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Cultivating Representative Civic Leadership

From the 2022 Spring Conference

“Growing Local: Emerging Leadership in Southern Minnesota” tackles the intersection of representation, outreach, engagement, and the pipeline to leadership. Civic leaders in Northfield, Minnesota recognized the need to draw new people into the field, to cultivate capable and diverse leadership, specifically for boards, commissions, and committees. Similar to many communities, few Northfield residents understand that these opportunities exist, let alone how to pursue them. In the absence of emergent and representative leadership, the way remains accessible only for the same small and connected group to lead.

The City of Northfield, the University of Minnesota, the school district, three community-based nonprofits, and an Advisory Group developed a program that recruited and paired participants and coaches. The participants, ordinary citizens, would gain new leadership skills, connections, and confidence in local government during the four-month course. The coaches, area residents with experience serving on boards, were tasked with guiding them through the program, providing insight, and answering questions. At the same time, city commission and board chairs were trained, along with their staff liaisons, on inclusive and equitable leadership. 



To guide their training, chairpersons asked themselves what would make “growing local” participants feel more included. Participants answered. Some responses requested active invitations to join; they were unaware of vacancies and wanted to be sought out. Participants also mentioned that it would require convincing people of color to join a group with no diversity. During the course, they met to discuss the motivations for leadership, communication styles and outreach, barriers to participation, and how government boards operate.
 

Since its inception in 2020, there have been two graduating cohorts and 41 board members, commissioners, and staff trained. This program’s structure has become self-reinforcing. With partnerships where everyone gains, the momentum builds. Participants become emerging leaders with greater access to board and commissions, who can eventually consult as an Advisory Group member, and then coach the new class of participants.

The Midwest Chapter thanks the 2022 Conference Presenters:

  • Beth Kallestad, founding Program Coordinator, City of Northfield
  • Jennyffer Barrientos, Director of Growing Up Healthy
  • Jocelyn Hernandez Swanson, Extension Educator, University of MN Extension Center for Community Vitality 
  • Lisa Hinz, Extension Educator, University of MN Extension Center for Community Vitality

CHAPTER HAPPENINGS
2023 Annual General Meeting

The Midwest Chapter held its 2023 Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Friday, March 10, 2023. The purpose of the meeting was to provide chapter members and friends an update on the activities of the past year and plans for the coming year. View the AGM presentation here or reach out to a board member for more information (see the Chapter website for board member contact information).
Meeting People Where They Are in Public Participation

The 2023 Spring Conference is just SIX weeks away! The conference will be held May 3 - 5, 2023, at the Eagan Community Center in Eagan, MN.

The Conference Planning Committee recently released the schedule, which is full of informative sessions, interesting panels, and engaging social events! Many of the conference sessions are also eligible for CM credits through the American Planning Associations AICP Certification Maintenance program.

Registration is open through April 14 and includes:

  • More than 20 conference sessions to choose from
  • Wednesday lunch and evening happy hour
  • Thursday breakfast, lunch, and evening event with food and drinks
  • Friday breakfast
Cost:
  • IAP2 Member - $175
  • Non-Member - $215
  • Student - $90
A limited number of affordability scholarships will be awarded based on need. Scholarship submission requests will be accepted until April 1, 2023, and applicants notified by email on the status of their application by April 15, 2023
Register for the Conference

We know there are many choices when it comes to professional development, and we hope you consider attending the 2023 Spring Conference. As such, we've developed a Reasons to Attend handout that can be used to support budget and training requests.

Visit the conference website for more information.

Pre-Conference Training Sessions

The Midwest Chapter is also offering two optional add-on trainings in conjunction with the 2023 Spring Conference. These trainings will be held the morning of Wednesday, May 3, from 8 am to noon. The conference will then kick-off with a general session over lunch.

Training Option #1
Inclusive Thinking in Engagement Planning: Strategies for Incorporating Diverse Perspectives

$125

This training session is designed to help engagement practitioners facilitate inclusive thinking amongst their teams and colleagues. It is intended to raise awareness of the importance of actively engaging the diverse perspectives of project team members to support engagement planning.

The workshop will cover a variety of topics including:
  • Understanding biases and its impact on engagement planning within project teams
  • Techniques for actively seeking out and considering diverse perspectives amongst project teams
  • Principles for inclusive thinking that promotes open dialogue amongst project team
By the end of the workshop, participants will have a better understanding of the importance of inclusive thinking and the need to actively seek out and consider diverse perspectives into their engagement planning work with project teams.

Trainer: Maria deBruijn, Emerge Solutions, Inc.
Training Option #2
Stakeholder Mapping: Identifying And Analyzing Underrepresented Stakeholders 

$125

This course introduces a powerful, transparent process to identify and analyze key stakeholders for any engagement project – a critical step in an ethical and equity-centered engagement design. After understanding the theory and purpose, participants use short cases to practice stakeholder mapping.

Participants will learn how to identify and analyze the full spectrum of stakeholders, with special emphasis on underrepresented stakeholders who need additional outreach/support to ensure inclusive engagement. For each case, the group learns how to “clean” and finalize the map, and then discusses implementation challenges and how to overcome them.

Participants leave ready to conduct thorough, defensible stakeholder mapping that identifies underrepresented stakeholders, and use the results to plan and successfully implement inclusive engagement.

Trainer: Anne Carroll, Carroll, Franck & Associates
Pre-Conference Training Registration

Space is limited for each of the trainings. Don't delay in registering!

Conference Sponsors

A big THANK YOU to our 2023 Spring Conference sponsors!

Do you know someone who might be interested in these updates? Be sure to forward this email along!
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