News Archive
Feb 2006: The City of Minneapolis Hires a Community Engagement Coordinator
In response to City Council direction in 2004, The Communications Department
was given the responsibility of coordinating Community Engagement (CE)
activities in the City of Minneapolis, with the goal of making it easier for
staff and more effective and consistent for residents. As a result of
several work groups and input gathered from internal and external sources, a
Community Engagement Process Model Guidebook has been developed.
The CE
Process-Model Guidebook will:
Help City departments incorporate the CE Process Model around
decision-making into their business practices.
Enhance and standardize CE practices encouraging collaboration and
integration among departments and communities.
Better manage resident expectations citywide and solicit valuable input when
appropriate
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT COORDINATOR
Another task developed by the consultants was the definition of the
Community Engagement Coordinator’s position. The position will function as
an advisor for City departments in the area of CE, as well as an interface
with external communities, in order to gain experience and resources to
better support City departments.
The hiring process is now completed. Our new CE Coordinator is Clara Ugarte
Perrin. Clara holds an MBA in International Business from St. Mary’s
University. She brings to the city extensive experience working with
communities in Latin America. Her background as Corporate Image Manager for
61 airports in Perú gave her the opportunity to work closely engaging
communities from different areas of the country. One of her most rewarding
challenges was to organize engagement efforts while building three new
airports in major cities, ensuring appropriate levels of collaboration from
the communities impacted by those projects. As a volunteer, she has
contributed her bilingual capabilities and professional experience to
nonprofit organizations, such as: the United Nations, NE Minneapolis Chamber
of Commerce, American Cancer Society, MN Friends of the Orphans and the
International Honor Society of Business Administrators. Finally, she serves
as Board Member for the Sheridan Neighborhood Organization in Northeast
Minneapolis, and is actively involved in community building activities.
Clara can be reached at 612-673-3163 (office), 612-240-9241 (cell), or at
clara.perrin@ci.minneapolis.mn.us
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT WORK PLAN
One of the first priorities for 2006 will be to develop 6 training modules
as a component of the training program that will be delivered to all City
departments on the CE Process Model. The training will begin with a pilot
group consisting of 20 City employees representing different departments,
who will be applying the CE Process Model to real future CE projects.
A second goal for this year is support City departments to ensure effective
application of the CE process into specific projects. Every project is
unique and departments will have the flexibility to adapt the Process Model
to their specific needs. The CE coordinator will advise City departments in
this process and will help them identify opportunities for developing CE
activities in the future.
A third, and equally important goal, is to foster more interdepartmental
cooperation and communication in respect to CE activities to guarantee a
more effective use of resources, creating a stronger CE effort and
ultimately improving services for the residents of Minneapolis.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT ADVISORY GROUP
In order to accomplish the third goal, and as a result of the
recommendations expressed during the focus groups and individual meetings
performed by the consultants, the City will be developing a cross-functional
advisory team.
The purpose of this group will be to provide advice and cooperation on CE
initiatives as well as to proactively support the implementation of the CE
Process Model in City departments. The CE Advisory Group will monitor the
effectiveness of CE practices to measure progress, and if necessary, refine
practices. This will be a process of continual improvement. The CE Advisory
Group will have a broad representation from City departments.
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Sept 2005: Gretchen Nicholls' response to the draft Minneapolis Community Engagement Process Guidebook
***
June 2005: Jim Diers, former Director of the City of Seattle's Department of Neighborhoods and author of Neighbor Power, visited the Twin Cities in June