Beyond Consultation: Co-creating Equitable Communities

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