SET STRUCTURES
PLAY #4: CREATE ACCOUNTABILITY
We hold our planning process together with clear accountability.
WHAT WE LEARNED:
Think back to Play #3 where you defined the scope and scale of a resident-led process for your neighborhood.
There is also a need to hold other partners accountable to your process, deliverables, and values. Service providers, funders, city officials, and consultants are ultimately accountable to residents in a resident-led planning process. Think through each of the partners you will work with. What does it look like to hold them accountable to your group’s values and process? How can you keep them and yourself accountable throughout your process?
Lisa Potts West End Resident/Steering Committee Advisor & Kevin Wright, Founder and Principal, Yard & Co.
“Yard’s budget talked about putting money back into the community via the ambassador process.” – Lisa Potts
WECOLLAB HIGHLIGHT:
The weCollab Steering Committee Members agreed to center racial equity in their process which informed decisions they made and ultimately, the final plan. During their planning partner reselection, they requested research on characteristics of equitable planning. When it came time to review proposals from planning partner candidates, the residents used these characteristics as a rubric to select a new partner. One component of the rubric was to advance economic opportunity and mobility. The candidate weCollab ultimately chose, Yard & Co. (referred to as “Yard”) proposed an “ambassador” program to pay residents to do the community engagement. Considering the proposals, resident and Steering Committee Advisor, Lisa Potts reflected on Yard’s proposal, “Yard’s budget talked about putting money back into the community via the ambassador process.” Reading this in the candidate’s Proposal, the residents were reminded of their commitment to racial equity through economic opportunity and mobility. They remained accountable to this value and hired the planning firm that aligned with this goal.
Monique Thomas, Executive Director, Cornerstone Corporation
PRACTICE EXERCISES
Create checkpoints 6 months, 9 months, and one year into the planning work. Look at where expectations are being met and where they are not. Use your “Define Scope + Scale” activity as a rubric. Then identify an action the group can take to get the accountability you are looking for, and who will lead it.
REFLECTION PROMPTS
(for each player)
RESIDENTS
- Do proposals you receive from consultants or partners align with your original goals for the planning process? Refer to the Phase 1 Tactics Checklist
- How have your expectations or aspirations changed from when you started? Are you making decisions based on current conditions or older ones?
- How are you practicing and encouraging curiosity and speaking up when something is unclear or not meeting your expectations?
NEIGHBORHOOD-BASED ORGS
- How can you hold stakeholders accountable to the commitments they make or expect from others?
- What is realistic for your organization to contribute to recruiting and managing involvement from new stakeholders – whether individual residents, or deep-pocketed corporations?
- What capacity do you have to help staff functions of the planning process?
FUNDERS
- How do you structure funding processes to implement what you learn with each new neighborhood you fund?
- Who is responsible for sharing and institutionalizing learnings for resident-led planning within your organization?
- How do your impact indicators uphold your commitment to resident leadership?
CONSULTANTS
- Does your planning proposal directly address the aspirations your client expressed?
- What checks and balances do you have in place to preserve resident voice and influence in the plan recommendations you make?
- What experiences have you planned for in the process that allow you to experience life in the neighborhood alongside residents?
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
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In any meetings with residents, how transparent are you with the “why” behind the decisions you make and how they impact residents directly?
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What engagement metrics for development proposals strengthen your department’s commitment to resident leadership? Are there any you can add?
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Do your timelines realistically allow for residents to meaningfully engage in your processes?
PLAY #5: STAFFING & ROLES
We set ourselves up for success by defining clear roles and functions, and by hiring capable, dedicated staff.
WHAT WE LEARNED:
In a resident-led planning process, designated support roles are crucial to enhance resident leaders’ work. These roles—discussion facilitator, process coordinator, and outreach/engagement coordinator—improve effectiveness and inclusivity. They can be filled by staff, consultants, or community volunteers, and early establishment contributes to success and efficiency.
The Discussion Facilitator assists with session topics, group agreements, ensuring everyone is heard, summarizing insights, reaching agreement, and managing conflicts. Rotating volunteers can prevent burnout if staff cannot be hired to fill this role.
The Process Coordinator manages communication, day-to-day operations, scheduling, materials, timelines, and stakeholder engagement, ensuring consistency throughout the process.
The Outreach and Engagement Coordinator, ideally a resident, identifies community involvement opportunities, collaborates with consultants, and organizes outreach efforts utilizing their deep knowledge of the neighborhood.
WECOLLAB HIGHLIGHT:
Hindsight shows that early incorporation of staff could have expedited timelines, minimized errors, and clarified decisions. After much hesitation, residents identified the needed roles and requested that Invest STL staff facilitate discussions, Cornerstone Corporation collaborate as the Process Coordinator, and a resident was hired as the Outreach and Engagement Coordinator to gather feedback and input from neighbors on plan direction and priorities.
Dara Eskridge, CEO, Invest STL
Hear Dara talk about Staffing & Roles in Resident-led Neighborhood planning.
PRACTICE EXERCISES
As a group, write job descriptions for your dream staff for each role recommended to be a part of your planning process. Include responsibilities, requirements, and qualifications. Download this job description template to get started.
REFLECTION PROMPTS
(for each player)
RESIDENTS
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Who do you picture when you think about the face of your neighborhood?
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What types of personalities do you think would connect well with the people of your neighborhood?
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What behaviors or actions can you look for in neighborhood planning support staff to earn your groups’ trust?
NEIGHBORHOOD-BASED ORGS
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What support might you offer towards staffing in the planning process?
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How can others support you in fulfilling some of the staffing needs in this process? What functions require the most technical support/development for your current skills and capacities?
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What ways can you foresee a sustained role for your organization in supporting resident-led work beyond the planning process?
FUNDERS
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How can you help your funded partners identify what staffing they may need to support the process?
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When funding a role, what supports do you have to help funded partners in the hiring process?
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Beyond funding, what ways can you leverage your organization to support filling roles or functions in the planning process and particularly in support of resident leadership?
CONSULTANTS
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What functions will need to be performed by others outside of your consulting team?
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How can you support all collaborators in honoring and reinforcing resident leadership as the center of the collaborative structure?
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What signals might you look for that a role is being fulfilled effectively or may need to be better supported or reassigned?
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
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What supports might you offer towards staffing in the planning process?
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What technical skill building can you offer to those stepping in to staff the process?
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How can you support all collaborators in honoring and reinforcing resident leadership as the center of the collaborative structure?
PLAY #6: PARTNERSHIPS
We strategically align our teams for more efficient, effective effort toward our neighborhoods goals.
WHAT WE LEARNED:
Partnership is when at least two willing entities form a relationship to address shared objectives. Various types of partnerships are helpful in neighborhood planning. Technical assistance, funding, programmatic support, service delivery, engagement, (look at glossary for the definitions) and the relationships between residents themselves, impact the outcome and feel of the development process. Taking time to select the best partners and being clear about needs and expectations upfront help prevent complications. The most important partnership is between residents to ensure they are all working toward the same goal and bringing their neighbors along.
WECOLLAB HIGHLIGHT:
The success of weCollab’s plan stemmed from strategic partnerships. As the residents got into planning, they realized the planning lead they were assigned with the funding wasn’t the best fit for their goals. We helped them understand why the planning lead wasn’t meeting their expectations, identify what they would look for in a new planning lead, and create an RFP to select a new planning lead. Residents found this degree of partnership very helpful though uncommon. Knowing what you need, having the courage to ask, and then acting on the ask is key to forming strong partnerships.
PRACTICE EXERCISES
Create a visual representation of all active groups and key players involved in or influenced by the neighborhood planning process. List their names on sticky notes, one per organization/individual. Arrange them on a wall based on their operations and accountability to residents. Identify existing functions and any gaps. Sample functions include funding, programs, city coordination, marketing, technical assistance, community engagement, and stakeholder engagement.
REFLECTION PROMPTS
(for each player)
RESIDENTS
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Who do you picture when you think about the face of your neighborhood?
-
What types of personalities do you think would connect well with the people of your neighborhood?
-
What behaviors or actions can you look for in neighborhood planning support staff to earn your groups’ trust?
NEIGHBORHOOD-BASED ORGS
-
What support might you offer towards staffing in the planning process?
-
How can others support you in fulfilling some of the staffing needs in this process? What functions require the most technical support/development for your current skills and capacities?
-
What ways can you foresee a sustained role for your organization in supporting resident-led work beyond the planning process?
CONSULTANTS
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What functions will need to be performed by others outside of your consulting team?
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How can you support all collaborators in honoring and reinforcing resident leadership as the center of the collaborative structure?
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What signals might you look for that a role is being fulfilled effectively or may need to be better supported or reassigned?
FUNDERS
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How can you help your funded partners identify what staffing they may need to support the process?
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When funding a role, what supports do you have to help funded partners in the hiring process?
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Beyond funding, what ways can you leverage your organization to support filling roles or functions in the planning process and particularly in support of resident leadership?
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
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What supports might you offer towards staffing in the planning process?
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What technical skill building can you offer to those stepping in to staff the process?
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How can you support all collaborators in honoring and reinforcing resident leadership as the center of the collaborative structure?
PLAY #7: MANAGING PARTNERSHIPS
We keep partnerships thriving and working for the benefit of the neighborhood.
WHAT WE LEARNED:
Selecting partners is just a part of the process; managing and interacting with them are equally critical. When managing partners, you are competing for attention, resources, and alignment of motives. Some partners actively contribute to the planning process, while others are impacted by the plan’s outcomes and may need to prepare or respond. Understanding their roles and intentions is crucial for building and maintaining relationships, whether with a paid consultant, volunteer, or stakeholder. Their role in your process will influence what information you share, how you approach them, the timing of your interactions, and your expectations. Managing Partnerships can be easier if you’ve taken the time to detail the scope, roles, and expectations for each specific partnership.
WECOLLAB HIGHLIGHT:
In the early stages of engagement, there were lots of events and opportunities for weCollab to interact and share with partners. They had to get clear on expectations ahead of an influx of collaborative activity. Without some of the staffing roles filled, they reached out to Cornerstone CDC, the city technical partner, funder, and planning partner to support in the role of Process Coordinator. We collectively helped the residents create a shared calendar to stay updated on events. Information was stored in a shared online folder so that everyone could easily exchange information about the planning process. This kept all the partners informed and where they might need to plug in. The Steering committee specifically asked us to step in more fully to prepare agendas for meetings and think through next steps to keep the process moving forward. We met with the Consultant and City Technical partner between Steering Committee meetings to decide what was most important to focus on next. Through this effort, partners became more familiar with who to go to if they had questions or wanted to propose development in the neighborhood. Managing partners became more smooth once weCollab got clear on their expectations.
PRACTICE EXERCISES
- Take your “visual representation” from the Partnerships exercise a step further by identifying what you’ll share with partners, how often, and in what methods. What are your expectations for your group? Perhaps you will share process updates in a monthly email or set an in-person meeting with an organization’s board of directors.
- Create an online calendar where residents and stakeholders can always see what meetings are scheduled ahead of time and sign up for opportunities where they would like to serve and contribute. Share it with all the partners on your Partner visual representation.
- Similarly, identify clear expectations for each partner’s role in your planning process and what outcomes you desire. Make sure you are communicating these expectations and outcomes to each partner.
REFLECTION PROMPTS
(for each player)
RESIDENTS
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What values drive how you interact with each partner and how partners should interact with you and your neighborhood?
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For each partner, what are your shared agreements on distribution of responsibilities, timelines, use of resources, decision making, and expected results?
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What forms and frequencies of communication to and from your partners are most supportive to managing information flow and responsiveness to each other’s needs?
NEIGHBORHOOD-BASED ORGS
- What values drive how you interact with each partner and how partners should interact with your organization?
- For partners that you directly share responsibilities and accountability with, when and how might you formalize a partnership agreement?
- What practices can you use to ensure that your partnership with resident leadership is strong, clear, and responsive?
CONSULTANTS
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What values drive how you interact with each partner and how partners should interact with your organization?
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How can you leverage your position as a neighborhood “outsider” to see and elevate strengths and weaknesses between neighborhood partners and others that they may miss?
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What practices can you use to ensure that your partnership with resident leadership is strong, clear, and responsive?
FUNDERS
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What agreements can be established so partners are clear on what to expect from you, when to expect it, and what conditions need to be met to yield your contributions?
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When appropriate, how can you leverage your position as a neighborhood “outsider” to see and elevate strengths and weaknesses between neighborhood partners and others that they may miss?
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What practices can you use to ensure that your partnership with resident leadership is strong, clear, and responsive?
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
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Between your departments, what is the shared understanding of how government will interact with partners in the planning process?
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What, if any, formal agreements can be established so partners are clear on what to expect from government, when to expect it, and what conditions need to be met to yield your contributions?
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What practices can you use to ensure that your partnership with resident leadership is strong, clear, and responsive?