Meaningful Community Engagement in Place-Based Initiatives
Introduction to APANO ● Culturally Specific Organization ● Statewide Advocacy ● Key Programs Areas ○ Community Organizing ○ Civic Engagement & Policy Advocacy ○ Leadership Development ○ Cultural Work ○ Community Development ● Headquartered in Portland’s Jade District
ABLE (Asians Building Livable Environments) ● Collaboration with Asian Health & Service Center ● 3 Census Tracts of Jade-Lents Neighborhoods ● One of the most diverse areas in Oregon including majority minority census tract. ● Highest concentration of Asian Pacific Islanders ● 47% People of Color, 55% are Low Income. ● 15% Linguistic isolation
Disclaimers 1)What works in my community may not work in your community. No magic bullets. 2) Engagement pitfalls is not a “hall of shame” but an opportunity to partner. 3)Power Points are boring in community engagement. Sorry! 4)Overall goal is systems change.
● Too Little Engagement Challenge 1: ● Too Late in the Process ● Timing & No Report Back ● Agencies need to coordinate Process Matter (Community engagement fatigue)
● Logistics: Transportation not provided, childcare, interpretation, time is not valued (2 hour meeting downtown at 9 am) Challenge 2: ● Content expertise and process knowledge is required. (WTF is JPACT)? Community ● People don’t want to talk about “your” issue because there are greater needs. (bus fare too Capacity to expensive vs. e-fares) ● Keeping community engaged through multi-year Participate processes (construction begins in 2020, what about the next 3 years) ● Over reliance on consultants (trickle down community engagement and “how much engagement does $X amount get me). “ Consultants leave, you and I stay. ”
● Online outreach & the digital divide (reliance on online surveys, emails. The digital divide. How to weight input). Challenge 3: Showing Up For ● Tokenization (One “equity” group is not enough) Racial Justice ● Budgets are moral documents ● Systemic changes needed
Additional Tools in the Toolkit Put Community at the Decision Making Table & Fund Them ● Metro Project Steering Committee (Powell Division was an innovation) ● Neighborhood Prosperity Initiative Network (community control of TIF Dollars) ● Investing in in language outreach, deprioritize online ● Agencies build stronger relationships with community groups.
Strategies at APANO 1)Start with Community Visioning (See Jade District Vision or Livable Lents Plan) The Community sets the agenda. Don’t come into a neighborhood and tell them what they need. 2)Build Broad Coalitions to achieve community goals. 3)Set achievable short, medium, and long term goals. 4)Hold yourself, agencies, politicians accountable to your community vision. All your resources must be deployed strategically.
Jade District Visioning Process Held in Cantonese, Vietnamese, Russian, Spanish, and English. Priorities focused on built environment but touched upon health, education, and transportation. Individual community workshops followed by a community wide charette. Nearly 200 participants from community members across socioeconomic and age groups.
Make Visions Reality Jade District Night Market 100 Local Vendors Cultural Displays and Performances 25,000 Visitors Organizing Opportunity Now entering our 4th year Start with low-hanging, visible wins! Set the agenda.
Strategy 1: Community Organizing Community Organizing: APANO’s organizing is rooted in the belief that those most affected by an issue should be the ones shaping the solutions. This approach requires disciplined year-round work to support our members in identifying and prioritizing the issues APANO works on, building skills, knowledge and confidence through APANO campaigns, and increasingly taking on public leadership. Strong base building that can be activated for community engagement requirements. May be working on other key issues, but can weigh in effectively for community engagement.
Missing Pages of Our History Campaign The people in my house and my neighborhood should be reflected in our textbooks But also contributed to public planning, school boundary changes, access to transportation
Strategy 2: Leadership Development Leadership Development: Through an organization- wide leadership development model, APANO aims to grow the analysis, skills and confidence of Asian and Pacific Islanders to take action to improve their lives and achieve social justice for future generations. We meet people where they are, ask critical questions, discuss the issues that are impacting their lives, collectively develop shared analyses, and support them in taking action and leadership together. Appointed seats to Powell Division Steering Committee, Vision Zero Task Force, ODOT Region 1 Area Commission on Transportation, CACs, BACs. “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu”
Strategy 3: Cultural Work Cultural Work: By elevating members’ stories and connecting them to issues, APANO aims to advance a long-term cultural strategy to impact beliefs, actions and policies through centering the voices of those most impacted and silenced, resisting and shifting harmful narratives and ideas, and moving beyond defensive strategies to envisioning alternatives. We are working to create a vibrant space where artists and communities are shifting perceptions and re-envisioning an equitable world through the tool of creative expression. ● Creative Placemaking in our Neighborhood ● Funded 7 projects at $7,000 a year each year. ● Mix of permanent and Temporary (open mic or Bee Hotels) ● Created a District Arts Plan to guide work.
Cultural Work: Shifting Hearts and Minds Bringing new voices to the Table Create new neighborhood narrative
POWELL-DIVISION TRANSIT AND DEVELOPMENT PROJECT Case Study in Community Engagement Division BRT line is a 15-mile corridor ▪ Very high transit ridership ▪ Connects high schools and higher education ▪ Most diverse part of Oregon ▪ Need for public investments in East Portland ▪ Anticipated construction in 2020
22-member Project Steering Committee ▪ Communities of color Elected officials ▪ Agency leaders Neighborhood associations ▪ Educational institutions Transit riders ▪ Housing advocates Business representatives ▪ Environmental advocates Health advocates Environmental justice advocates Traditional Community Outreach ➢ Multi-Cultural Community Outreach ➢ Youth Outreach
What the Community Won Strategies Used 48 Units of Affordable Housing & Culturally Community Visioning led to property Specific Community Center acquisition from Metro TOD program. 350-650 units of new affordable housing Leadership Development & Organizing: led along Division BRT Route & Small to adoption of mitigation strategies in Business Mitigation Fund, Workforce Portland Action Plan and community Navigation. benefit agreements Commitment for new North-South Trimet Organizing & Cultural Work: Community Line in East Portland spoke, rapped, created art about this need. Funding for new Neighborhood Greenway Leadership Development: Appointment to critical ODOT’s Region 1 ACT in the 70s blocks. Added safety improvements including more Advocacy, Data, Tragedy. crosswalks, sidewalks, bike infrastructure Strong partnerships with PBOT to apply for funding in co-developed projects (RFF).
Contact Us! Duncan Hwang, Associate Director duncan@apano.org Resources Jade District Vision: http://jadedistrict.org/our-vision/ Jade Division Midway Art Plan: http://www.apano.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/JDMW-ArtPlan-Final_C.pdf Livable Lents Report & Methodology: http://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/usp_murp/131/ Oregon Solutions Project Page: http://orsolutions.org/osproject/jade-greening-project Thank you!
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