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management

Welcome to: What Meaningful Engagement Means: Capacity-building as a Tool to Improve

Public Engagement and Community-based Advocacy

Carmen Madrid, Center for Intercultural OrganizingMike Dahlstrom, Washington County, Department of Land Use and Transportation

Two Perspectives

Public agency – undertaking multi-year community planning effort with a goal of broad community engagement.

Community-centric organizers – building leadership capacity and increasing education regarding community members rights (and responsibilities.)

Key Points From the Agency • Changing demographics• Broaden engagement• Do the right thing (and it’s mandated)• Craft credible, community supported

outcomes• Build on current best practices• Performance measurements• Sustain relationships beyond the project

Advocacy Development Key Points• Changing demographics• Broaden engagement• Do the right thing – build capacity• Engage community to craft supported

outcomes• Build on current best practices• Performance measurements• Sustain relationships beyond the project

Agency Case Study

“This study is a three-year effort to engage the entire Aloha- Reedville community to improve the quality of life and address the impact of future growth. Community participation is vital to its success…..”

Preamble to the project mission statement written by the Citizen Advisory Committee

English Espanol

www.co.washington.or.us/alohareedville

Where are we?

Unincorporated Washington County

9 square miles

50,000 community members

Urban, mostly residential community, reaching full build-out

Growing cities immediately adjacent

Services provided by the county and special service districts

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%

Less than $25,000

$25,000 to $49,999

$50,000 to $99,999

Over $100,000

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Aloha-Reedville Area Washington Co. Portland Metro Oregon

Annual household incomes are lower than the county & metro area but higher than State

Aloha-Reedville is more racially and ethnically diverse and younger than

the county and metro area.

26% of Aloha-Reedville’s population has a Bachelor’s degree or higher, compared to 38% of Washington County

Baby boomers will play an important role, as will the

increasingly diverse Generation Y population

Who are we trying to reach?

No, really who are we trying to reach?

No, really who are we trying to reach?

How did we try to reach them?

At A Glance46 Community-wide events

Spanish language newspapers and Univision)

Project website in English and Spanish

QR Codes – English and Spanish

5000+ Community comments received

91+ Group and organization presentations

600+ One-on-one surveys in Spanish, Somali, Arabic, and

Vietnamese

220+ Aloha High School students participating in exercises

2 Best Practices Roundtable discussions

2 Faith-based organization roundtable discussions

76,500 Direct mail postcards sent (English and Spanish language)

165+ Media articles and broadcasts

Good outreach for a project isn’t enough…so how do we build on it?

Identify best practices

Convened two round tables with representatives from agencies and organizations that have demonstrated success in reaching historically under represented community members

Good outreach for a project isn’t enough…so how do we build on it?

Provide funding to support participation

Dedicated $80,000 of $2M grant as pass- through grants to community-based organizations (up to 10 grants for $8,000 each)

Good outreach for a project isn’t enough…so how do we build on it?

Set performance measures

Original grant performance measure – increase participation of traditionally underserved community members by 100%

Project goal – establish equity-based outreach efforts (much of this work used 2005-2009 Census and 2010 ACS

Good outreach for a project isn’t enough…so how do we build on it?

Set performance measures and gather data

Gathered over 1,500 demographic responses

Based on this small sample size versus Census participants tended to:

•Be a bit older than largest Census group

•Include more Hispanics (by a small percentage)

•Own homes at a higher rate then rent

The agency couldn’t do this alone…

Looked for partners that could:• Support outreach efforts

• Build on existing relationship• Demonstrate experience in mobilizing

community members• Collaborate with a public entity

Two organizations met those criteria

Centro Cultural de Washington County&

Center for Intercultural Organizing

Two organizations met those criteria

And we’re fortunate to have the Center for Intercultural Organizing’s Washington County Director with us to provide insights to the process of

activating community members

Center for Intercultural Organizing

Washington County

Center for Intercultural Organizing

• A grass roots based non-profit organization advocating for immigrants and refugees, people of color and underserved communities.

Why Washington County?

• Aligned with CIO’s strategic plan to expand civic engagement, leadership development and public policy in Washington County.

• Demographic is rapidly shifting:

• Beaverton 1 and 4 are foreign born citizens

• Cornelius more than 50% is Latino• Washington County is now 30% people of

color

Formation of Aloha Unite

CRITERIA:

•Existing organizations in Washington County

•Aligned values

•Aligned project goals

Organizational Contracting Relationship

Community Building

Outreach Activities

Tabling and Phone BankingExisting and historical relationships

Canvassing apartment complexes, small businesses, faith based communities

BUILT Game ActivityCreated dialogue on community aspirations Identified commonalities and differencesFurther development of engagement Multi-cultural, multi-ethnic community building

Education Workshops Aligned with Project Goals

Leadership Development

• Three full day workshops with curriculum topics such as:

• Community Based Leadership• Public Speaking• Fair Housing• Environmental Justice 101• Land Use and Planning• Washington County government structure and service

jurisdictions• Meet Malinowski

• Integrated Project Goals• Feedback and survey session• Prioritazation of project Action Items

Community Findings Elevated

• Census results don’t reflect underserved community demographics.

• Avg. household size• Median Income• Educational Attainment

• Cultural Inclusion highlighted as a key finding emphasizing the need for a cultural center.

• Small business ownership desired with system education and financing emphasized.

Best Practices on PROCESS with the County

Challenges and Opportunities

What made it work?

Benefits to Washington County and Community Based Organization Partnership

What’s Next for the Aloha- Reedville Study and Livability Plan? • Washington County Advisory Council

• Immigrant/Refugee and People of Color representation• Community Leaders

• Assert Best Practices from other cities

• Washington County support to elevate public involvement and civic engagement training

• How do we move forward in partnership with Washington County?

• How do identified ACTION ITEMS move forward?

Questions?