|
|
Burnsville Community Conversation Forum Results
THEME 4: Foster civic engagement to support other planning teams.
Who should be invited to develop tools, facilitate, and utilize technology creatively?
- Young entrepreneurs should be invited.
- Youth (need to go where they are).
- Facilitators – Chamber has a Human Resources Round Table.
- Seniors (they have time)
- Faith Communities
- Day Cares
- Sports
- Festivals – International “All That Jazz”
- PAC
- PTO
- Booster Clubs
- Gather around a theme
- Senior Center under Community Ed/schools – not Park & Rec like Shakopee.
- Subsidized housing (provide job skills, training, who lives there?).
- Need more diverse representation (identify barriers) – immigrants – minority groups.
- Focus on housing units and religious groups.
- Access existing groups and leaders within.
- Aggressive, effective outreach is necessary.
- Chamber, Rotary, Tech Companies.
- Some cultures do not embrace our version of civic engagement.
- Language is a barrier to overcome.
- Need creative methods to make connections.
- Identify leaders from businesses – large and small.
- Key is to have “diverse” workforce and leadership.
- Suggest person to person outreach to form groups.
- Engage new culture communities.
- Any new group coming into the community.
- Engage surrounding communities.
- Use child care systems, etc. – create core group to speak to the community.
- Marketing effort – Brand Burnsville.
- Identify and engage people or groups who have expertise or vested interest in Themes 1-3.
- Engage cultural leadership.
- Workforce Development Center has other groups already formed.
- Engage folks that are at risk of poverty, etc.
- Engage 45 and under through technology.
- PC’s for people – people have access to data, internet access, and phone.
- Facebook, Twitter, Text
- Cisco Systems – Technology company – Tim Graco possible team member to represent Burnsville.
- Possible people involved at Frontier Phone or Comcast Cable to get involved.
- Scouting organizations
- Housing associations
- Have a Craig’s List of volunteer opportunities and connections – sort of a clearinghouse based on the web matching people with their interests/needs.
How do we gain increased levels of support and participation?
- We get these people by word of mouth.
- Approach civic engagement through neighborhoods – Burnsville is made up of various neighborhoods.
- Give them a vision to attract them.
- Support each other.
- What will attract people to stay in the community – especially the youth?
- Reach children through moms and dads. The challenge is working moms.
- Reach people through Neighborhood Watch – Burnsville has a high amount of ready made communities and groups through this program – could we communicate the vision through those groups. They are already linked in technology.
- Most effective to have a variety of people working together to bring forth the vision – that will draw people in – WORK TOGETHER!
- Go to their neighborhoods.
- Participants would need to “check baggage at the door”.
- Bringing people together “on same page” for whole intergenerational activities.
- Importance of input from participants to encourage continuing attendance at meetings.
- Possibility to integrate and use Community TV to further the participation and bring the word to the community.
- Possible neighborhood “meetings” – less intimidating than formal meetings.
- Possible web conference or Skype – utilizing web seminars.
- Broad communication – not just through technology to accommodate the various cultures and diversity currently in Burnsville (i.e., senior center, backyard conversations, International Festival, Fire Muster, Jazz Festival). How can we get the word out at these events.
- Communicate that there are over 57 different languages spoken at the Burnsville High School.
- Provide interpreters at community events.
- Provide childcare at community meetings that will require adult input.
|