Frisco Community Planning
Frisco Community Planning
Event Objectives
- Help the Town of Frisco co-create it’s Community Shared Values using Appreciative Inquiry, to guide their 10 Year Community Plan.
- Work alongside community members, town planners, and department heads to enable them to contribute by harnessing their collective creativity and allowing them to shape their own future.
- Enable the voice of community members, involving them in the decisions that are being made in their own communities, work places, and families.
- Foster unity among community members by bringing their stories, individual strengths and wisdom to the discussion.
Frisco Community Planning
Event Objectives
- Help the Town of Frisco co-create it’s Community Shared Values using Appreciative Inquiry, to guide their 10 Year Community Plan.
- Work alongside community members, town planners, and department heads to enable them to contribute by harnessing their collective creativity and allowing them to shape their own future.
- Enable the voice of community members, involving them in the decisions that are being made in their own communities, work places, and families.
- Foster unity among community members by bringing their stories, individual strengths and wisdom to the discussion.
The client
The client in this case study was the City of Frisco, Colorado. The summit began with facilitator Mike McCarthy introducing himself to the meeting participants and the concept of Appreciative Inquiry was introduced to attendees.
The purpose of the event was to gain insight from community members as to what they value about Frisco today and what they feel are the challenges and opportunities that they should focus on for their future.
AI Summit Begins...
The summit began with facilitator Mike McCarthy introducing himself to the meeting participants and the concept of Appreciative Inquiry was introduced to attendees.
The purpose of the event was to gain insight from community members as to what they value about Frisco today and what they feel are the challenges and opportunities that they should focus on for their future.
At the event, attendees were invited to circulate among six different stations designed to educate and evoke meaningful thought about community values as well as opportunities and concerns for their future.
Radical Inclusion
Postcards listing core values, which were filled out by 250 citizens in a Town of Frisco Community Plan Kickoff the previous month on July 11th, were disbursed to all participants in packs of 5.
Community members were then instructed by Mike to read each postcard and pick out keywords they felt captured the essence of their town and write them on small colored post-its. This exercise was to honor the voices of everyone who had taken the time to fill out the postcards who couldn’t make it.
It’s a great responsibility to honor those voices moving forward as they begin to build their intentions for the Town of Frisco moving forward.
Want Mike to Facilitate your next event?
Key Actions
Mike asked each participant to think about and connect with their own story, or something they witnessed living in Frisco, that could help draw out the values that could be used to develop the Town of Frisco in the future.
The power of telling your own story is significant as shared ideas and values are passed down from generation to generation.
Mike allowed 4 participants to stand and share to the entire group their personal story, but many more would have shared if time allotted. This speaks to the power of shared experiences (in this case living in the same city).
Individuals shared powerful views and memories that directly relate to the importance of Frisco growing in a safe and sustainable direction. Some of the words that stood out and were shared out loud:
*Access *Welcoming *People *Neighbors *Local *Outdoors *Safe *Authentic *Unique *Charming
Participants were synthesized into groups of 6 where they discussed the answer to this question. For the first part, they were asked to write their answers on small post-its and place on large white flip-charts provided to each group. They then themed out the ideas into groups on the board.
The groups then continued their progression by taking large, ½ page colored post-its, and giving them a 1-2 word title for each value. Underneath each title, they were asked to give a brief description of what the title means. Each group had a goal to produce between 3 and 4 values to share with the rest of the group.
After collecting the most important shared values and their descriptions, each group placed them at the front where a spokesperson from each group shared their collective choices.
Group 1: Environmental Care, Home To Many, Change Is Inevitable, Community Balance
Group 2: Connectivity, Balance, Identity, Environment
Group 3: Healthy Living, Human Connection, Thoughtful Ongoing Dialogue
Group 4: Sense of Community, Cherishing Our History, Cultural Kindness
After sharing, each large ½ page post-it was placed on a larger whiteboard where they could all be viewed together for the final exercise and conclusion. Photos were taken to capture all the admissions so that no information would be lost.
Participants were then instructed to pick their favorite 4 community values on the board, by marking the ones that resonated the most with a sharpie. The values that had the most marks were noted and recorded for discussion at the next Community Meeting.
Mike also outlined six core values vital to the town’s identity: preservation of history, environmental stewardship, healthy living, the sense of community, inclusivity and community balance between full-time residents, part-time residents and tourists.
Wrap-Up
Helping people to shape their guiding values collectively was very inspiring and also a great way to give back to the community. This was enabled by working with and alongside community members, planners, and department heads. The power of enabling people to contribute, harnessing their collective creativity and allowing them to shape their own future, is a powerful leadership lesson for us all.
People want to be involved in the decisions that are being made in their communities, workplaces, and families (get the kids involved!) and they want to bring their strengths to help. The world needs more places like Frisco, CO, to be open and create a space for the community to be involved in creating its own destiny.