City Level Community Engagement;
an Equitable Approach to
Sustainability
Making it Better Conference:
Creating a Healthier Community Together
Tuesday, November 15, 2:00-3:00pm
Presenters:
June Mathiowetz, M.P.P.
Homegrown Minneapolis Coordinator
Maria Sarabia, M.A.
Community Engagement Project Coordinator
City Goals & Strategic Directions
• A City That Works
-Shared democracy empowers residents as valued partners
• Ecofocused
-Locally grown food available and chosen
• Many People, One Minneapolis
-New arrivals welcomed, diversity embraced
-Seniors stay and talents are tapped
• A Safe Place to Call Home
-Youth, in school, involved, inspired and connected to an adult
Department of Health and
Family Support goal
• Healthy Weight Through Active Living and
Healthy Eating
– Affordable and accessible healthy choices for all
ages and abilities
– Opportunities to grow,
prepare and distribute food
locally
– Communities informed and
engaged for healthy
environments
MDHFS Mission:
To promote health equity in Minneapolis and
meet the unique needs of our
urban population by providing
leadership and fostering partnerships
City Level Community Engagement;
an equitable approach to
sustainability
The VOICE Project
• Promote interdisciplinary learning
• Gain clear understanding of VOICE as it
relates to sustainability and partnership
• Hear messages from communities
The VOICE Project
(Valuing Our Individual Cultures through Engagement )
A community engagement strategy
•
•
•
•
Story Based Community Dialogue
Fosters Partnerships
Shares Knowledge
Promotes Sustainability & Community Buy-In
VOICE is a strategy that builds upon core
community engagement principlesCity of Minneapolis
1.
Right to be involved
2.
Contribution will be thoughtfully considered
3.
Recognize the needs of all
4.
Seek out involvement
5.
Participants design participation
6.
Adequate information
7.
Known effect of participation
The Voice Project
(Valuing Our Individual Cultures through Engagement )
Core community engagement
principles continued……. CDC
• Become knowledgeable about the community’s culture, economic conditions,
social networks, political and power structures, norms and values,
demographic trends, history, and experience…
• Go to the community, establish relationships, build trust, work with the formal
and informal leadership…create processes for mobilizing the community
• All aspects of community engagement must recognize and respect the
diversity of the community. Awareness of the various cultures of a community
is paramount in planning, designing, and implementing approaches to
engaging a community
• Community engagement can only be sustained by identifying and mobilizing
community assets and strengths…
• Community collaboration requires long-term commitment by the engaging
organization and its partners
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/communityengagement/pdf/PCE_Report_508_FINAL.pdf
Cooperation
MDHFS
VOICE
Project
Collaboration
Partnership
Community
Residents
*UHACAC-
Urban Health Agenda Community
Advisory Committee
The VOICE strategy can be applied
in other public health work
•
•
•
•
Purpose
Process
Methods
Protocol
VOICE purpose
• Investigate factors that impact the
prevalence of obesity in cultural
communities
• Identify gaps in knowledge and awareness
related to obesity and health programming
VOICE process
• Story based community dialogue about
experiences with culture, weight, and size
* Inspire stories
• Photos and video record the discussions
• Community chooses the most important topics
& helps create a plan to share results
• Participants complete an evaluation
*part of Process
VOICE inquiry questions
• How would you describe a “good” meal?
How does a “good” meal make you feel?
• Does your size impact how you are viewed
or how you view/feel about yourself?
• How have cultural traditions around food
evolved or changed over time?
Stories from VOICE…..
VOICE Project process…
• Acquire
Resources
• Recruit
Participants
•Apply for IRB
*consent
• Engage Stakeholders
• Build Trust
Data Collection
Activities with
each community
Define Inquiry
Questions
• Create Buy-in
•Execute Contracts
• Refine Project Plan/Budget
Return wisdom
and knowledge
to communities
Event Planning &
Recruitment of
Community
Participants
Reflection and
Analysis
Phase I: African
American, American
Indian, and Somali
Phase II: Latino &
Hmong
Community Events
and Exhibits
• MDHFS Evaluation of
process
• Communications
planning
VOICE methods
• Community based facilitators & recruiters
• Incentives for participation
• Healthy meal at each event
• Create a summary of key themes
• Conduct qualitative analyses of data using
NVIVO qualitative analysis software
VOICE protocol
•
•
•
•
•
Adult Consent
Adult Release
Parent Child Release
Parental Consent
Youth Assent
Tailoring engagement to connect with
vulnerable communities with
high rates of obesity…
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Include a cultural activity
Partner with community leaders to recruit & facilitate dialogue
Recruit a larger number of participants; offer incentives
Pose broad questions
Produces a final media product
Communities reconvene & identify common themes
Information collected & will be used to fill gaps in knowledge
and awareness related to obesity and health programming
Homegrown Minneapolis
Building a Healthy, Sustainable,
Local Food System for
All Minneapolis Residents
WHAT IS HOMEGROWN MINNEAPOLIS?
A city-wide initiative expanding our
community’s ability to grow, process,
distribute, consume and compost more
healthy, sustainable, locally grown foods.
COMMUNITY FOOD SYSTEM ELEMENTS
Processing
Distribution
and Retailing
Growing
Waste
Prevention,
Reduction &
Recovery
Consumption/
Health
COMMUNITY FOOD SYSTEM SUB-ELEMENTS
Growing
Processing
•Home
gardens
•Community
gardens
•Food Hubs
Network
•Greenhouses
(Will Allen)
•Market
gardens
•Small food
businesses
•Local farms
•Home
cooking,
canning and
freezing
•Community
kitchens
•Small batch
processors
•Medium size
processors
•Large size
processors
Distribution
and Retailing
Consumption/
Health
•Farmers markets
•Wholesalers
•Food Co-ops
•Grocery Chains
•Corner Stores
•Restaurants
•Institutional
•Vending
•Community
Food Systems
(Will Allen style)
•Increased
fruit, vegetable
and grain
consumption
•Increased
exercise
•Reduced
obesity
• Reduced
chronic disease
•Increased
community
cohesiveness
Waste
Prevention,
Reduction,
Recovery
•Expansion of
organics
recycling
•Development
of compostto-garden
systems
•Reduced
packaging
•Reduced
toxins
MINNEAPOLIS
 35 farmers markets (including mini markets)
 100 community gardens on 13 acres
 4 health food co-ops
 Dozens of Community Supported Ag (CSA)
drop-off sites
 50+ community kitchens
 Food growing & processing enterprises
emerging
 Local restaurants serving local food
Farmers Market
Subcommittee
January – April 2009: Community
members made recommendations
to the Steering Committee
June 2009: Recommendations
submitted to City Council
Gardens
Subcommittee
Small Enterprise
Urban Ag
Subcommittee
Commercial
Use
Subcommittee
Steering Committee
City Council
June–Sept 2009: Council
Resolution established Implementation Task Force to guide and
move work forward
Sept 2009–July 2011: Task Force
and workgroups implement priority
recommendations
Task Force
January 2012:
Homegrown Mpls Food
Council begins
workgroup
workgroup
workgroup
workgroup
workgroup
workgroup
workgroup
Urban Ag
Policy Plan
Regulatory
Review
Food
Access
Implementation
Working Groups
Small
Enterprise
Urban Ag
Local Food
Indicator
Community
Garden
Pilot
Local
Food Policy
Group
Municipal
Farmers
Market
CURRENT UNSUSTAINABLE CONDITIONS
• Minneapolis – approaching $1 B per year spent on food;
most produced outside of MN
• Half of Minneapolis population overweight
• Increasing consolidation and control of food supply
• High levels of energy, materials and product waste
• High levels of synthetic inputs polluting water and
environment
• Loss of valuable topsoil and biologically diverse areas
• Commodity dumping in other countries disrupts people’s
ability to meet their own needs globally
SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY
FOOD SYSTEM
• Relies on local production, processing, distribution and
composting systems
• Protects existing natural areas
• Applies organic production methods (to eliminate reliance on
petroleum and chemicals)
• Includes a diverse mix of healthy foods
• Works for farmers
• Accessible to all consumers
• Affordable
• Reliable, Resilient, Secure
• Requires minimal to no packaging
Food Expenditures in Minneapolis (Based on 2008 CEX)
Food Category
Cereals and cereal products
Bakery products
Beef
Pork
Other meats
Poultry
Fish and seafood
Eggs
Fresh milk and cream
Other dairy products
Fresh fruits
Fresh vegetables
Processed fruits
Processed vegetables
Sugar and other sweets
Fats and oils
Miscellaneous foods
Nonalcoholic beverages
Food away from home
Total
Minneapolis Total
Household Expenditure
$21,566,960
$45,318,740
$32,161,691
$17,793,405
$13,543,694
$17,249,338
$12,736,103
$5,550,897
$21,509,390
$34,564,391
$27,986,811
$25,991,547
$14,833,287
$13,957,943
$19,769,312
$12,008,134
$100,187,883
$42,390,983
$369,211,804
$848,332,313
Per Household
Expenditure ($/year)
$136
$286
$203
$112
$86
$109
$80
$35
$136
$218
$177
$164
$94
$88
$125
$76
$633
$268
$2,331
$5,356
Budget Share
2.54%
5.34%
3.79%
2.10%
1.60%
2.03%
1.50%
0.65%
2.54%
4.07%
3.30%
3.06%
1.75%
1.65%
2.33%
1.42%
11.81%
5.00%
43.52%
100.00%
RECOMMENDATIONS
COMPLETED OR UNDERWAY
 Urban agriculture policy plan
 Community garden process improvements
 Electronic Benefits Transfer in farmers





markets
Community kitchen inventory
Small business training and financing
inventory
Local food sustainability indicator
Canning/food preservation network
Local food resource hub development
LOCAL FOOD TARGETS
o Increase the food producing gardens in
the city by 1 acre to 14 acres by 2014.
o All residents live within ¼ mile of a
healthy food choice by 2015.
NEXT STEPS – PHASE III
o Establishment of local food council
o Establishment of local food resource hubs
o Improving institutional food purchasing practices
o Expanding understanding of complex food system
and emerging new business models
o Understanding where government has leverage
not yet fully utilized
o Expansion of strategic collaboration with other
partners/efforts
o Access to land and improved land use policies
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Visit the Homegrown Minneapolis website
to learn more and become involved!
www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/dhfs/homegrown-home.asp
WHAT IS SUSTAINABILITY?
“Meeting the needs of the
present without compromising
the ability of future generations
to meet their own needs.”
HOW?
By not systematically degrading the
ecological and social systems
(our commons)
PRINCIPLES OF SUSTAINABILITY
In a sustainability society, nature is not subject to
systematic increases in…
…concentrations of substances extracted from the
Earth’s crust;
…concentrations of substances produced by society;
…degradation by physical means;
And, in that society…
…people are not subject to conditions that
systematically undermine their capacity to meet their
needs.
©Dr Karl-Henrik Robert and Natural Step Framework
City Level Community Engagement;
an Equitable Approach to
Sustainability
Making it Better Conference:
Creating a Healthier Community Together
Tuesday, November 15, 2:00-3:00pm
Presenters:
June Mathiowetz, M.P.P.
Homegrown Minneapolis Coordinator
[email protected]
Maria Sarabia, M.A.
Community Engagement Project Coordinator
[email protected]