Difference between revisions of "Learning Gardens Laboratory/Community Meeting Report"

Your Name

Your individual report here.

Vincent

The outreach to the community has been researching, planning, mapping and updating new information to better accomplish our goal.

We have planned to give our team a general idea what we going to do. We set up times and date that we going to meet. We brought with us the mind how to accomplish to the task in the shortest time but most effective. There are outline speech that need to read before hand and need to memorize. We walked Knap street from 60th avenue to the 52nd avenue street. Each person spoke to one person from one house; other person does the next house. The second time each individual does their own section. We divide the task in order to accomplish the outreach fast and convenient. Recording the information from people who is interested the Learning Garden and willing to participate. We informed them about upcoming events; The location and street that we have planned to work on is researched. We know which block has businesses, school, community center and which block is more active. Thus, we knock people doors; inform them with the Learning Garden Fall Festival Harvest and upcoming events. Some people are interested while other doesn’t care at all. The people don’t care at all; we still give them flyer. Thus, the people that interested we give them flyers, speech, and exchange information. The majority of the first outreach is just getting to know the residents that live there. What time they would be home. What is their schedule like. We have no way to cross the barrier since we are new to the neighborhood. We need to build trust between us and the neighborhood. The second and third times outreach to the community, people are more open to us. They’re more comfortable to us than the first time. We are able to get more information like name, phone, email and home address. We have accomplished more than we expected due to the effort each of us put in. We thought that we couldn’t get more than 30 people to come to the garden. The Fall Festival Harvest is a success because so many residents in Brentwood Community come to the Learning Garden on that day. At least 50 or more has come to celebrate it.

For future outreach to the community, I recommend that we start to outreach to the community as soon as possible and get to know the people. Dress to impress residents because professionalism that counts. Give the products that Learning Gardens grow that they can appreciate. Let them know what this community has to offer rather than what they have to offer in return for something. Last but not least is event should be held on the weekend. These allow people to have free time and show up to the event.

On 60th avenue On Duke there is a Dairy Queen which has many people as well as student come to enjoy food. It’s really close by with the Learning Garden. One time we outreach at about 5 pm, we saw students were coming to that place. We gave them flyers. On 52nd Avenue on Bybee Street, there is a Café Shop and Catholic Gift Shop. On the 61st and 62nd, there is a community center which is a great place to get the words across. Perhaps we can use that place for future meeting and planning as well. Within the community, the Lane Middle School is also another great location to spread out news. We have outreached to the community and we see Odgen Street and 57th has more people interested in the Learning Garden than other streets. We only outreach to the community that close by the Learning Garden; next time we should go farther away from it. The more people the more they will be involve. Soon it will be a thriving community for everyone to socialize, planting, and a place for nurture for everyone.

Cheri

Team B was assigned meeting planning and facilitation. At the onset of the quarter, the team planned to do the following per the class syllabus: research outdoor kitchen designs and activities to present at the community meeting as starting points for discussion; work with LGLab staff to understand practical and legal parameters of kitchen facility; brainstorm kitchen ideas with students at Lane Middle School; plan meeting logistics, such as place, time, refreshments, etc. based on work of outreach team; prepare meeting agenda and activities; and facilitate the community meeting. The plan was altered per the Farm Manager, Yveline Wilnau, to exclude kitchen research. Initially Ms. Wilnau wanted to do the research herself so the class could concentrate on community outreach. After Ms. Wilnau had a meeting with city leadership, it was determined that the project would focus on an outdoor classroom instead of kitchen due to city codes.

Work on the community meeting began with all capstone students doing outreach before dividing into teams to organize the labor efforts. I did not participate in the whole class outreach due to transportation problems, and then illness. On October 31, 2007, I met with Amani at the LGLab prior to our garden work to discuss the meeting. We drafted an agenda to include the following events: a garden tour via slideshow, brainstorming for the classroom and other ideas the community might have for the facility, compile a list of skills available from those present, request a commitment from participants to attend a second meeting, give out two flyers to all present and serve refreshments. I typed out the meeting agenda and e-mailed it to my team (Amani and Kristina) as well as Ms. Blackman and Ms. Wilnau. The agenda I sent out had the date and time of the meeting at the top and included logistical questions regarding technology capabilities of the garden, asking if a slideshow already existed, questioning if the meeting could take place in a Portland classroom onsite rather than a green house due to weather, and asking Ms. Blackman if she could obtain the AV equipment.

In response to the first draft of the agenda, Ms. Blackman confirmed she could obtain the AV equipment, Kristina posted the agenda on the wiki web site she had created, and Ms. Wilnau sent an e-mail asking the date and time of the event. Ms. Wilnau provided the names of some additional people to cc on the e-mails, stated she would lead the brainstorming portions of the meeting, and asking that time be incorporated for greetings and a closing. I composed a second draft of the agenda to incorporate changes requested by Ms. Wilnau and send it out.

The capstone class meeting on November 5, 2007 included a class review of the agenda, and further changes were made. Ashley and Tori volunteered to bring food, Ms. Blackman volunteered to bring liquid refreshments, Ashley suggested having a prize give away as well as activities for children who may attend. Ashley took responsibility for both of her suggestions. The class viewed Kristina's wiki creation, and Kristina briefed the class on items she would add. The class ended with teams meeting to discuss further plans. Team B agreed that Amani would create informational flyers to hand out at the meeting per specifications agreed upon during class. I agreed to follow up with meeting facilitators to obtain answers to the questions sent with the first draft of the Agenda. I resent the revised (3rd draft) of the agenda to all parties with the date/time of the event highlighted, and retyped the questions from draft one, addressed each one to a specific person and included a note asking that people read and respond to the questions.

No response was received to draft #3. At that point I fell ill and missed class on Wednesday, November 7, 2007. Between November 8, 2007 and November 12, 2007 I made two outreaches to my teammates to discover the status of our meeting plans. On November 12, 2007, I received a phone call from Kristina in advising me that the third agenda was accepted and the meeting was going forward as planned. She advised that a slideshow would not be presented, but that Ms. Wilnau indicated she had visual aids she wished to use. I confirmed this information with Ms. Blackman on November 14, 2007, via e-mail.

I arrived at our community meeting one hour early per Ms. Blackman's request to aid in set up. The set up was complete when I arrived. I put on a name tag, carried a bowl from the kitchen to the meeting area for use as a garbage for sugar wrappers, wrote the agenda on the white board, and drank tea. I kept silent during the meeting except for introductions and closing remarks elicited from everyone to avoid invoking a coughing fit. I borrowed Ms. Blackman's cell phone and kept time for Ms. Wilnau as she made her presentation motioning when she had 10 minutes, 5 minutes, and when time was up. I left approximately 10 minutes after the event ended without helping with clean up as I could not hold back coughing any longer.

In hindsight, I have the following recommendations:

1. Start community outreach earlier, and require it be done during the "golden hours."
2. Make outreach at Lane Middle school a focus to a) educate the teachers, and b)provide flyers for take home to parents. Perhaps a representative could make an appearance at a staff meeting at the school.
3. The presenter(s) at the meeting should be flexible and tailor their comments to the audience who is present, rather than the ideal audience. Our meting had 5 attendees outside of capstone students: 1 grad student who volunteers at the facility for his degree, 1 teacher from Lane who voiced specific questions regarding rules teachers will have to abide by when using the proposed outdoor classroom and asking for ideas of how teachers can incorporate it into their lessons, and a family consisting of a student from Lane with his father and mother. The father had minimal English skills and stated he started volunteering at the garden when his son began having lessons there. The presentation that was delivered did not address the teacher's questions, and included so many concepts from PSU (such as placemaking) that it may have been esoteric to a family for whom English is a second language.

Chi

What you planned to do for Team A

• Survey the neighborhood for local business
• Contact the school official to seek permission to distribute flyers to the student
• Bag the garlic to be distributed to the neighborhood
• Do as much outreach as I can
• Help getting ready for the meeting

What you actually did

I surveyed the neighborhood for local business. There is a Dairy Queen on 59th and Duke, Open Spirit church on 65 and Duke, Flavel Street Baptist Church on Flavel and 69th, Mehri’s Bakery and Deli on 52nd and Bybee blvd, The Floor Store on 56 and Woodstock, Cascade machinery and Electric on 62nd and SE Reedway.

Besides bringing the flyers to Lane to be distributed to the students, making photocopies of the flyers and bagging the garlic to be distributed to the neighborhood, I did the outreach on the following street:

• SE 60th from the garden to SE Tolman (with Molly on the first day)
• SE 60th from the garden to SE Flavel, and SE Knapp Street from SE 60th to 57th (with Vincent on the second day)
• SE Ogden, Rural and Bybee street from 60th to 52nd Ave (with Tori and Vincent on the third day)
• SE Ogden and SE Copper Streets from 62nd to 68th Ave (by myself on the fourth day).

The evening before the meeting, I made approximately 18 reminder calls and sent out 4 emails from the outreach list. I arrived at the garden at 5 to help getting ready for the meeting.

Outcomes of your work

Even though we tried to conduct as much outreach as we could, we didn’t seem really succeed with the process. Of the 18 people I called, about 6 said that they would try to go to the meeting. For some reason, none of them showed up. I don’t know whether it was because of the rain or some other reason. I do feel really frustrated about it. Overall the meeting was nicely planned and organized (except for the lack of participation from the community).

Future recommendations

Since the sustainability of the learning garden rely heavily on donation and contribution from many organization and institution, as well as on volunteer efforts, it’s extremely important that we have to outreach the communities and make connection with them. In the future, I think we should have people with really good interpersonal communication skill conduct the outreach. While I did the outreach, I also noticed that majority of people didn’t know about the garden. So beside the flyers, we should have something more informative, factual and formal like a small pamphlet (2-4 pages) which provides information and fact about the learning garden such as its history, its current development, and its goal etc. For people who conduct the outreach, I think it will be more convincing if they wear something that represent the garden, maybe wearing a t-shirt or a hat with the learning garden imprint. Most important of all, we should conduct the outreach at the time when many people are at home so we can actually have a chance to talk to them (maybe after 5 p.m.). There are two churches near the school, in which we didn’t have chance to contact, they can be very resourceful if we can make connection with them. So in the future, we also should outreach these organizations. I think we should also do the outreach at PSU (aim at students major in agriculture or social service and civic development).

I’m not sure if any team members had made contact with the PTA, in the future we should definitely work with these people closely because I think these are the most devoting, committing, dedicating and giving people. Information about the meeting should be distributed to the student as early as we can.

Besides all of theses, a visible and impressive sign should be implanted on the pavement of the street where people can actual see it. This is the least effort way to draw people attention to the learning garden. There should be a nicely constructed website devoted to the garden which provides all the information and fact about the garden, from the past to the current as well as news and announcement (The Venice High School in California has a great learning garden website, we can follow this model, http://www.thelearningarden.org)

Kristina

Copy/paste individual report here.

Ashley

Copy/paste individual report here.

Cheri

Copy/paste individual report here.

Amani

Copy/paste individual report here.

Tori

Copy/paste individual report here.

Final Report: Planning Section

Final Report: Outcomes Section

==

Final Report: Recommendations Section==

A. For the outreach team

1. Communication skill vs. Professionnalisme

Since the sustainability of the learning garden rely heavily on donation and contribution from many organization and institution, as well as on volunteer efforts, it’s extremely important that we have to outreach the communities and make connection with them. In the future, I think we should have people with really good interpersonal communication skill conduct the outreach. Dress to impress residents because professionalism that counts. For people who conduct the outreach, I think it will be more convincing if they wear something that represent the garden, maybe wearing a t-shirt or a hat with the learning garden imprint.

2. Outreach schedule

For future outreach to the community, I recommend that we start to outreach to the community as soon as possible and get to know the people. Most important of all, we should conduct the outreach at the time when many people are at home so we can actually have a chance to talk to them (maybe after 5 p.m.). Start community outreach earlier, and require it be done during the "golden hours."

3. Educating the publics and school children about the learning garden

While I did the outreach, I also noticed that majority of people didn’t know about the garden. So beside the flyers, we should have something more informative, factual and formal like a small pamphlet (2-4 pages) which provides information and fact about the learning garden such as its history, its current development, and its goal etc. Give the products that Learning Gardens grow that they can appreciate.

Let them know what this community has to offer rather than what they have to offer in return for something. 
 

4. Connection with local business and organization

There are two churches near the school, in which we didn’t have chance to contact, they can be very resourceful if we can make connection with them. So in the future, we also should outreach these organizations. Information about the meeting should be distributed to the student as early as we can. On 60th avenue On Duke there is a Dairy Queen which has many people as well as student come to enjoy food. It’s really close by with the Learning Garden. One time we outreach at about 5 pm, we saw students were coming to that place. We gave them flyers. On 52nd Avenue on Bybee Street, there is a Café Shop and Catholic Gift Shop. On the 61st and 62nd, there is a community center which is a great place to get the words across. Perhaps we can use that place for future meeting and planning as well We have outreached to the community and we see Odgen Street and 57th has more people interested in the Learning Garden than other streets. We only outreach to the community that closes by the Learning Garden; next time we should go farther away from it. The more people the more they will be involve. Soon it will be a thriving community for everyone to socialize, planting, and a place for nurture for everyone.

5. Working with Lane Teacher and PTA

I’m not sure if any team members had made contact with the PTA, in the future we should definitely work with these people closely because I think these are the most devoting, committing, dedicating and giving people.

Within the community, the Lane Middle School is also another great location to spread out news.  

Make outreach at Lane Middle school a focus to a) educate the teachers, and b)provide flyers for take home to parents. Perhaps a representative could make an appearance at a staff meeting at the school.

6 Other area of interest for outreach

We have outreached to the community and we see Odgen Street and 57th has more people interested in the Learning Garden than other streets. We only outreach to the community that closes by the Learning Garden; next time we should go farther away from it. The more people the more they will be involve. Soon it will be a thriving community for everyone to socialize, planting, and a place for nurture for everyone.

I think we should also do the outreach at PSU (aim at students major in agriculture or social service and civic development).

7. Constructing a website for the class/implanting a impressive sign/logo for the garden

Besides all of theses, a visible and impressive sign should be implanted on the pavement of the street where people can actual see it.  This is the least effort way to draw people attention to the learning garden.  There should be a nicely constructed website devoted to the garden which provides all the information and fact about the garden, from the past to the current as well as news and announcement (The Venice High School in California has a great learning garden website, we can follow this model, [www.thelearningarden.org])

B From the planning team

1. Scheduling the meeting

Last but not least is event should be held on the weekend. These allow people to have free time and show up to the event.

2. Format and content of the meeting

1. The presenter(s) at the meeting should be flexible and tailor their comments to the audience who is present, rather than the ideal audience. The presentation that was delivered did not address the teacher's questions, and included so many concepts from PSU (such as placemaking) that it may have been esoteric to a family for whom English is a second language.