations for a more equitable healthcare system, we used art and play as the starting point - and the insights we gained were truly remarkable," said Johnna White, MPA, Senior Strategist, Imagine Deliver
“This healthcare system did a great job of outreach to their own employees and the BIPOC community that surrounds the campus of the health care facility. They prioritized learning from and with patients, their families, caregivers, and community members most marginalized by the healthcare systems,” said IAP2 USA President Heather Imboden. "The wisdom shared by the public informed the entirety of the comprehensive campus development plan and healthcare strategy.”
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IAP2 USA Diversity, Inclusion and Culture Core Values Award:"Honoring Cultural Diversity and Connecting Communities: San Francisco’sCentral Subway "
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International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) USA awarded San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) the IAP2 USA Core Values Award in the Respect for Diversity, Inclusion and Culture Category for Honoring Cultural Diversity and Connecting Communities: San Francisco’s Central Subway. The winning entry was also forwarded to IAP2 International as “Project of the Year” for IAP2 USA. SFMTA engaged diverse communities with differing needs in an expansive geographic area as they build San Francisco’s first new subway in 50 years. Public participation, much of it bilingual, allowed the team to work directly with potential users of this new subway line. Public input was critical in deciding the locations of four new stations, station design, and station elements such as gathering spaces, retail spaces, and a police sub-station. There were 10 years of planning and 10 years of construction, during which diverse communities from across San Francisco were able to shape the future of this new subway. “The consistent commitment to outreach and involvement over a 20-year period is remarkable, through all the demographic changes, neighborhood transitions, changes in city administration and more recently the COVID pandemic. Most often, public participation occurs during the planning stage with only infrequent updates during construction,” said IAP2 USA President Heather Imboden. “SFMTA provided a very good explanation of the initial problem and how additional problems that came up over time were addressed. They made strong use of multilingual ambassadors from the community while providing funding for initiatives to help the community.” |
Organization of the Year Award "City of Pittsburgh: Engage PGH" City of Pittsburgh and Social Pinpoint |
International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) USA awarded the City of Pittsburgh the IAP2 USA Core Values Award in the Organization of the Year Category for Engage PGH – City of Pittsburgh, PA.
As a city facing massive change, the Department of City Planning found that they were constantly asking big questions about the future of the city and that residents were having a challenging time engaging on these long-term, high-level questions. When discussing opportunities for change, residents and staff would feel anxious about asking the right questions and providing helpful answers. In a moment of self-reflection, it was decided that before they could ask the big questions, they first had to understand how to ask those questions. In this way, the impetus for this entire effort was a desire to find respectful, trust-building, insightful, equitable, and - maybe - fun ways of asking the question “What should the city look like in 20 years?”
In 2018 and 2019, the Pittsburgh Public Engagement Guide was developed through a collaborative process with a forty-person working group. This document was adopted by the City Planning Commission, making it a viable basis for the review of all long-range planning and policy projects at all future Planning Commission.
“The application demonstrated a strong linkage to the IAP2 Core Values and effective public participation,” said IAP2 USA President Heather Imboden. “The program’s website demonstrates an impressive impact on the city’s public participation efforts and practices throughout the city’s departments since adoption of the Toolkit.”
Read SubmissionGeneral Project Award "Reimagining Potrero Bus Yard" San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) |
International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) USA awarded San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) the IAP2 USA Core Values Award in the General Projects Category for their project Reimagining Potrero Bus Yard. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) manages all San Francisco’s ground transportation for the city. The SFMTA oversees the Municipal Railway (Muni) public transit system, as well as bicycling, paratransit, parking, traffic, walking and taxis. Pre-pandemic, its transit system, Muni, transported more than 700,000 people during a typical weekday. The SFMTA is committed to involving the people of San Francisco in the decisions that shape the city’s transportation system so that those who are affected by government decisions are informed and have an opportunity to participate in the decision-making process. “This project not only expands and modernizes a 100-year-old bus yard, it also provides critical housing, community spaces and services that we co-designed with the surrounding neighborhood,” said SFMTA Director of Transportation Jeff Tumlin. “The input we got from a broad diversity of community members definitely improved the project design.” “It was remarkable that what could have been approached by SFMTA as a simple modernization of a bus yard project instead acknowledged the community’s gentrification issues and created a multiple benefit project that addressed the community’s affordable housing challenges in a meaningful way,” said Heather Imboden, IAP2 USA president. News Release |
International Awards to be Announced Soon
The International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) will soon announce the 2023 International Core Values Awards honoring award winners from around the world.
These award winners represent best practice in our field and serve as model of excellence for others to emulate. Winners and finalists are recognized for their contributions to the field in the areas of indigenous engagement, community development, health, infrastructure, environment, disaster and emergency services as well as for their creativity, innovation and inclusion. This is a testament to the tremendous expansion, professionalism and impact of our field of expertise.
Finalists for the ’best of the best international awards were gathered from entries submitted by IAP2 Regions in Australasia, Canada, and United States.
Details coming soon.
2023 IAP2 USA Core Values Award Judges
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Cheryl Hilvert is a management and leadership consultant providing education and technical assistance for local governments on key management strategies designed to enhance organizational efficiency and effectiveness. Read more. |
Lewis Michaelson is a past-president, life member, and licensed trainer for IAP2 and a member of the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution Roster of Neutrals. Read more. |
Dr. Marty Rozelle has 35 years of experience in public policy development, third-party facilitation, process design, and conflict resolution. Read more. |
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 Sarah Dechter is the Comprehensive Planning Manager at City of Flagstaff where her job is to provide leadership and vision in implementing the Flagstaff's Regional Plan and developing small area plans. Her Core Values Project won both the U.S. and the Interternational Project of the Year award in 2020. Read more. |
Lisa Carlson specializes in collaborative problem solving and consensus building with more than 25 years of experience in the field. She provides meeting facilitation services for diverse governmental and nonprofit organizations seeking resolution of complex and politically sensitive issues such as water quality, health policy, suicide prevention and strategic planning. Lisa has her own consulting firm and is a strategic partner of Engaged Public, a Denver-based public policy strategy firm. | JoAnn Ortiz is the Community Engagement Coordinator, Capital Metro where she supervises an amazing team in MetroAccess. Working to ensure accessible services for people to continue to live and be part of their community. |
