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OPN ARCHITECTS + CITY OF LITTLE CANADA 10 Project Understanding & Approach Online Surveying & Engagement: In addition to interactive experiences in person, we have experience facilitating online engagement including cloud-based surveys that can be deployed both in person in real time and online at-will. Other more traditional surveys can be posted on the city’s website and distributed via surveys and social media. For a recent library project, both online and printed surveys were made available in multiple languages, including English, French, Spanish, and Swahili, to ensure inclusivity and accessibility. Survey results will be summarized visually for the city and TAC. Similarly, all of our surveys and presentations for Madison Metropolitan School District are translated into both Hmong and Spanish. We will work with the City of Little Canada to identify the right methods and mediums to reach your diverse community. Tools & Technology: Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality are both tools used by architects and engineers to visualize the design in three dimensions. This technology can also be a powerful community engagement tool. We will leverage this technology to build community enthusiasm. They will be able to walk through the project and clearly understand its scope. A quick scan of a QR code on a smartphone and VR/AR headset will allow the VR/AR experience to be shared with the entire community. Gathering Stakeholder Input Community Engagement We meet people as they are, where they are. We applaud the work the City of Little Canada and the Technical Advisory Committee already have undertaken to engage the community, evaluate needs, and develop a report outlining recommendations for the community building. Continued engagement will be critical to ensuring intentional and actionable input and engagement. We have extensive experience both gathering community input and sharing designs with the community to maintain momentum. As you will see on the schedule in the following section, we have integrated engagement into the process with an initial suggestion for milestones when these meetings might make the most sense. We will work with you to further refine the best timing and format. Inclusive & Intentional Community Input We engage our clients and their communities in the research process and ideation sessions that use open dialogue to establish qualitative and quantitative project parameters and associated costs that will set the stage for a successful process. When planning for a community facility, we utilize a dynamic design process employing a variety of strategies that can include interactive work sessions, in-person tours and virtual benchmarking, research, surveys, interviews, individual and group conferences and discussions. A diverse and inclusive planning process allows for the expression of a wide variety of viewpoints and creates ownership in this shared vision. We constantly challenge ourselves at every step to ensure our design is inclusive of all perspectives and equitable for all. This means, we design through a community’s collective lens. Visioning sessions vary between projects. For some initiatives, we set one to three charrettes — a collaborative dialogue involving all of the key stakeholders. For other projects, we use open houses with stakeholders and community members. The format of our outreach is tailored to each community and project. We often propose additional outreach opportunities, including small user-group discussions in addition to typical stakeholders. Groups like moms, partner organizations, schools and education centers may use the new center as an extension of their own space and programs. We also often partner with existing community organizations and groups who can help us bridge the trust gap to foster truthful conversations. We then translate that vision into a design that reflects the community and school system’s needs while being ever cognizant of budget. When we look back at the final design, we want to be able to recall the conversations and groups that influenced decisions and outcomes. Community dialogues can and do shape our design. By providing the space for the positive interactions and conversations, we create opportunities for serendipity and develop a sense of safety and belonging that only positively impacts the final design. Example Engagement Strategies Groups: • Technical Advisory Committee • Youth & cultural groups / churches • Little Canada parks & rec commission • Parent groups Events: • Park pop-ups • Saturday morning community events • Community coffees • Align with existing community events Tools: • Virtual and augmented reality • Informal meetings interactions • Small-group breakouts • Visual listening charrettes • Cloud-based surveys and engagement