Community Planning - Alberta Aboriginal Sport and Recreation Resource Manual

“When you see a new trail, or a footprint you do not know. Follow it to the point of knowing”

- Uncheedah-

Core Beliefs in Community Planning ( Adapted from Alberta Recreation and Parks Toolkit for Community Development)

People have the right to influence decisions that affect their lives
Each person is a potential source of knowledge and strength
Commitment to ideas and plans are greater when people are involved in their development
Strengthening trust and relationships must be a priority
Innovation and positive changes occur when people are involved
Community leadership is key to sustainability
Individuals and groups may need support to maximize their potential
Conflicts may be inevitable but they can be used creatively

Introduction

Community planning is defined in the following ways:
It is a strategic planning process that addresses the needs of communities in a purposeful way, with implicit notion of varying levels of community involvement in the process.
A range of partners working together to better plan, resource and deliver quality services that meet the needs of community residents. Community Planning puts people at the heart of delivering services, and ensures that local priorities are at the centre of service planning.
Basic Steps In Planning—Alice in Wonderland – Carroll Lewis
“Would you tell me, please, please? Which way I ought to go from here?” “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat. “I don’t much care where” said Alice. “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.

If the future of your organization or community isn’t important to you, than you can take the Alice approach to planning.
At the very basic level, planning involves taking a look at where your community is now, looking at where you would like to be in the future and then creating steps to get there.

Step 1

Where are we now as an organization/ community?
This step requires support of the community leadership and community members; open communication; establishment of effective decision making processes; skilled leadership and an opportunity for feedback.
This step also involves gathering and analyzing information about how your organization is functioning now. This may be completed through interviews, questionnaires or discussion groups. During this phase it is important to look at the internal strengths and weaknesses; external opportunities and challenges of your organization/ community. In addition this is an opportunity to re-visit your Mission Statement.
Describes what you do and for whom
Describes the function of the organization
Answers the question what business are you in

Step 2

Where do you want to be?
This step involves developing a vision statement for your organization/ community. What is your future potential?
A vision is not a plan
It is a declaration of the organizations most desirable future
It is a picture of what you want to create for people you serve
It is concrete and specific
It is consistent with the organizations values, philosophies and behaviours
It is attainable and realistic and bold.

Step 3

How can we get there?
What issues/ concerns need to be addressed?
What are the organization / community priorities?
What goals and objectives need to be developed?

Goals: Describe what you want to accomplish and may be written as result statements (depending on the planning model you use). Define areas of emphasis and are more specific than the broad vision/describe the “what”.

Objectives: Describe what you hope to achieve in the next year/could be expanded to identify targets for 3 year planning/a smaller chunk of the “what”.

Step 4

How will you do all of this?
In this step you begin to develop your strategies, develop action plans to complete the strategies, set timelines, determine who will be responsible for implementation, and determine expected outcomes.

Strategies: Methods or actions utilized to achieve the outcomes/goals – describe the “how” of achieving the “what”.
Action Plans: Identify the specific actions or tasks to accomplish for each strategy, who will be responsible, what resources are needed (financial, human and information), timelines, output (tangible accomplishment)

Outcomes: Describe the product or result that occurs as a consequence of achieving the goal (states the change or difference – could be in knowledge, skill, attitude, behaviour, condition or status) Outcomes must be tangible, measurable and appropriate.

Step 5

How will you know you are successful?
This is a key step in planning as you need to monitor and evaluate the activities you have determined are key in achieving your vision. At the end of the evaluation you can change your activities or add new activities to help accomplish what you have set out to do.