A Resident Engagement Workshop Toolkit

Overview

This workshop toolkit is a resource for community leaders and facilitators to organize events exploring power, participation, communication, and decision-making. As the culminating project of the Toronto Strong Neighbourhood Strategy (TSNS) Advisory Group, its contents reflect best practices for resident engagement sourced from community consultations conducted between August and December 2022.

My Role

I designed the workshop on group decision-making ("Finding Your Decision-Making Style", page 32). Drawing on my experience navigating group dynamics in student and climate activist groups, I created a low-barrier, highly interactive session for participants to discover their decision-making styles, including consensus, majority and minority rule, and expert-led methods. The workshop remains neutral, recommending no single approach over another. Instead, it highlights valid differences in attitudes and methods to build a deeper sense of community and collaboration.

Background on the TSNS Advisory Group

The TSNS Advisory Group comprises 20 representatives from Toronto's Neighbourhood Improvement Areas (NIAs) and Emerging Neighbourhoods. For a term running from July 2022 to September 2023, the Advisory Group provided input on:

• City-wide networking and equitable approaches to neighbourhood wellbeing.
• Priority setting and implementation responsive to advisory members.
• Neighbourhood-level strategic planning and succession planning for community leadership.
• Strengthening the connection between systems-level coordination and locally determined community priorities.

Member Selection

Social Planning Toronto selected members based on their experience living, working, and volunteering in neighbourhoods. A Partnership Table of agency representatives assisted in the selection process and provided ongoing advice.