Notes of the Dialogue to Action Steering Committee 4/20/15

In attendance: Lisa Theis (D2CC), Leslie McMurray (PPD5PC), Christine Shyne (WSCO), Jens Werner (SUD8), Nicole Pressley (DBCC), Betsy Leach (D1, fiscal agent), Chia Lor (facilitator/coordinator)

Setting Ground Rules for all meetings:

·         Assume best intentions

·         Apply the ouch rule

·         Start and finish on time

·         Define next steps and be clear about next steps

·         Confidentiality applies if asked for

·         Use efficient reporting/ be transparent

·         Hold each other accountable

·         Stay on task

·         Empower the facilitator to hold us to these rules

·         Add rules as needed

Memoranda of Understanding: signed MOUs have now been received from D2, PPD5PC, WSCO. Both DBCC and SUD8 are finalizing their agreements

Questions about the structure of the project: How does this steering committee interact with the Community Action Team (CAT)? The CAT has responsibility to develop the substantive framework for the dialogues and the actual curriculum used. Steering Committee members are not required to participate in the CAT as well as this group, but are welcome to attend and to encourage community members to participate. However, if Steering Committee members do attend the CAT, they are asked to take a back seat to the community members. In addition, minutes or a summary of the CAT meetings will be posted. Suggestion is made to use the District 1 blog (district1council.blogspot.com) as the public posting site of minutes/summary of both CAT and Steering Cmte.

Collaborative Inventory: Members of the Steering Cmte completed a pre-project inventory to document our feelings and positions regarding collaborative work. The facilitator will tabulate the results. The same inventory will be completed at the end of the project to help us understand what learning we have gained as partners while going through this process. This pre- and post-“test” will help us report back to the funder and to incorporate lessons learned in future collaborative work.

Discussion of Timeline and Budget: A timeline was laid out, discussed and modified to assure that the logistical matters will be take care of and so that participants and partners can understand where they fit it. Milestones for meeting our goals are incorporated with the expectation that the dialogues themselves will take place between September and the first of December.  Suggestion that facilitator send out a spreadsheet to all members so that they can add their major events into the timeline, thereby avoiding conflict in scheduling the dialogues. Suggestion was made to set locations and dates as early as possible. Steering Cmte will probably not need to meet monthly once the dialogues begin. Coordinator will step back and assist the dialogue facilitators as they manage the individual sessions once the dialogues begin.

The budget presented needs to be updated with current numbers. Betsy will provide an updated budget prior to the next meeting. Cmte went through the budget line by line in order to understand what monies are available to participants, facilitators, district council staff, and steering committee members. Suggestion was made that there be clear front-end expectations for receipt of stipends from all types of participants. Discussion focused on stipends designated for dialogue participants and the need to maximize the number of participants for an effective dialogue. Decision was made to focus on what individuals need to cover costs of participation such as transportation, child care costs, and so on. In kind donations of printing and supplies from Steering Cmte members will help offset some of the reduction in these line items. Approved amended budget.

Discussion also focused on training issues for the facilitators. Questions included who does it, what role does Everyday Democracy play, how does it happen. Everyday Democracy has made it clear that they remain available as consultants throughout this work, but that the training from here on out needs to come from those who have already participated. Decision was made that we will work with the Cross Cultural Dialogue group around these concerns.

Project Logistics: Facilitator outlined the relation between the parts of this project. There are three sets of dialogues that are planned – police/community/youth dialogues, other city departments/community dialogue, and the PED/district council dialogues. The other departments that the CAT is focusing on are the Department of Safety and Inspections (DSI) and the Department of Parks and Recreation. McMurray asked how we can assure that an equity lens is foremost in these dialogues. Shyne noted that there are other efforts underway to examine DSI. Lor noted that Minneapolis (Hope Community) already has an equity lens tool for use in questioning Parks and Recreation decisions, that they are willing to share. Decision was made that we need to assure that these dialogues 1) focus clearly on equity, and 2) remain city-wide in application.

The PED dialogue remains the least well-defined. McMurray noted that 1) we need to ally ourselves with change-makers already working in PED, and 2) think about the "Racially Concentrated Areas of Poverty" and how decisions are made about which developments are steered to these areas.  Other areas of concern noted were 1) how PED decides which projects’ developers are encouraged to make early contact with district councils, and 2) how this dialogue intersects with other district council efforts to examine the Capital Improvement Budget (CIB) process. Decision was made that this track of the D2A needs a separate planning team that can establish clear goals. Discussion of this decision is to be added to the next Steering Cmte agenda.

Next Steps:

·         Updated budget prior to next meeting (Betsy)

·         Spreadsheet of timeline sent to  Steering Cmte mbrs to add major events (Chia)

·         Agenda sent prior to next meeting (with PED planning team & goals discussion included – Chia)

·         Send at least one new community member to next CAT meeting ( first Monday of month – May 4, 5:30-7:30p at Eastside Freedom Library, 1105 Greenbrier St. 55106 – all Steering Cmte mbrs)

·         Signed MOUs sent to district1council@gmail.com (DBCC and SUD8)

·         Spread the word about the CAT meetings (all Steering Cmte mbrs)

·         Recruiting other district councils through discussion with Ambassador Team (Christine, Lisa, Jens, Betsy)

·         One page of talking points about the project for district councils (Chia and Betsy)

·         Next meeting of Steering Cmte – Monday, May 11, 10a-12p, at D1 office, 2105 ½ Old Hudson