“People of color in America have been forced to know fear, but we are anchored in hope. That's why I encourage you to seek the leadership of people of color in your communities during this time. Center the experiences of people most directly impacted by the virus and economic fallout. Our voices should be included in designing solutions to a pandemic that will disproportionally affect us.”

- Lea Whitehurst-Gibson, Executive Director, Virginia Community Voice

This has been a spring unlike any other. It’s hard to find the words that adequately express the intensity and myriad of feelings I’ve had over the last two months as my family has worked to adapt to a new routine and way of living that is physically distant but in some ways more socially connected. I’ve struggled with how best to respond and support my community where so many are hurting whether as front line workers and first responders, or those unsure where their next meal will come from, how they will pay rent, and where they will rest their heads. And I’ve struggled professionally with how to effectively do my consulting work at a time when everyone is distanced from one another, when my clients are facing uncertainty about their future, and where funding and policy priorities are shifting daily. While physical distancing isolates us, strangely, the fact that we are all sharing these same struggles has never made me feel more connected.

During this uncertainty, I am reminded time and again by what is certain --- that creating more inclusive, resilient, and healthy communities is essential to our economic future. In my work with the Strong, Prosperous and Resilient Communities (SPARCC) we released last month our principles for an Equitable and Just Recovery. We join many other organizations and community leaders in hoping that the current crisis and the severe inequities it has exposed create a springboard for addressing systemic and institutionalized racism that embeds segregation and racial disparities including economic and health vulnerabilities.

Against this backdrop we see repeated reminders of how pervasive and perverse the existing systems are that we need to tackle. To name just a few:

the disproportionate amount of federal small business aid that went to large corporations and political donors, versus small, minority-owned entrepreneurs.
the failure of Congress to provide adequate relief funding for state and local governments who are providing front line service.
the growing numbers of deaths among people of color, especially African Americans and Native Americans, the latter of whom have still not received federal CARES Act funding. In the city I call home, 14 out of 15 Richmonders who have died as a result of the virus are Black.
the rigidity of regulatory systems and planning processes designed to protect the rights of the privileged and resist change that can better serve renters, the environment, public health, etc.

When we see inequity perpetuated during a time of such great need, we can choose to become complacent or we can choose to act. Our new COVID19 reality provides us an opening to have the hard conversations that before were considered below the surface for many. We are reminded of some important truths. We have always been reliant on grocery store workers. We all rely on transit to get people to their essential jobs, even if we are not the ones riding. We are all at risk when people are denied healthcare or sleep on the streets. As Beth Osborne with Transportation for America notes, “There will be no 'going back to normal.' That's both scary but also freeing. Let's create a better new normal."

So how do we navigate a more just and equitable “normal?” The essential first step is to be clear on who is defining and shaping the conversations we need to have. As the opening quote of this blog hopefully makes clear, we need the experiences of people most directly impacted to guide us.

Over the past several weeks, MZ Strategies has been working with all of our clients to navigate online community engagement with an eye towards equity. Some have delayed engagement, all are testing new tools and online platforms, and each have adjusted expectations. In some instances, we are seeing that online engagement allows for greater transparency and more flexible opportunities for people to access information and comment. More common though, we recognize the limitations of reaching those who are most impacted, those who don’t speak or read English, those who don’t have access to broadband or a device that allows for full engagement, or those whom are simply too overwhelmed by trauma, exhaustion, or information overload.

Prior to COVID19, we knew that much of the community outreach happening in cities large and small was not framed around community agency or ownership by people of color. The International Association for Public Participation provides numerous tools to help move along the engagement spectrum, but it doesn’t explicitly elevate equity.

Public engagement processes have improved since I started my planning career when a posted public notice was often the extent of outreach. Yet despite a stronger emphasis on expanding community engagement to include things like charrettes, town halls and open house meetings held in neighborhoods, or online polling and web-based platforms, community engagement is often defined and shaped by outside actors (consultants or government staff in positions of power or privilege) coming to the community asking for input on solutions or problems defined outside of the neighborhood. We come and ask community members to care about this comprehensive planning effort, or that proposed transportation project, or something similar. We have a harder time, as planners, letting the community we are trying to reach define the problem or be partners in the decision making around solutions and investments.

Adapting to use online whiteboard and facilitation tools for the kinds of engagement activities advanced pre-COVID19 has been a test. Yet the principles of equitable engagement remain, with community helping to design and implement. (Source: PLCC Ho… — Adapting to use online whiteboard and facilitation tools for the kinds of engagement activities advanced pre-COVID19 has been a test. Yet the principles of equitable engagement remain, with community helping to design and implement. (Source: PLCC Housing Strategy)

Last month the SPARCC initiative hosted a virtual learning conversation with partners across our six regions to explore strategies to engage for equity. (Click here to watch the You Tube Video of this 90-minute session). A key attribute in this work is to adopt community-based engagement approaches. This can take a number of forms. And let me be clear, the priority should be on community-based organizations led by people of color that can demonstrate a commitment and practice of working with a diverse set of community voices. One community leader does not represent an entire community.

Community-based organizations can serve as engagement intermediaries. Through grants or contracts, these organizations can fund and partner with other neighborhood, business or justice organizations to tap and knit together the myriad of networks that each has with different populations. These trusted partners can help to create two-way lines of communications between government and community, and between different community groups and neighborhoods.

Government can adopt a set of principles and budget priorities to formalize and embed equitable engagement priorities. Cities like Minneapolis, MN; Durham, NC, King County, WA, and Oakland, CA are among the places taking these approaches and now working to implement equitable engagement blueprints. Defining and valuing staff roles and responsibilities to include cultural competency training and community liaison work are additional strategies that can be taken, and groups like Race Forward have been working with a number of local governments in this work. Clear accountability and shared understanding around outcomes is another essential ingredient to designing and monitoring equitable engagement. The SPARCC December 2019 publication, Inclusive Investment Starts with Equitable Engagement, details these and other strategies that are being taken by government, developers, and community organizations to engage for equity.

In doing this work, the support of philanthropy remains critical. In almost every community I have worked in over the past two decades, some of the most innovative and inclusive engagement work was supported by local and/or national funders. As funders re-prioritize in light of COVID19, it is important they recognize that investing in the ability of local non-profits to organize and engage with community members remains vital and interconnected to their broader work.

Click here to watch the You Tube Video of this 90-minute session

But how do we translate this to a COVID19 engagement world? After numerous conversations with a variety of clients, I find that the answer is simple. We need to take the same equitable engagement steps whether we are meeting in person or virtually. It can be tempting during this time when everyone is feeling overwhelmed and scrambling to adopt to “the new normal” to retreat to what we did before, or what is expedient. Planning and tech firms are offering to help design and implement online engagement strategies quickly for government clients.

Undeniably there is some tech savvy required with utilizing tools like WebEx, Zoom, Social Pinpoint, Miro, etc. but, these skills can be mastered with enough time and practice. Plug and play platforms do NOT help with the larger and more challenging need to truly engage community, especially those who are most impacted by the current crisis and recovery strategies. We still need community-based organizations to be equal partners in this work. They remain the closest to those we must involve, and likely have the best solutions to offer. Engaging them in a new equitable online future also helps to ensure that leaders in these communities are receiving the training, resources, and tech tools they need to thrive in their own broader work whether that is helping to provide food, shelter, legal aid, health care, arts and culture, or job training.

This pandemic has made us realize the undeniable reality of humanity’s interconnectedness. It is more acutely felt by its physical absence, but also by the way it refuses to cease. Each day we experiment with Zoom, social media or even old-fashioned connections like phone calls, leaving notes on doorsteps, and honking car horns for birthday parades. We seek out connection and new ways to sustain and deepen it while at the same time longing for its physical manifestation. In that vein, I offer up this set of resources for Building Resilience, Leadership in Uncertainty and Virtual Gathering Capacity curated by my dear friend and sometimes collaborator, Odin Zackman of DIG IN and Network Ecology.

And last, but no means least, this #GivingTuesday, I invite you to join me in supporting the local organizations working in your own communities to make them more inclusive, resilient and healthy. The need and the opportunity have never been greater.