Welcoming Interactive + Welcoming Economies Convening 2019

Communities across the country are developing strategic plans to integrate immigrants, boost economic growth, and welcome all residents. Gathering input from community stakeholders is a crucial step in this process. Town hall meetings, focus groups, and surveys can help identify gaps in services or barriers to accessing them. This training session will focus on how to design and implement community input tools by addressing what questions to ask; how to ensure broad representation; who to partner with; and how to translate the results into policy. Participants will hear from civic and business leaders with field experience soliciting community input and will practice crafting these types of tools.

Welcoming planning is a process for operationalizing welcoming efforts by developing cross-sector strategies to produce results.  It involves looking at where the community wants to go, assessing the community's current situation, and developing and implementing approaches for moving forward.  Welcoming plans often provide communities with a three-year road map - but what happens after those three years? Join us for a lively discussion of “What’s next when it comes to welcoming planning?” We will be joined by communities that have each taken a different approach to continuing their welcoming work beyond their initial planning phase.  Whether your community is planning for the first time, planning again, or not planning yet, come explore the many opportunities to engage in this strategic work.