Home for All Learning Network February 28, 2018

Home for All Learning Network February 28, 2018

Agenda • Welcome and Introductions • Home for All Updates • Communicating for Engagement • Table Discussion • Meeting Evaluation • Thanks and Adjourn

Home for All Learning Network Introductions and Housing Highlights

Home for All Update Jessica Stanfill Mullin Home For All

Planning Commissioner Training C/CAG and Home for All Joint CASA Meeting – March 22nd School Districts Partnership FY 2019-21 Budget - $50 million to affordable housing Home For All

FEBRUARY 26, 2018 HOME FOR ALL LEARNING NETWORK Communication for Engagement Strategies for Reaching and Activating the Helpful Public

Today We’ll Cover… • Our purpose for communication • Inviting vs announcing • Framing for ongoing engagement • Importance of messengers and channels • Interactive outreach and responsive communications

Clarifying Our Communication Purpose Reflect on why you are communicating: • To inform

Clarifying Our Communication Purpose Reflect on why you are communicating: • To inform • To advocate

Clarifying Our Communication Purpose Reflect on why you are communicating: • To inform • To advocate • To build trust

Clarifying Our Communication Purpose Reflect on why you are communicating: • To inform • To advocate • To build trust • To improve relationships

Clarifying Our Communication Purpose Reflect on why you are communicating: • To inform • To advocate • To build trust • To improve relationships • To start an open dialogue about shared values

Clarifying Our Communication Purpose Reflect on why you are communicating: • To inform • To advocate • To build trust • To improve relationships • To start an open dialogue about shared values • To invite helpful participation

Clarifying Our Communication Purpose Reflect on why you are communicating: • To inform • To advocate • To build trust • To improve relationships • To start an open dialogue about shared values • To invite helpful participation • Because someone told me too

Pair Reflection Reflect on the way your City communicates about housing and other issues. • What is the purpose behind most City communications? • Are you trying to inform, advocate, persuade? • Which messages or communications have been most successful?

Your purposes with your community • Official messages • Reactive messages • Today we’re focusing on “the helpful public” • The broader audience and potential audience… • Aimed at informing, updating residents, broadening awareness

Community Engagement Advocacy vs

Community Engagement Advocacy vs • What matters to you? What do you care about? • How do these facts match with your experience? • We are all experts on our personal experience. • We all have part of the answer. We all can contribute. • This is why you should care • Let me select and interpret facts for you • I am an expert on the topic. • Listen to me instead of other experts.

Inviting Instead of Announcing • Instead of building support for a policy, we want to create support for a process • This starts by the way we invite people to participate and contribute • Emphasize that the City is listening and that the community is working together

Inviting Instead of Announcing Sample Invitation from Half Moon Bay • Questions help position the City as a listener • Describe how the conversation will be different than past meetings • Invite people to share their experiences and contribute ideas. • Instead of building support for a policy, we want to create support for a process • This starts by the way we invite people to participate and contribute • Emphasize that the City is listening and that the community is working together

Framing for Interdependence • Emphasize community, interconnections and the “story of us” • Use language that emphasizes the collective nature of the challenge • Our community, our future, together we can, etc.

Framing for New Possibilities • Put the issue of housing and the community at the center • Focus on a sense of possibility instead of a crisis that requires someone to blame • Instead of telling the community’s story, let community members shape it with each other

Activate Shared Values • Position housing as a shared challenge affecting everyone • Remind residents of the ways they can work together and of the community they want to be, highlighting shared values: • Fairness, interdependence • Creativity, security, diversity, volunteerism, collaboration

Elements of Effective Messages • What’s the situation? • Why does it matter? • What can be done about it?

Elements of Effective Messages • What’s the situation? • Why does it matter? • What can be done about it? • Listening to the community allows us to define #1 and #2 • Use their words, their values, and their examples • Inviting constructive input helps us think creatively about #3 and expand the boundaries of what’s possible

Let the community tell the story of “how we are affected” • “My landlord has raised my rent every year for the past three years. How am I supposed to afford that when I’m making $16 an hour?” • – Redwood City Participant

Let the community tell the story of “how we are affected” “My landlord has raised my rent every year for the past three years. How am I supposed to afford that when I’m making $16 an hour?” – Redwood City Participant Sample Explanatory Statement: • In recent years, housing costs in our community have risen dramatically, while wages for many have stayed the same. • When retail and service workers are forced to commute from farther away traffic increases for all of us.

Let the community tell the story of “how we are affected” “My cousins are living in a three bedroom house with two other families. It’s so cramped it’s ridiculous. There’s no way they can stay there once their kids get older.” – Half Moon Bay Participant

Let the community tell the story of “how we are affected” “My cousins are living in a three bedroom house with two other families. It’s so cramped it’s ridiculous. There’s no way they can stay there once their kids get older.” – Half Moon Bay Participant Sample Explanatory Statement: • Increasing numbers of people are struggling to pay rent or make monthly mortgage payments. • Multiple families must share a single home or apartment which affects their quality of life. • Many of the people we care about, people that have made our community a great place to live, are being forced to move elsewhere.

Let the community tell the story of “how we are affected” “We're losing the small businesses that make our community special. They can't get workers who can afford to live close enough.” – Burlingame Participant

Let the community tell the story of “how we are affected” “We're losing the small businesses that make our community special. They can't get workers who can afford to live close enough.” – Burlingame Participant Sample Explanatory Statement: • With the high cost of housing, many of the small businesses that make our community special are struggling to hire and retain employees. • When businesses are forced to relocate or cut back on hours, residents lose the ability to shop close to home. As people are forced to shop outside of Burlingame, traffic worsens and sales tax leaves our community.

Messenger Effects • Messengers greatly influence how your message will be received • Think beyond obvious allies • Who can best reach your target audiences? Who can tell the story of housing’s positive impact? • Who don’t we normally think of? • Librarians, teachers, doctors, nurses, social workers, first responders, clergy, employers, etc.

Building Trust: Interactive Outreach • Listen for community starting points and information needs • What do community members already know? • How are they experiencing the issue of housing? • What else do they need to know? • Test communications with partners and community members first

Building Trust: Interactive Outreach • Community members are listening for yourstarting points • Are you speaking to me and the people I care about? • How well do you understand my reality? • How well have you reflected past input from people like me?

Community Information Needs Personal Community Civic System • How do new homes get built? • What decisions are being made? • What is happening short term, mid-term, long term? • How will impacts be managed? • What are current and upcoming types of housing and support? • Am I eligible for affordable housing? • What future can I anticipate for my family? • Who lives and works here? • How are we experiencing the issue of housing? • Who is affected by current conditions? • Who else cares?

Two-Way Communications • Strive to balance messaging and listening throughout the process • Who can help you to listen? • How can you continue to solicit input? • Remember that many in your community are already listening every day

Building Trust: Responsive Communications • Revise or add information based on what you hear from community • Improve relationships by providing accessible, basic information people have indicated they need • Resource guides, links, referrals, additional coordination with community partners

Building Trust: Responsive Communications • Share community-facing meeting reports in a timely fashion • Provide accurate summary instead of complete notes; continue to invite feedback • Help people to see their input • Use their language where possible • Use community values to explain WHY before explaining WHAT

Channels are as Important as Content • Know how your audiences like to get their information • Websites, social media • Newsletters (yours or others) • In-person locations • From a trusted source • Maintain consistent framing and adapt the amount of information to fit the channel

Table Discussion With your table, discuss: • What would helpful input from the community look like? Feel like? • How can cities make outreach to the helpful public more interactive?

Communication Resources Home for All Learning Network • September 2018: Community Education About Housing • November 2018: Working with Community Partners • CK Community Conversation Reporting Guide Other Resources • National Housing Conference Framing & Messaging Toolkit • Neighborhood Partnerships Advocate’s Guide to Framing

Calendar of Events

Meeting Evaluations Please fill out the Meeting Evaluation forms. Thank you!

Learning Network Website The Home for All Learning Network has its own website, designed to be a resource for LN participants: homeforallsmc.org/learning-network/

Next Meeting: April 25, 2019

Home for All Learning Network February 28, 2018