Purpose
In this activity, you will formulate your planning team, coordinate existing and future community planning efforts, and identify key organizational partners you would like involved in the process.
Why?
Resilience planning requires a diverse set of expertise, as well as a significant amount of time, effort, and energy. The core team will develop, coordinate, manage, and support every step in the process until its completion. Completing the process can be a large undertaking, especially for a community with limited staff or capacity.
When?
This process generally takes two weeks to one month to complete.
Tips
- Center frontline community members. Consider how historically, and currently, underrepresented leaders in your community have or have not been involved in planning processes and ask them to be part of your core planning team. Be sure to consider their availability and if funding or resources should be provided in order for them to be able to meaningfully participate.
- Communicate clearly. Set up clear channels of communication with your team, ensure that they clearly understand their roles, and set expectations about their involvement from the outset.
- Give your team the skills and knowledge they need to succeed. Support the capacity building of your core planning team by sharing essential information with them about the planning process, how your community is potentially changing (e.g., the Colorado Resiliency Office Dashboard), and the tools they need to ensure the success of the project.
- Be resourceful and remain flexible. Develop your core team, but remain flexible to taking on (or losing) team member(s) as challenges or opportunities present themselves along the way.
How does my community do this?
- Brainstorm a list of potential individuals within your department, staff, or the broader community. See the workbook for an example Planning Team Worksheet.
- Select and invite core team members. Having a range of individuals represented across a wide variety of demographics, sectors, and community interests is important in gaining community trust, buy-in, and ownership of the plan and process. Consider the individuals on your list and determine whether or not they are a good fit based on the scope of your resilience work as determined in Activity 1, as well as the following questions:
- Are they willing and able to participate?
- What is the capacity of your core planning team?
- Do they have the knowledge and understanding to complete their potential role?
- How long have they been in the community? Do they have strong existing ties to your community?
- What is their current job description and what additional responsibilities are they managing?
- What local knowledge or expertise do they bring to the team?
- Do they represent a diverse cross-section of your community?
- Once you select individuals, invite them to participate and confirm their commitment to that role. See the workbook for a Planning Team Worksheet template.
- Identify a project champion. Identify a strong leader that you can count on to see the project through from start to finish. Ideally, this individual has the time, capacity, and authority to act within their role as project manager, and understands the community's concerns and aspirations. This individual will be responsible for assembling the planning team and broader working group, leading the team through all stages of project development, ensuring that the right people are involved throughout, and leading community engagement.