How we're connecting with more neighbors — and how you can help

The Waite Park Community Council’s (WPCC) Equitable Engagement Committee carried out its first official Equitable Engagement Plan (EEP) in 2022. With funds allocated from the City of Minneapolis’ Equitable Engagement Fund, the WPCC hired E. Coco Consulting LLC to conduct outreach to Waite Park residents to learn more about their connections to the neighborhood, neighbors, and WPCC programs. In particular, the effort was designed to reach neighbors who have been historically underrepresented. In neighborhood meetings held during the development of the EEP in 2021, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC); renters; and older neighbors (age 54+) were identified as priority constituencies to connect with.

E. Coco Consulting LLC worked with WPCC members to conduct a survey and in-person engagement of Waite Park neighbors. We sought to reach neighbors through mailings, door-knocking, office hours at Cosmic Coffee, interviews at community events, National Night Out, and the Waite Park Fall Festival. In 45 days, the team collected 300 surveys. The full report is available to view here. If you did not have a chance to complete the survey, you can always submit comments to the WPCC at: board@waiteparkcc.org. WPCC is continuously interested in hearing from residents about what improvements can be made. Please never hesitate to reach out to us.

WPCC would like to better connect with renters in the neighborhood. If you are a renter interested in helping to improve these connections, please contact engagement@waiteparkcc.org.

WPCC is looking for more volunteers to help carry out new programs and events in 2023 and beyond. As mentioned above, the 2022 work was supported through the City of Minneapolis Equitable Engagement Fund. WPCC is has a reduced amount of Equitable Engagement funding this year. Major recommendations from the EEP report included increasing overall awareness of WPCC, the number of community events, opportunities for resource sharing, support for businesses and other amenities, and connections with renters. Please contact engagement@waiteparkcc.org if you are interested in getting involved.

Waite Park neighborhood survey deadline extended to Sept. 10

The Waite Park Community Council has extended the deadline for submitting responses to our 2022 survey until September 10.

As an organization, we strive to create and nurture a neighborhood where all identities are welcomed, included and celebrated. Help us understand how we can achieve this goal by best serving you! 

We invite you to share your ideas, experiences, and perspective to inform future organizational programming and priorities. Your responses are anonymous and will be collected to elevate common themes, ideas and priorities. 

We want to make it as easy as possible for you to share your feedback. You can:

• Complete digital survey online (surveys also available in Hmong, Spanish, Oromo and Somali)

• Complete paper form (enclosed in the recent Waite Park Voice print newsletter). You may fold and mail the survey to the address printed on the back, or bring it to one of the following drop off locations:

  • Cosmic Coffee, 3301 NE Central Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55418

  • Mt Carmel Lutheran Church, 1701 St Anthony Pkwy, Minneapolis, MN 55418

  • Waite Park Wesleyan Church 1510 33rd Ave NE, Minneapolis, MN 55418

  • Waite Park Community Garden  3601 Lincoln St NE, Minneapolis, MN 55418

The deadline to complete the survey is September 10th.

You will have a chance to learn about the results of the community-wide survey in late fall 2022.

—Waite Park Equitable Engagement Committee

WPCC seeking proposals from equity-focused data consultants

The Waite Park Community Council is seeking proposals from equity-focused data consultants for the creation, implementation, and analysis of surveys and focus groups for our Equitable Engagement Plan.

The Council’s goal is to meaningfully engage marginalized communities that have been historically underrepresented in neighborhood decision making. The goal of the surveys and focus groups will be to gather information from the communities of interest including: BIPOC neighbors, older adults, and residents who rent in the community. 

The full timeline can be found in the RFP. Please do not hesitate to reach out to our Equitable Engagement Planning Committee if you have questions or need additional clarification at engagement@waiteparkcc.org.

The Council is accepting proposals until Friday, June 17th .

Equitable Engagement Plan will guide board outreach efforts in coming years

The Waite Park Community Council has completed a draft plan that will guide the board’s efforts to improve community engagement with historically underrepresented populations in the neighborhood.

As part of the City of Minneapolis's Neighborhood 2020 Program, each neighborhood is allocated funds to support projects and programs that engage communities with a focus on equity (known as the Equitable Engagement Plan, or EEP). 

A team of WPCC board members has been working on the plan, and we have been focused on how WPCC can facilitate better community engagement within the neighborhood, specifically with historically underrepresented populations in Waite Park. Throughout the process we have asked who is missing from the conversation and how we can involve those voices so our EEP reflects all of our neighbors.

The committee met weekly to discuss the plan and held two public meetings to hear from neighbors about what's on their mind and how we can listen. We submitted the draft EEP to the City on September 1 and have since been updating the EEP with suggestions and more neighbor input.

The draft Waite Park EEP seeks to engage renters, age 55+, and Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) communities. This will be done through surveys and focus groups for each demographic. The demographics were chosen based on census data and input from a neighborhood meeting held on Aug. 17. 

WPCC initially included (as a group for outreach) folks who get around through transportation methods other than cars but was advised by the city to integrate this in with the other demographics groups that will be included in the EEP. WPCC still needs to determine a contractor to conduct a survey and focus groups as well as analyze the data. This will be done at a later date.

WPCC will submit it's final draft to the city by October 15 and funds will be dispersed on January 1, 2022. Neighbors can share insights on implementation of the EEP by emailing WPCC and attending WPCC meetings.

—Megan Ausen

Join us for two neighborhood meetings about our Equitable Engagement Plan

You are invited to attend two public meetings to aid the development of Waite Park’s Equitable Engagement Plan. Please come share your thoughts on strategies that promote the engagement of everyone who lives and works in Waite Park; especially engagement in WPCC decision-making by those who have been historically underrepresented. 

The Equitable Engagement Plan (EEP) is a new requirement for neighborhood organizations to be recognized by the city and eligible for funding under the city’s Equitable Engagement Fund. More information is available here.

There will be a virtual meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 17 and an in-person meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 28 (either outside at Waite Park or inside the community center), both at 7pm.

Please RSVP for the meeting link and more location details by completing this form.

If you would like to submit suggestions related to the development of the plan or get involved in the development of the EEP beyond the two public meetings, please contact waiteparkcc@gmail.com.