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Healthy Richmond Steering Committee

Steering Committee Overview

If interested in serving on the Steering Committee, please review and complete the short application at the end of this document /download the pdf version

Return to [email protected] by June 30th, 2009

If you have any questions, please call and leave a brief voice message at 510/234-5624 * 8, Ext 22 and a member of the Transition Team will respond.

Background
In early 2009, The California Endowment (TCE), a statewide public health foundation, announced its Building Healthy Communities Initiative and fourteen sites throughout California to be the focus of their strategic investments over the next ten years.  A portion of Richmond (Iron Triangle and North Richmond) was chosen as a site and TCE designated a small group of community, city, county, and public agencies and officials to participate in a pre-planning process to come together to create and deliver a planning proposal to TCE.  This planning proposal laid out a process and nine month timeline to engage residents and stakeholders in the development of a ten-year plan to improve and sustain ten health and wellness outcomes for Richmond residents.   Members of the Pre-Planning group met weekly for six weeks (and many hours in between) to develop the proposal, but moreover to discuss how to leverage this opportunity within the context of and existing and emerging efforts and opportunities that support the health and wellness of Richmond residents.

The proposal has been submitted and approved by TCE.  For more detail and access to supporting documents, please visit the Healthy Richmond website at www.healthyrichmond.net.

Steering Committee
The Pre-Planning Group identified the creation of a cross-sector Steering Committee toguide the activities and decision-making during the nine-month planning process beginning in June 2009.  The Steering Committee will consist of approximately 20 individuals whose perspectives reflect the concerns of residents, community agencies, and other sectors.  This group will set policy, provide direction and oversight during the planning process, and work with subgroups focused on resident and stakeholder engagement, and approve the final community plan submitted to TCE.   Steering Committee members will be asked to make a significant commitment of their time and effort to ensure that planning activities are implemented and decisions are made in a timely manner.  Although the Pre-Planning Group’s intention is for membership on the Steering Committee to remain constant during the planning process, participation will be open to reassessment as needed.

The Steering Committee will serve as ambassadors and stewards for the planning process, furthering and refining the work of the Pre-Planning Group, supporting and refining the proposed vision, upholding and adhering to the guiding values and decision-making processes established by the Pre-Planning Group. 

To recruit and select the Steering Committee and an outside facilitation team, the Pre-Planning Group was consolidated into a 12 member Transition team, which has been meeting since June 1, 2009 to set the preliminary Healthy Richmond structure in place .

A Vision for Healthy Richmond
The Pre-planning Group believes that a vision for a Healthy Richmond must be firmly rooted in the community itself.  The people who live, work, play, and worship in Richmond are the people who will create a lasting vision for a healthy community.  Therefore, the vision offered in this narrative is just a starting point for what we hope will emerge from the planning process in 2010.

The Pre-Planning Group envisions a Healthy Richmond as a community that:
“…is economically viable and sustainable, physically designed to promote healthy eating and active living, culturally vibrant, and connected across generations.  Social support and vital services flow through a seamless network of neighborhood institutions and agencies. Community members are engaged and see their priorities reflected in all aspects of the community – environment, governance, schools, cultural life, and business development.”

Guiding Values
The Pre-Planning Group identified a facilitation and decision-making process that is guided by a set of core values and a tiered governance structure that allows for discussion and disagreement and moves the process forward in a timely way.

The guiding values for the decision-making and conflict resolution infrastructure include:

• Intentional and meaningful resident engagement
• Transparency throughout the process
• Inclusiveness
• Healthy disagreement
• Curiosity about disagreement rather than defensiveness
• Focus on assets and possibilities rather than deficits and scarcity
• Shared understanding about actions and the implications of decisions for the community
• Shared understanding of our collective history and the forces that have brought our community to this place in time
• Diversity in all forms (age, gender, sexual orientation, race, class, ability, language, and status)
• Respect for the timeline and the logic of the process
• Collective thinking and creative problem-solving
• Honor existing work and efforts and create space and curiosity for new ideas.
• Cross-sector partnership

Decision-Making
The Steering Committee will be responsible for making key decisions about planning activities and development of the ten-year plan.  The Committee will use feedback collected from community residents during the engagement processes to inform key decisions about short and long term goals and activities to be included in the plan.  Decisions will be made using a Gradients of Agreementframework.  This framework allows groups members to rank their agreement with a proposal or actionable item on a scale of 1 to 6, with1 equaling total agreement and 6 equaling a veto. This framework allows for transparent, and inclusive deliberation and supports shared meaning and understanding of decisions.  A Gradients of Agreement Framework is included in your informational packet.

Time Commitment and Responsibilities
The Steering Committee is anticipated to meet every 4 weeks (though this may change) and be responsible for the following tasks:

• Insuring transparency and consistency by upholding and practicing the guiding values;
• Using the gradients of agreement, make decisions about resource allocation for activities, supplies, and staffing;
• Working with individuals and agencies involved in the planning process on resident and stakeholder engagement activities;
• Determining to what extent the proposed resident engagement strategies should be implemented;
• Setting agendas for large community wide meetings;
• Participating in key community engagement events;
• Reviewing financial reports;
• Reviewing and commenting on draft plans and documents;
• Identifying new resources to complete and/or augment planning tasks;
• Serving as ambassadors for the planning process;
• Participating as needed in statewide TCE events (there may be some travel involved, as well as web-based convenings);
• Take on additional tasks as needed through the planning process.

Representation and Configuration
The Steering Committee will reflect Richmond’s broad demographics, e.g. race, gender, and geography, and will seek representation from:

• Residents living in Iron Triangle and North Richmond
• Other Richmond residents
• Health service providers
• Education/School system
• Community organizing agencies
• Faith-based groups
• Youth serving agencies
• Policy groups
• Land use/Transportation agencies
• Community businesses
• Legal advocacy agencies
• Local government
• Media providers
• Fiscal agent
• Youth (ages 15-18)
• TCE program officer or other TCE representative (ex-officio)

Administrative Committee
A subgroup of the Steering Committee will form an Administrative Committee, which will be responsible for oversight of an outside facilitation team, coordination with the fiscal agent , compliance with planning grant requirements, including deadlines, the budget, and delivery of a completed plan to TCE in 2010.

Criteria for determining Steering Committee
The Transition Team is responsible for recruiting and selecting the Steering Committee.  The Team will work to ensure the Steering Committee meaningfully reflects the diverse spectrum of Richmond’s constituents and stakeholders. Transition Team and Pre-Planning team members may apply to serve on the Steering Committee and will be considered in the same process as other applicants.  Criteria that will guide the Steering Committee Selection include:

• Familiarity with North Richmond and/or Iron Triangle.  (This may include but is not limited to familiarity as a current or former resident, or someone that has family members that attend school, receive services, or participate in other programs; a social service, community-based, and/or faith-based agency or program that is or has worked in the areas; and/or a business or merchant)
• Familiarity with greater Richmond (see above)
• Experience and/or commitment to working with multiple stakeholders who have varying perspectives, experiences, and expertise;
• Experience working directly with residents, and understanding of basic approaches and practices of community organizing;
• Experience working directly with young people and understanding of youth development approaches and practices;
• Experience in local advocacy and/or policy work related to health and wellness issues in the Iron Triangle and/or North Richmond areas and/or greater Richmond.
• Experience with and/or familiarity with the local educational, economic, environmental, and health systems, agencies, and programs.

If you are interested in becoming a member of the Steering Committee, please fill out the following short application.