2019 RFABC Conference

THE DO’S AND DON’T’S

OF COMMUNITY

ENGAGEMENT

Agenda

1. What is IAP2 ?

2. What is public participation?

3. Why public participation?

4. Overview of IAP2 Public

Participation Spectrum

5. Examples from the field

6. Questions

Carol Sheridan Oliver Parks and Recreation Society carol@oliverrecreation.ca

Cheryl Wiebe District of Peachland cwiebe@peachland.ca

What is IAP2?

• An International Association for

Public Participation

• High quality training for public

participation practitioners

• Certificate programs (3)

• Annual conferences

• Foundations of public

participation

• Effective tools for the practitioners

What is public participation?

IAP2 defines public participation as:

• Facilitation

• Communication

• Public Relations

• Conflict Resolution

• Mediation

• Organizational development

Why Public Participation?

• Acknowledges the desire of

humans to participate in decisions

that affect them

• Facilitates understanding of both

the problems and opportunities as

well as the available solutions

• Improved decision making

Inform – Emergency Operations Centres

• Trained Information Officers

develop and release emergency

information to the public

• Communicates about the

emergency incident.

• Media relations, public

information line, social media,

and website updates.

Consult – Oliver Park Improvement Plan

• Public surveys with questions to recover

qualitative and quantitative input on the

current state and usage of parks (mail out and

online, total of 130 responded)

• Stakeholder Engagement Presentations (10)

• Public Open Houses (2) to vet the plan and set

priorities

• http://www.oliverrecreation.ca/park-

improvement-plan/

Involve – Chevallier Playground

• Partnered with the Grade 6 students at

Peachland Elementary

• Workshop to inform – project, challenges,

opportunities

• Students were tasked to research and write a

persuasive letter to the Director

• Workshop to develop consensus around

“type” of playground the students wanted

• By consensus…they decided they wanted to

be surprised!

And draw us a picture….

■ Turning

■ Twisting

■ Zipping

■ Crawling

■ Skipping

■ Falling

■ Rolling

■ Running

■ Jumping

■ Climbing

■ Sliding

■ Bouncing

■ Hanging

■ Swinging

■ Spinning

■ Stretching

Action Words To Describe Playground Fun:

The Results

THEN NOW

Collaborate- Kiwanis Outdoor Fitness Park

• Oliver Healthy Living Coalition established

priorities for free, outdoor fitness activities for

older adults

• UBCM Age Friendly Community Grant ($15K)

• Formation of an Age-Friendly Park Advisory

Committee (stakeholders and citizen

volunteers) guided by OPRS staff

• Surveys (258), focus groups (10) and

public open houses (2) were

completed and the resulting input

was used to develop the design of

park and to create and award the RFQ for outdoor fitness equipment

• Location choice required the

development of alternatives and a

need for staff to build consensus but

have the final decision

Empower – Oliver Arena Improvements

• Inform public on results of life cycle costing

through stakeholder engagement meetings

• Class D survey and concept design options

• CCRI grant application (pending) to recover

73.3% of the full project costs $8.7M

• 2020 referendum to approve borrowing bylaw

for the 26.7% of the project costs that would be

covered by the RDOS or if grant app is

unsuccessful for the replacement of brine lines

and slab (approx. $2.1M)

• Referendum result (YES/NO) will determine the

future of the facility

Highlights (“do’s”) and

Pitfalls (“don’ts”)

from around our Province

Please share your community engagement

successes and stories…

How IAP2 can help you with public participation:

• Systematic and thoughtful 5 step approach that considers:

• Stakeholders and decision maker identification

• Review and refine the problem/opportunity

• Select participation levels

• Defined process and objectives

• Establishing the plan

• Professionals who understand:

• The foundations of public participation

• The core values for the practice of public participation

• Benefits of involving the public

• Adhere to a code of ethics

• RFP/RFQ preparation/review

• High quality practitioners (City of Kelowna Engage Kelowna policy requires IAP2 accreditation or equivalent)

https://www.iap2.org/

https://iap2canada.ca/