Backup - Needs Assessment Summary — original pdf

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Summary of TFCE Needs Assessment Discussions Needs assessment summary.docx Compiled from TFCE Discussions by D Miller 12-22-15 1) Make information clear, relevant and easily accessible. a. Disability accommodations i. Make the information accessible to those with special needs. b. Foreign-language access c. Notification of public hearings at Council meetings d. District / Neighborhood-centered engagement alternatives. i. People want information about what is happening in their district or what directly affects them. e. Virtual/online participation i. There is not an online tool that meets everyone’s needs and the City’s website is not meeting needs. f. People are not aware of communication and engagement tools. g. People want multiple channels and the City as a whole needs to provide multiple channels. h. Being able to filter for information on issues you care about, having curated information, not a “fire hose”. i. Find ways to maximize the impact of City communication that is put out by our strategic partners, e.g. neighbors and other organizations j. A decentralized system results in inconsistency, information being scattered and hard to find, reinventing the wheel each time and no city-wide database of people who engage and what they care about. k. There is a need for localization of information and sources need to be trustworthy. l. There is an issue with the timeliness, consistency and accuracy of information. m. The community registry could be a good tool but it is not. 2) Make it easier for people to give input in ways that are convenient, accessible and appropriate for them. a. Disability accommodations b. Foreign-language access i. Spanish translation needs vary – need to train more people so there is more capacity for translation and interpretation. ii. Use culturally relevant methods including multiple language access c. District / Neighborhood-centered engagement alternatives. i. Every district is different. District-based outreach plans would help. d. Virtual/online participation i. Create opportunities for participation that don’t require people to physically attend meetings and events. e. Need to meet people where they are at and with groups they are already involved with. a. Shouldn’t always have to have them come to the City. f. We need to offer a variety of methods and times for people to engage. i. In some cultures, the mom needs to be home in the evening. ii. It takes too much time to participate, especially for those with families. g. Choose tools and techniques that fit the norms, languages and history / relationships of diverse communities. Summary of TFCE Needs Assessment Discussions Needs assessment summary.docx Compiled from TFCE Discussions by D Miller 12-22-15 h. People in community come to efforts with negative attitudes and there is engagement fatigue. i. Need to make engagement more fun – unique approaches have worked. j. Need to find ways for people who want to participate to be put to work. k. It is challenging to engage with the City, there is meeting fatigue and people need a lot of persistence to be successful. i. Some would like to see the City use community liaisons to engage them so that they would know who to work with. 3) Explain how input will be used and show how that input had an impact on the decision made. a. People want to know in advance how their input will be used so they know giving input matters. i. There are no structures to make sure that the results of engagement are followed. b. Create a system that closes the feedback loop, so after you engage you find out what decision was made and why. i. There needs to be follow up communication. ii. There is a lack of responsiveness by the City. iii. Some Boards and Commissions are frustrated because they don’t know what happens to their recommendations and there is a lack of clarity about where their input goes. c. People are not sure what the most effective way is to get information and give input. i. There is a lack of understanding of the process for how people can engage more effectively with the city and with City Council. ii. Some feel the only way to accomplish things is to go directly to the elected officials. d. People feel they are not being heard. They want a summary of input. They need to know that they were heard as well as what was said by others. e. The ways Boards and Commissions interact with the public and whether, when and how they get input varies. i. Some feel that they are the appointed representative and their role is to provide recommendations, not to gather further input. f. Need to manage expectations – if what people want is outside the scope of an engagement, we need to tell them that 4) Ensure that everyone who cares about an issue or is impacted has the opportunity to engage and that some voices don’t count more than others. a. People think only certain people have a voice and that they don’t. b. We need processes to be fair and representative and reflect input of the entire community impacted by a decision, not just a vocal few. c. We need to focus on greater equity and proportionality. d. There is a concern that people are appointed to positions of power, such as Boards and Commissions, and they don’t necessarily have technical expertise on the issue they are working on. Summary of TFCE Needs Assessment Discussions Needs assessment summary.docx Compiled from TFCE Discussions by D Miller 12-22-15 e. When only hearing from people you have always heard from, then the challenge is knowing what needs are for everyone 5) Ensure that City staff have the support, training, tools and resources to do engagement well. a. There’s no consistency in how engagement happens across City departments. i. There is no dictate that decision making should include certain kinds of engagement. ii. Because of hands off structure and silos, everything is a recommendation rather than putting the processes and structures in place that are required. b. It varies as to how much of a priority the leadership in City departments and at City Hall give to engagement versus the other things that they have to do – for some the priority is not engagement. c. City departments don’t have the resources they need to do appropriate engagement strategies. i. PIO is overtaxed so they can’t fulfill all the needs. ii. d. City departments often are trying to work through major engagement efforts but then get pulled off because priorities change. i. They get inconsistent and fragmented direction. ii. It is a challenge to keep up with the multiple channels e. Bilingual and culturally appropriate processes are a challenge. f. Don’t have enough physical spaces / places around city to do engagement. g. Working with the website and other online tools can be hard. h. There is not enough value placed on building the skills needed to do engagement well – city staff need training. i. Needs to be organization-wide plan to coordinate efforts, leverage resources and do more than one thing when we are engaging people. i. Alignment and focus on engagement has to happen at the department head level.