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17 Village of St. Anthony Project Overview — Community Engagement Initiative Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota August 18, 2014 Project Summary Following on St. Anthony Village's goal to "foster and encourage civic engagement," this project is focused on developing a proposed community engagement initiative. The initiative will be informed by a "citizens' academy" model that emphasizes capacity building and enhancing ongoing engagement with residents in the community. The initiative will focus on a variety of goals: 1) Engaging a diverse range of residents over an extended period of time through a series of activities, 2) Informing residents about the functions and structures of the local government, 3) Building skills, capacity, and leadership experience of participants for ongoing engagement, and 4) Exploring key community issues to begin setting a vision for the community. The engagement initiative is intended as proactive, promoting engagement with the intent of building strong relationships between government and residents. Participants will have the opportunity to learn about the community and its government, and participate in activities focused on key local issues (e.g. infrastructure, schools, amenities, redevelopment). The outcomes of the initiative could be informative to St. Anthony's next comprehensive plan update, providing information and building a strong base of participants who understand the community and are motivated to play a leadership role by promoting engagement among their fellow residents. The initiative is intended as a visible, high profile effort that emphasizes the participatory opportunities available to St. Anthony residents. The initiative will account for existing engagement efforts (e.g. Police Department citizens academy) and community events (e.g. Night to Unite), potentially leveraging these and adding others to build out a robust, stimulating, and accessible community engagement initiative. There will be a focus in the initiative on engaging diverse set of residents. Student Role Students in PA 5253 Designing Planning and Participation Processes in the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota will develop 2-3 proposals for the community engagement initiative. The students in this course are primarily graduate level students in the Master of Urban and Regional Planning program, and thus have strong knowledge of community engagement strategies and practices. The project will be built into an existing assignment that requires student teams to design participation processes in response to a mock Request for Proposals (RFP). A mock RFP will be developed around this project, giving students the opportunity to gain familiarity with RFP content and experience in responding to community aspirations and expectations expressed in these kinds of documents. The students will produce 20-30 page proposals for the community engagement initiative, outlining tasks, activities, and timelines. They will also address approaches to promotion, recruitment, and communication. The final proposals will be organized as professional documents that have effective content tailored to St. Anthony Village and quality design and layout.