NOTES FROM SEATTLE PLANNING CALL

10/06/08

Invite w/draft agenda to people ASAP

Where they are now: Leadership Council is coalescing. Have a committee structure in
place. First meetings are just before we come. Will work with full leadership council.
No more than 20 people. More realistically around 10 people.

They need hard core strategic planning for the 8 hours.

Tuesday
Opening (1:00-1:45)
Purpose, objectives, guidelines
What will a community action plan look like if we use this process?
Distinction between a problem-oriented approach and the asset-based approach
Reminder of Hierarchy of Choices
Planning, planning, planning—unusual for funder to support it (slower is faster;)

Vision (1:45-2:30)
There is sort of a draft vision statement. Look at it—and see how we could finalize it.
Maybe 45 minutes. Where to go from here—how to make it “good enough” for the first
year.

Circulate the core values, purpose, vision, mental models,

Get through more steps with less completion—then go back and finish steps.

BREAK 2:30-2:45

Mental models: Beliefs and assumptions that support our vision (2:45-4:15 p.m.)
• Work it in detail
• Do not need to have every sector in extreme detail
• Follow-up work
• Bring examples from other sites—will be well-received

Factors that are Key in Achieving our Vision (4:15-5:00)

• Success factors

Wednesday a.m.

9:00 Questions/welcome back (music—sit down and write)

Reading: What surprised you? What inspired you?

9:30 Key Success Factors: Creating the results we want for our community
11:00 Break/Snacks

11:20 How will we know that we’re making progress toward the vision?

11:40 Current reality: What does it look like now?

• Systemic structures
• Mental models
• Vision

12:40 So what’s next? Where do we go from here?

1:00 End the day

New youth coordinator—from Youngstown Arts Center

5 p.m. October 29th --Wednesday dinner: youth discussion 30-60 minute activity; Can
you be there? Open to other community partners for the first time

Road Map on the Wall: Visual to show progress we’re making throughout the two
half-days

Logistical Questions:

Where should we send things? Send WSU Extension Maggie will bring them over in her
car. Maggie will send the correct address today.

How big is the room? 50 people theater style. About 40 x 30. Windows on two sides.
Tables—long rectangle tables.

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Maggie & Erin’s Notes (messy):

NOTES: KCFFI Strategic Planning

Agenda

Sorry for the delay. I have been on a brutal travel schedule. I am not sure what is meant
by “ I would also like to understand how Kara incorporates Visions’ strategies, etc into
her work.”. Does this mean the guidelines for the facilitation? How multicultural
engagements is part of the strategy for the work of the collaborative? I am sorry I do not
understand the question well enough to answer you question.
By now you should have received the email indicating that I will not be able to join you
all on the call as I am in Las Vegas with my mother who is in the hospital. We will be
able to design the time that will be work with the desired purpose and outcomes as well
as available meeting location times, logistics, etc. The design will ensure that all
participants feel engaged and will be able to walk away with concrete work products. We
can set up a time to review the design with you all before the meeting and make tweaks
as necessary.

Will the meeting participants all know each other? How much has this group worked
together before? These are some of the questions for the call on Monday with Kathy.
Renee has been sitting in on calls with sites to understand how we are applying these
tools, concepts and frameworks for the planning as well as coordinate any TAP group
members who have been observing the sessions. Would it be okay if I share the call in
information with her to listen in? It is totally up to you all.
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Day 1: 12-5,
Day 2: 9-1

Hope to accomplish:

We have a new structure beginning to gel, so they’ll know each other, but we’ll need to
really intensively get work done.

Can we spend the first 45 minutes of planning session to talk about what we’ve done so
far (final draft of vision statement).

Is there a way to do a little group in multiple steps of the matrix so that they can really get
a feel for this VDM?

I’m concerned folks are a little stuck. Can we get through more steps with less
completion so we get a better feel?
-This is what we did with Iowa, and we continue to help them by phone.

Most likely 10 participants, but max would be 20 people.

-Great, we can get through this much faster with a smaller group.

Start with vision statement, then move to mental models.

Prepare for future conversations

This is a starting point, and not a finishing point. We’ll emphasize “who’s not here
today?”

When will we know we’ve done enough?

-1) we will structure so that they think about who’s not in the room
-2) by analyzing by sector, all details need not be there right away.
Should we have a draft list of sectors?
-circulate vision statement, then ask “which groups in our community (sectors) will be
key in helping us to achieve this vision?” (businesses, employers, transportation, owners
of retail food outlets, health care, farmers market etc)

1.5 hours on mental models

Move from dividing things into parts, to seeing the way that parts interact and affect each
other (causal relationships)

How can we understand what the outcome of the plan will look like, and why this is such
a great set of strategic planning tools.

Emphasize that we’re not totally behind.

There is some confusion with the difference between programs and activities and
policy/systems change.

DAY 1: Identifying key success factors

1:00pm—Introduction to work done so far (draft vision etc), and review of last visit notes
(mental models)

1:30pm—Identify key groups necessary to achieve our vision (writing 2-3 key mental
models for each group).
GROUPS (Not just policy makers)
Community Members, farmers, schools, parks & rec, public health, community
based organizations, housing groups, businesses, transportation, employers, faith based,
community foundation (funders), health care, gardening, owners of retail food stores,
physical activity centers etc.

DAY 2:

9-9:30am—start by asking about what questions have come to mind as a result of

yesterdays’ discussion

9:30-11:00—Key success factors “creating the results we want for our community”
Break + snacks

How will we know we’re making progress towards our mission? When we start
implementing, what will we watch?

11:15-11:40
11:40-12:30—current reality
-If this is what we’re heading toward, what do we believe it is now? What do the systems
look like? What mental models exist relative to what we talked about yesterday?

12:40—Where do we go from here? Wrap up/next steps