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Direct Design Assistance: St. Thomas Community Leadership Course, Minneapolis, MN, 2005
The Community Leadership Institute is a program of study sponsored by the Minneapolis Neighborhood Revitalization Program, the Metropolitan Alliance of Community Centers and the Center of Nonprofit Management. The classes offered in the program are aimed at neighborhood residents, volunteers and staff who would like to develop skills to improve their capacity as community leaders.
The Metropolitan Design Center was asked to participate in the facilitation and design on three sessions. The first was conducted in concert with staff from the City of Minneapolis Department of Community Planning and Economic Development. The three-hour class covered topics related to the basics of city planning processes and introduced some methods of participatory planning and design that could be employed in developing community-based visions of how neighborhoods might develop.
The second session was provided some hands-on experience, simulating some of the participatory processes used during the Minneapolis Corridor Housing Initiative. Following an introductory talk about livable cities, a team from the Design Center led participants through brainstorming, visual preference surveys, focus groups and a block exercise to learn about some of the complexities of development processes.
Design Center staff did not participate directly in the third session, a panel discussion about development processes. However, they were on hand to respond to questions during the discussion period.
Credits: The Design Center team included Richard Milgrom, Ann Forsyth, Katie Thering, and Ian Kaminski-Coughlin.
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1 Ralph Rapson Hall, 89 Church Street S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55455, |