Community Alternatives Workshops Toolkit

 

Toolkit Overview Video 

Please watch this short video about the toolkit and workshop process. 

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Purpose

The purpose of this Workshop Toolkit is to provide a guide for Community Advisory Committee (CAC) members, City staff, and volunteers to facilitate workshops with community groups, organizations, neighborhood associations, and other small groups on the topics covered during Community Discussions: Alternatives (e.g., Community Event Set #2). This includes the tools necessary to inform community members on the Santa Rosa Forward project (e.g., General Plan Update) and gather feedback on the Alternatives and policy options that will help implement the Community Vision Statement.

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Desired Outcomes

The additional meetings and workshops will result in more community members learning about the purpose, scope, and schedule of Santa Rosa Forward (i.e., through a presentation and/or handout materials) and allow the community opportunities (i.e., through exercises and discussions) to provide feedback and ideas. Community comments during this process will be used to help form a Preferred Alternative and identify a range of policy options to be analyzed and addressed during the project.

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Timing

Each meeting or workshop should last about one hour. This will include a brief presentation (10 minutes) provided by the facilitator (i.e., CAC member, City staff, or volunteer) followed by a group discussion and each participant filling out their own Alternatives Worksheet questionnaire (about 45 minutes). It is okay if there is a rich discussion and the discussion runs a little long—the timing is flexible. The meeting/workshop should conclude with a five-minute discussion summarizing and highlighting comments from the exercise and next steps.

Please make sure all meetings and workshops are completed and all materials are returned to the City by May 6, 2022. Please send all collected materials to Beatriz Guerrero Auna, digitally at info@santarosaforward.com or physically at City Hall, 100 Santa Rosa Avenue, Room 3, at the front desk. Turning in all questionnaires on time will be critical to ensure the Project Team has enough time to compile all the information and prepare a comprehensive summary of comments and feedback.

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Setting Up a Workshop

The Workshop Toolkit is intended to allow flexibility in how additional meetings and workshops are conducted. We encourage you to lead discussions based on your connections with community groups, organizations, neighborhood associations, and other small groups. They can be run as either part of an existing agenda or as a separate stand-alone meeting. Given the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, we anticipate most of these meetings will be conducted virtually. Ensure that any in- person activities meet all current Sonoma County and State of California social- distancing requirements.

During this effort, there will be various workshops that CAC members, City staff, and additional volunteers will be hosting to spread the word about the project and gain feedback on the Alternatives and policy options. The City will need to track workshops and is also available to help with logistics and materials. Here is a summary of the steps you should take for each workshop:

Prior to Your Workshop

1. Reach out to Beatriz Guerrero Auna at the City of Santa Rosa by either email or phone at BGuerreroAuna@srcity.org or (707) 543-4323. She will help coordinate the various meetings and workshops and support.
   
   
2. Discuss with Beatriz who you are planning to meet with and when the workshop will take place. The City needs to track who we are reaching out to and when.
   
   
3. Discuss with Beatriz what your needs are to complete the workshop. The City can help set up a Zoom invitation for a virtual meeting and/or provide hard copy materials for an in-person meeting.

After Your Workshop

4. Reach back out to Beatriz and confirm that the meeting/workshop took place so she can update the track information. Also send Beatriz any saved Zoom chat (for digital workshops), hard copy Questionnaires (for in-person workshops), and/or questions from participants that you were not able to answer so the City can collect all materials and feedback and provide appropriate follow up.

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Workshop Materials