Details

Dates: April 28, May 5, May 12 from 10am to Noon PDT

Virtual: Course will be offered over Zoom

Payment: $299 per person, includes toolkit and all three sessions

Registration due: April 21, 5:00pm ‍

What past participants are saying:

“Together Lisa and Wendy created a warm and genuine learning environment, an excellent space for growth to happen.”

“I feel braver and bolder from the experience of being in your sessions.”

“This is an excellent workshop that brings forward critical awareness in a practical and empowering way in how to address engagement in equity deserving communities. We know traditional communications and outreach are ineffective in engaging those who most need to be heard and understood. This workshop helped me think of "who is not in the room" and my own bias on engagement.”

Course description

Become a more connected and effective engagement practitioner. This multi-session workshop moves beyond traditional engagement methods to equip you with a new trauma-informed framework for building authentic, trust-based relationships with communities, particularly those who are often excluded and vulnerable.

You will learn to identify and dismantle the systemic barriers, such as historical mistrust or lack of digital access, that prevent meaningful participation.

Facilitators will share hands-on exercises and real-world examples from their work in housing and climate action. You will explore how to effectively reach youth, seniors, English language learners, people with mental health concerns, medically vulnerable individuals and people who are unhoused.

Learning to navigate contentious issues, building a network of trusted community partners and using your sphere of influence you’ll come away able to drive impactful meaningful change.

You’ll acquire the tools you need to transform your approach and ensure that more community voices are heard and valued in engagement processes.

Session One: Who is (who isn’t) in the room

You will learn steps you can take to reach people and community groups who might not typically be designed into engagement conversations. Using real-world examples, we’ll identify and examine ways to address and dismantle the systemic barriers in engagement processes. 

Session Two: Moving at the speed of trust

You will develop a greater understanding of the role of power in engagement relationships, explore the quality of your relationships in the community and learn how to identify and build trusted networks through hubs, in order to reach your intended audiences. Real-world examples will illustrate how to embed equity and dignity in your processes.

Session three: From consultation to co-creation

With community hubs identified, we will explore ways to co-design new processes while meeting people where they are at. You’ll learn innovative engagement methods and look at ethical considerations such as reciprocity, trauma-informed practices and data privacy that will contribute to solid relationship building and leave people feeling that time was spent together in a good way. You will take away valuable tools to transform your engagement experiences.

Who is this for?

This professional development workshop is designed for anyone engaging with communities who recognizes the need to move past traditional engagement methods.

• Urban and Regional Planners

• Government Officials and Policymakers

• Educators

• Community Leaders and Organizations

• Nonprofit Organizations

Learning objectives

Upon completion of this workshop, you will have the knowledge and skills to:

• understand power dynamics in relation to community engagement processes and work to equalize them

• build pathways to communities by attracting and working with community hubs for positive impact

• exercise your ability to influence changes in processes

• employ tools to support concrete strategies in your future engagement processes

About the instructors

Lisa and Wendy in Tla’amin Territory

Wendy Simon (Haida/Mohawk), MSW, RSW, currently lives and learns on the traditional and unceded territories of the Coast Salish as an Indigenous facilitator, social worker, and advisor. Wendy’s work is community-informed and consistently begins with seeking permissions and developing relationships. Her trauma-informed practice honours the resiliencies and realities of peoples’ intersectionality throughout engagement. Understanding triggers and the importance of relationships, Wendy brings the strength of her lived experience, light heartedness, and helpful humor to the work.

Lisa Moffatt (she/her), MA, RPP, MCIP, CEC, is a white, cis-gendered woman who is (currently) not disabled. She is an uninvited guest and settler, born and raised on the traditional territory of the Beothuk (now known as St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador) and currently living and working as a community planner on the treaty territory of the ɬəʔamɛn First Nation.

As an award-winning planner, Lisa’s almost 20 years' experience includes leading multi-disciplinary teams in planning, design, sustainability, and community engagement while employing a collaborative working style to foster partnerships across agencies, different levels of government, and community groups. With a B.A. in Environmental Studies (Highest Honours), Carleton (2002) and an M.A. from the School of Community and Regional Planning, UBC (2005), she qualified as a full member of the Canadian Institute of Planners in 2009. Lisa was a Project Management Professional (PMP, 2016 - 2022) and completed a certificate from the International Association of Public Participation (IAP2, 2010). She is also a Certified Executive Coach (2019).

Lisa brings experience leading equitable engagement practices for local governments across planning topic