Climate-Friendly Areas Evaluation Report

2 • Language inclusive, experience focused, and culturally aware discussions allow for meaningful engagement. • Equitable events offer childcare, transportation, and monetary incentives. • A mixture of event types and the opportunity for continuous feedback allows for more successful use of information. • Visually appealing and easy -to-read project information ensures the intended message is portrayed to the widest possibl e audience. General engagement • When there is an opportunity for your community to engage in a local project or process, what makes them feel like their participation was meaningful? o Being clear on where the process is already, and what level of decision -making power is available , not giving folks a false sense of agency. o Follow -through on informing and updating those same folks. o People want to be heard, being talked to versus being heard . o Really starting with affected community. o Real solutions come out of projects that involve the folks that are going to be most impacted. • What can we do to have a larger number of community members participate in this process? Ideas or solutions could include food and childcare during ac tivities, for example. o Making sure events are held during hours where the majority of working people could attend with food, stipends, and childcare. o If in-person, be in an area where people are living or close enough. o Offering a couple different times du ring the day . o Having the ability to have the live event after working hours, but also some daytime options to have several smaller groups. o Getting ahead with concrete ways to how this will benefit the entire community. o Fred Meyer Gift Cards. • What challenge s/problems have you and your community experienced engaging in projects? o General overwhelming attitude, issues are piling up, getting people interested in the first place . o The people that are paying attention to opportunities are already involved . o People are busy, in -person and survey responses can be hard to get people to do. o Ashland has become exclusive through good intentions but has resulted in the lack of engagement of folks that need to be engaged. o NIMBY folks have presented obstacles to reaching affected community. o A larger effort on the part of the city to address NIMBYism and educate the community on housing needs. • What has work ed well? o Hybrid helps a lot with barriers related to in -person comfort .