Setting the Table for All

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

• Understand six principles of inclusive and equitable civic engagement.
• Recognize a person’s own position in society contributes to his/her ability to engage in planning decisions.
• Identify common opportunities and challenges in applying these six principles to the food-systems planning process.

MORE SESSION DETAILS

Actively engaging community members, particularly marginalized and underrepresented members, in a meaningful, inclusive, and equitable way is critical for developing effective local government plans and policies aimed at improving the local food system. Despite good intentions, many local government planners fall short. People of color and low-income community members are often excluded from local government food-systems planning processes. However, people that are excluded from community-based decisions are not excluded from the impacts of these decisions. This session explores how planners can reset the table to ensure equitable and inclusive engagement in the food-systems planning process, particularly for marginalized and underrepresented community members. The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity will provide a framework for inclusive and equitable community engagement and guide participants in an interactive exercise to help them identify how one’s position and motivations (both perceived and intended) in society contribute to one’s ability to influence the development of plans and policies that drive community investment. Planners from Omaha, Nebraska, and Lawrence, Kansas, will examine how they are integrating principles of inclusive and equitable civic engagement into the food-systems planning process and highlight the opportunities and challenges faced along the way.