IAP2 August Webinar: Montreal Encore - "Understanding the Squishy Stuff" + "Are We Smarter Together?"

Good P2 makes for better decisions, and good P2 with a well-informed public makes for the best decisions of all. But when it comes to science and policy in environmental issues, how do you engage people well enough to keep them engaged? Mark Szabo struck a very responsive chord with attendees at the 2016 IAP2 North American Conference in Montreal when he addressed the question of understanding "squishy stuff": people rated his session very highly. Now it's your opportunity to learn from what he's learned and apply it to your own work. 

Meantime, Jacques Benard questions whether collective intelligence is really the best way to go and asks, "Are We Smarter Together?" The answers he's come up with might surprise you.

Here is a chance to catch two session presentations from the 2016 North American Conference in Montreal, and whet your appetite for next month's IAP2 North American Conference in Denver.

Review Jacques' session submission here.
Review Mark's submission here.

Webinar Recording

Mark Szabo's slide deck

Jacques Benard's slide deck

IAP2 July Webinar: Montreal Encore - "Is your Organization P2-Centric?"

Do you find it a challenge to convince your organization to make P2 a priority? Despite the fact that organizations are being driven to commit to P2 by a combination of planning and legislation requirements, as well as community expectations, many organizations have not put public participation at the heart of its decision making and action.
In this webinar -- another of the sessions from the 2016 IAP2 North American Conference in Montreal -- Anne Pattillo presented the results of new international research and in-depth case studies to unpack how practitioners and organizations opened their hearts and practice to public-centered decision-making and action.
Learn about new tools and ideas for leading your organization into a true commitment to engage the public in its work!

Webinar Recording

10 Ways to a P2-Centric Organization

Conservation Engagement Development Path

Presentation Slide Deck

IAP2 June Webinar: Montreal Encore - "Facilitation Matters"

As traditional municipal P2 activities such as town hall meetings and public information sessions are eclipsed by increased online engagement, it becomes especially important to ensure that scarce opportunities for face-to-face dialogue with stakeholders are used exceptionally well. Often success depends on how creatively sessions are designed and facilitated.
Kate Bishop from the City of Guelph, Ontario, and Rebecca Sutherns of Sage Solutions will join us to share their expertise and address your questions and points in this interactive webinar.

Webinar Recording

IAP2 May Webinar: Montreal Encore - "Duh, Make it Interesting"

How do we get program communications to stand out when stakeholders are fatigued with information and overloaded with traditional planning efforts? If that's been a question on your mind as a P2 professional, you don't want to miss this webinar, which struck a chord with many of those who attended last September's IAP2 North American Conference.
Jamie Harvie and Sam Beresky of JLA Public Involvement, addressed the importance of developing customized communication tools for a variety of community audiences. They will share examples of videos, community storytelling, social media campaigns and other creative outreach strategies that have helped program communications get noticed ... and even motivate people to get involved!

Webinar Recording

Download the "decision-making tool" they mention near the end of the webinar here.
And you can check out the entire JLA Open House Archive here.

IAP2 April Webinar: Core Value Award Winners: "Innovation, Creativity, & the Greater Good – April 11, 2017

Rejuvenating a major traffic artery in San Francisco and bringing it back to its former glory was also a touchy subject around the City By The Bay, and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency chose to reach out to the people involved to help come up with a plan. The Van Ness Improvement Project is still going on, and the P2 process MUNI used was the first recipient of IAP2 USA's Core Values Award for Creativity and Innovation.

End-of-life health care choices can be a subject a lot of us try to avoid, and it's possible to wait too long. CEAN -- the Community Engagement Advisory Network at the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority -- set out to help people deal with it in the Advance Care Planning Program. Facilitators volunteer their time to help bring together patients, family members and health-care providers to plan for The Inevitable while the patient is still able to make his or her wishes clear. CEAN received the P2 for the Public Good Award at the 2016 IAP2 Core Values Award.

Webinar Recording

IAP2 March Webinar: Core Values Award winners; Organizations & Respect for Diversity, Inclusion, & Culture – March 14, 2017

Our March Learning Webinar highlights two groups of people who are doing amazing work and people are noticing. In 2016 “Saint Paul Public Schools Facilities Master Planning” won IAP2 USA’s Respect for Diversity, Inclusion and Culture award, and “Tides of Change: Cormorant Island’s Economic Development Plan” won IAP2 Canada’s Project of the Year: Diversity and Inclusion award.

IAP2 USA's Respect for Diversity, Culture, & Inclusion award

72 facilities, 7.3 million square feet, 465 acres of land, $2.1 billion in assets, and 39,000 students. 73% of the student population lives in poverty, 75% are students of color, and they speak 100+ dialects. It was imperitive that SPPS created an organizational coulture that believes in and commits to inclusive and thoughtful stakeholder engagement as central to large system planning.

The Saint Paul (Minnesota) Public School District was faced with the need to upgrade its facilities -- some of which were a century old -- to meet the needs of today's students. More than that, the demographics in the Minnesota capital have changed dramatically, and any new plan had to take that into account. Tom Parent, SPPS Facilities Director, and former SPPS Trustee Anne Carroll, explain how they went about it.

IAP2 Canada's Diversity & Inclusion Award

The first-ever winners of this award joined us to discuss how they approached two very different processes that all involved working across racial and cultural lines. Colleen Hamilton of EcoPlan International and Justin Beadle, the Chief Administrative Officer of the Village of Alert Bay, BC, alongside the 'Namgis First Nation to create an Economic Development Plan called "Tides of Change". The Plan covers tiny (4 sq km/1.5 sq.mi.) Cormorant Island, just off the northeast coast of Vancouver Island, where the two communities had lived side-by-side for decades without having much interaction.

Cormorant Island saw a record high of 35% of their island population providing input, while SPPS- Facilities Master Plan was the first ever 5-year implementation plan voted in by their school board. These projects are great examples of what can be achieved when we strive for quality inclusion.

Webinar Recording

Additional Resources

Saint Paul Public Schools Respect for Diversity, Inclusion, & Culture PowerPoint

"Tides of Change" Respect for Diversity & Inclusion PowerPoint

IAP2 February Webinar:  Montreal Encore: "Making Engagement Meaningful with P2 Toolkits" – February 14, 2017

In this webinar, Cristelle Blackford of CivicMakers, Abby Monroe of the City of Chicago, and Zane Hamm of the Centre for Public Involvement in Edmonton, talk about their successes in putting together kits specifically for particular projects. These kits are for people "closer to the ground" on certain issues, and by empowering and training them, can help overcome obstacles some of the challenges to a p2 professional, such as local distrust of governments or a government policy mandating P2 in a lot of instances.
The three invite comments and your own experiences in working with toolkits. Please contact Cristelle at cristelle@civicmakers.com; Abby at Abby.Monroe@CityofChicago.org; and Zane at zhamm@ualberta.ca.

Visit the City of West Hollywood's  "Communications and Community Engagement Strategic Plan" toolkit here.

IAP2 January Webinar: Participatory Budgeting – January 10, 2017

Shari Davis

Participatory Budgeting. A novel concept that allows ordinary people to have a say in developing public budget. It's a concept that's been gathering momentum for the past several years. What started as a bold experiment in Brazil has grown into an integral part of some municipalities' spending decisions. Local governments are using this tool to give their people more and more say in allocations of public funds. This concept is catching on, and Shari Davis of the Participatory Budgeting Project described how PB has developed and shared some success stories. Shari was joined by Luc Richard, from the City of Dieppe, New Brunswick. Luc has had success quarterbacking a PB process in Dieppe and shared how his city put the idea into practice. For more information feel free to contact Shari Davis at shari@participatorybudgeting.org or check out the Participatory Budgeting Project on Facebook! You can also contact Luc Richard at Luc.Richard@dieppe.ca!

Luc Richard

Additional Resources

PBP Theory to Practice: The City of Dieppe Story

City of Dieppe Vote Ballot