JPG1505_InOurHands-1

In Our Handsputting the community back in planning
prepared by the JPG1505 collective | University of Toronto

This toolkit is not a toolkit.
It is not a one-size-fits-all prescription of what service agencies and planning organizations should
do.
It is a discussion of principles and a set of tools.
We emphasize that context is paramount. Supporting all stakeholders in actively making decisions,
designing, implementing, and evaluating plans and processes is more important than the
prescribed recommendations in this document. It offers a framework for how to think about
planning differently as well as concrete steps to do planning differently.
Our goal is to humbly present a resource for communities and organizations do their work in ways
that are anti-oppressive and that share power among people.
This toolkit (that is not a toolkit) should be considered a selection of exercises, reflections, and
stories intended to support individuals and organizations engaged in planning with communities.
Given that it will be used by different kinds of organizations, not all tools presented will be
applicable to all situations. We also hope that as you use this toolkit that you will reflect on what
has been more or less useful, and that you will add to it, adapt it and change it to suit the context in
which you work.
This toolkit-that-is-not-a-toolkit is unable to do everything. As it is only a document, it is unable to do
anything. The document is intentionally general so that different kinds of groups might use it to
make their work more participatory, inclusive, and versatile.
In this way, we co-create knowledge with each other and with you.
It is our hope that those who use this document can make changes in how they plan, with whom,
how, and why.

Table of Contents
Position Statement
Vision, Mission & Objectives
Terms of Reference
Strategies & Tools
Case Studies
References
Further Information (Inside Back Cover)
1
3
4
10
33
41

Position Statement
Where are we from?
When asked, most of us answer with geography. For some of us, Toronto is home, for others, our homes
are places halfway around the world. We would like to begin our conversation with you by first paying
respects, and acknowledging the land and the geography in which we now find ourselves:
the land of The Mississaugas.
The work in this toolkit is based on a number of premises and values. First, we understand the
benefits and harms of society to be experienced unevenly by different groups. Second, we
understand planning to be a set of activities historically performed by elites for or on larger groups
of people to change the material, social, and political realms of mostly urbanized areas in ways that
serve ‘the public interest.’ We also understand these first two understandings to be problems, and
we aim to change both through the work presented here. The public in whose interest planners
have traditionally planned is not a homogeneous group, and treating it as homogeneous only
guarantees inequitable outcomes. We therefore have produced this document with the assumption
that planning should be undertaken with the people for whom planning is usually done in ways that
are transformative, participatory and equitable.
But who are we, and how do we know? We are graduate students from various disciplines studying
at the University of Toronto, and we have met through a class called ‘The Multicultural City:
Diversity, Policy and Planning’. We have all completed the self-assessment tool included in this
toolkit in order to partially dislodge our positions as ‘experts' with expert knowledge. We are
knowers not only because we have studied the issues raised in this document, but because we
have lived them. Based on our self-assessments, none of us have to “out” ourselves as disabled
persons, worry about telling employers that we have a disability, or are Indigenous. However, among
us we have answered yes and no to every other question. Only some of us can be pretty sure of
having our voices heard in a group in which we are the only member of our race. Only some of us
identify as part of the upper or middle class, or have never lived in poverty. Only some of us have
never been bullied, isolated, or bashed because of our sexual orientation. Only some of us have
never been discriminated against because of the way we express or practice our religions.
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Position Statement
When we show up for work, people assume that only some of us are employees and deserve to be
paid. This shows part of how diverse our experiences in the world have been, and yet we work
together here with a common purpose to understand how to move not past our differences, but
through them towards more equitable planning practices and outcomes.
We also wish to acknowledge and emphasize our conscious omission of the term ‘best practices.’
Any action or process that is deemed to be the best in a given time and place is often not the best
for another set of circumstances. The particular relationships, histories, possibilities and
constraints of each situation are the best sources of information for determining what good practice
will look like, and there is no universal set of practices that will apply to all situations, as the term
‘best practice’ implies. Instead, the case studies described in this document are intended to provide
examples of what has and has not worked in different places, and we recommend further
exploration and context-specific adaptation of any that may seem relevant or helpful to you.
In some way this “In Our Hands” is a declaration and a recognition of the central role that local
knowledge plays in creating social planning that is owned and implemented by the community
being planned. It attests to the fact that an effective system of knowledge already exists in the
community, and that the role of social planners is to work with and facilitate this system of
knowledge within the framework of various community projects. This tool kit highlights a new
innovative role for social planners which includes planning with and facilitating the work of local
community planners instead of the traditional role of planning for a targeted community. In other
words, allowing the local community to teach us, and to direct the community projects being
undertaken.
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Vision, Mission & Objectives
Our vision is to provide a resource for individuals, communities, and organizations involved in
planning to develop an effective, equitable, and just participatory planning model.
Our mission is to present a planning approach that enables all individuals, communities, and
organizations to engage in planning practices that provide the space and means for full
participation by all stakeholders. We aim to do this by providing an adaptable framework,
supporting resources and practical tools to assist individuals, communities and organizations with
understanding their positions within the planning process.
Our objectives are to:
○ Challenge the current approach of planning for communities, and present an alternative that
assumes a desire to plan with communities;
○ Encourage individuals, communities, and organizations to assess their power, abilities, and
privileges, to identify potential resulting impacts and challenges, as well as opportunities for
engagement;
○ Present a framework to promote successful partnerships between those individuals,
communities, and organizations engaged and invested in the planning process and its
outcomes, with specific consideration for individuals and groups who, through
marginalization, may have been excluded from the planning process;
○ Provide tools that support individuals, communities, and organizations in meaningful and
productive involvement in all stages of program, plan, or policy development to maximize
benefits and minimize negative impacts.
Our intended audience consists of individuals, communities, and organizations involved in
community development, service providers, and those involved in any related planning discipline
who are looking for tools to better serve the holistic needs of diverse and often marginalized
communities.
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Terms of Reference
Many of the following terms have multiple definitions,
and are socially, historically, and politically
constructed*.
Acculturation - The process whereby the culture, values
and patterns of the majority are adopted by a person or
an ethnic, social, religious, language or national group;
this process can also involve absorbing aspects of
minority cultures into the majority culture's pattern.
Affirmative Action - A set of explicit actions or programs
designed to increase participation at all levels of
education and employment for and by individuals or
groups preciously excluded from full participation.
Assimilation - The full adoption by an individual or
group of the culture, values and patterns of a different
social, religious, linguistic or national group, resulting in
the elimination of attitudinal and behavioural
affiliations from the original cultural group; can be
voluntary or forced.
Autonomy - One's own self-governance; a person or
group's capacity for self-determination in the context of
moral choices.
Barrier - An overt or covert obstacle; can be used in
employment equity to mean a systemic obstacle to
equal employment opportunities or outcomes; an
obstacle which must be overcome for equity to be
possible.
Benevolent Racism - Racism that is attempted to be
concealed through kindness.
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Bias - A subjective opinion, preference, prejudice or
inclination, formed without reasonable justification,
that influences an individual's or group's ability to
evaluate a particular situation objectively or accurately;
a preference for or against.
Capacity Building - Building skills or competency to
improve ability on many levels, including individual,
community, or institutional.
Class Identity - An individual's self-perception based on
their socio-economic background .
Classism - The cultural, institutional and individual set
of practices and beliefs that assign value to people
according to their socio-economic status, or class,
thereby resulting in differential treatment.
Colonialism - Historical and ongoing processes of
controlling and exerting power over social structure,
government, economics, territory, land use, languages,
and/or knowledges of Indigenous peoples; also
manifested in immigration patterns where colonized
peoples often experience the economic and social
effects of colonialism after leaving their lands and
coming to Canada.
Community - A set of people (or agents in a more
abstract sense) with some shared element (a shared
situation, location, or interests) to interest to lives and
values; used to evoke sense of collectivity.
Community Development - A broad term referring to
improving, empowering and increasing the capacities of
various aspects of communities and their constituents.

Cross-Culture - The interaction, communication, or
other processes between people or entities from two or
more different cultures.
Culture - The mix of ideas, beliefs, values, behaviours,
knowledge and traditions of a group of individuals who
share a historical, geographic, religious, racial,
linguistic, ethnic or social context, and who transmit,
reinforce and modify those ideas and beliefs, passing
them on from one generation to another.
Cultural Identity - The influence of one's culture on the
development of identity.
Decolonization - Refers to the undoing of colonialism.;
can also refer to the process of decolonizing the mind,
which references unlearning internalized racism and
colonialism and valuing and centering other forms of
knowledge.
Discrimination - The denial of equal treatment, civil
liberties and opportunity to individuals or groups with
respect to education, accommodation, health care,
employment and access to services, goods and
facilities.
Diversity - See multiculturalism.
Dominant Group - Refers to the most powerful and
privileged of groups in a particular society or context.
See majority.
Emigration - The process of leaving one’s home or
country in order to settle in another home, place or
country, for personal, economic, political, religious or
social reasons.
Employment Equity - A program designed to remove
barriers to equality in employment by identifying and
eliminating discriminatory policies and practices,
remedying the effects of past discrimination, and
ensuring appropriate representation of the designated
groups.
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Empowerment - The self-initiated process of increasing
one’s ability to choose, and one’s capacity to define,
analyze, and act upon one’s problems.
Environmental Racism - A systemic form of racism in
which toxic wastes are introduced in or near
marginalized communities. People of colour,
Indigenous peoples, working class and poor people
suffer disproportionately from environmental hazards
and risks such as exposure to industrial toxins, polluted
air, unclean water, deleterious work conditions and the
location of dangerous, toxic facilities such incinerators
and toxic waste dumps.
Equality/Social Equality - Refers to equal rights under
the law, such as security, voting rights, freedom of
speech and assembly and property rights.
Equity - Refers to being fair even if precise equality is
not achieved. Equity is meant to acknowledge
differences in ability and needs and to create a sense
of fairness or justice while taking difference into
account.
Equal Opportunity Program - An explicit set of policies,
guidelines and actions devised to eradicate
discriminatory practices and to ensure access to and
full participation in educational and employment
opportunities, housing, health care, and services,
goods and facilities available.
Ethnic Group - Refers to a group of people having a
common heritage or ancestry, or a shared historical
past, often with identifiable physical, cultural, linguistic
and/or religious characteristics.
Ethnicity - A social construct which refers to a group of
people who believe or are believed to share a common
heritage based on ancestry, kinship, language, religion,
territory, nationality, or physical appearance. Often,
ethnicity is used interchangeably with race.

Ethnocentrism - The tendency to view others using
one's own group and customs as the standard for
judgment, and the tendency to see one's group and
customs as the best.
Eurocentrism - The tendency to interpret the world in
terms of western and especially European or
Anglo-American values and experiences.
Expert - A person with a high degree of skill or
knowledge of a certain subject; a controversial term
because of how and by whom the criteria for expertise
is formed.
Gender and Sex - A set of characteristics that are
thought to distinguish male and female.
Harassment - Persistent, on-going communication in
any form of negative attitudes, beliefs or actions
towards an individual or group, with the intention of
placing that person(s) in a disparaging role.
Heterosexism - A system of personal and systemic
discrimination against non-heterosexuals, or the
favouring and privileging of heterosexuality over other
types of sexuality.
Human Rights - Human rights affirm and protect the
right of every individual to live and work without
discrimination and harassment.
Identity - An individual's self-perception of which ethnic,
racial, cultural or other category they feel best
describes them.
Ideology - A doctrine, myth, belief, or knowledge set
that guides an individual, social movement, institution,
class, or large group.
Immigrant - One who moves from his/her native
country to another with the intention of settling for the
purpose of forging a better life or for better
opportunities.
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Immigration Status - Status which a migrant is
accorded under the immigration law of the host
country.
Imperialism - The creation and maintenance of an
unequal economic, cultural and territorial relationship,
usually between states and often in the form of an
empire based on domination and subordination. There
are different types of imperialism: political, economic,
and cultural imperialism.
Indigenous Peoples - The descendants of the original
inhabitants of North America. Term used to collectively
describe three cultural groups of aboriginal people -
"Inuit", "Métis People" and "First Nations".
Individual Racism - The prejudiced individual, direct, or
one-to-one action(s) against other individuals because
of their group membership and skin colour to deprive
them of some right (employment, housing).
Inequality - the opposite of equality and often refers to
different levels of access to rights, necessities,
services, and treatment.
Informed Participants - Participants with access to
balanced and reliable information about what it is in
which they are participating. Informed participants may
not only receive information, but also build capacity in
order to develop necessary skills to make participation
possible.
Institutions - Fairly stable social arrangements through
which collective actions are taken (e.g. government,
business, unions, schools, churches, courts, police).
Integration - The process of amalgamating diverse
groups within a single context, usually applied to
inter-racial interaction in housing, education, political
and socio-economic spheres or activity, or the
incorporation of children defined as disabled into
neighborhood schools and classrooms.

Internalized Oppression - Patterns of mistreatment of
racialized groups and acceptance of the negative
stereotypes created by the dominant group become
established in their cultures and lock members of
racialized groups into roles as victims of oppression.
Intolerance - Bigotry or narrow-mindedness which
results in refusal to respect or acknowledge persons of
different racial backgrounds.
Knowledge Production - Knowledge is produced from
specific historical, political, economic, and social
locations. It is important to be aware of where and how
knowledge is produced and where ideas come from.
Local Knowledge - Also referred to as traditional and
indigenous knowledge. The wisdom, knowledge,
teachings of certain regional, indigenous, or local
communities. Local knowledge is not always valued or
considered legitimate knowledge. On the other hand,
local or indigenous knowledge is often appropriated
without the consent of the individual or community.
Majority - Refers to the group of people within society
either largest in number, in a superior social position,
or that successfully shapes or controls other groups
through social, economic, cultural, political, military or
religious power.
Marginalization - With reference to race and culture,
the experience of persons who do not speak the
majority group's language, cannot find work or gain
access to social services and therefore cannot become
full and equal participating members of society. Refers
also to the process of being "left out" of or silenced in
a social group.
Mediation - The intervention into a dispute or
negotiation of an acceptable impartial and neutral third
party, who has no authoritative decision-making power,
to reach voluntarily and acceptable settlement of
issues in dispute.relations.
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Migrant - Someone that moves from one region to
another by chance, instinct, or plan; often refers to
geographic movement for work.
Minority Group - Refers to a group of people within a
society that is either small in numbers or that has little
or no access to social, economic, political or religious
power. In Canada, refers to the diverse ethno-racial
identities that are not of the dominant white group. In
some areas, they are not always in the minority
numerically. Minority rights are protected by the
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, The Human
Rights Acts and Codes, and the UN Convention on the
rights of minorities. The term may imply inferior social
position. In common use, Racial or Visible Minority
describes people who are not White; Ethnic Minority
refers to people whose ancestry is not English or
Anglo-Saxon; Linguistic Minority refers to people whose
first language is not English (or not French in Quebec).
Multiculturalism - A Canadian government policy
announced in 1971 that refers to the demographic
reality of the Canadian population representing a
plurality of ethnocultural traditions and racial origins, a
social ideal or value that accepts cultural pluralism as
a positive and distinctive feature of Canadian society.
Used interchangeably with diversity.
Native - People born in the place to which reference is
being made. When capitalized, Native refers to
Aboriginal peoples.
Oppression - The unilateral subjugation of one
individual or group by a more powerful individual or
group, using physical, psychological, social or economic
threats or force, and frequently using an explicit
ideology to sanction the oppression.
Participatory Planning - A planning paradigm
emphasizing the involvement of the entire community
in the strategic and management aspects of the
planning project.

Patriarchy - The norms, values, beliefs, structures and
systems that grant power, privilege and superiority to
men, and thereby marginalize and subordinate women.
People of Colour - A term which applies to people who
are not seen as White by the dominant group, generally
used by racialized groups as an alternative to the term
visible minority.
Persons with Disabilities - Refers to persons who
identify themselves as experiencing difficulties in
carrying out the activities of daily living or experience
disadvantage in employment, and who may require
some accommodation, because of a long term or
recurring physical or developmental condition.
Pluralism - A state in society where some degree of
cultural, linguistic, ethnic, religious or other group
distinctiveness is maintained and valued.
Power - That which allows one group to name and
classify subordinate groups and to subject them to
differential treatment.
Prejudice - A set of attitudes held by one person or
group about another, tending to cast the other in an
inferior light, despite the absence of legitimate or
sufficient evidence; concrete evidence that contradicts
the prejudice is usually dismissed as exceptional.
Privilege - The experience of freedoms, rights, benefits,
advantages, access and/or opportunities afforded
members of the dominant group in a society or in a
given context, usually unrecognized and taken for
granted by members of the majority group, while the
same is denied to members of disadvantaged groups.
Public Interest - An ambiguous concept thought to be
the common well-being, or general welfare. Because
society comprises multiple groups who are affected
differently by planning decisions, considering multiple
publics can be a useful way to broaden the concept of
public interest in order to achieve equitable outcomes.
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Race - A socially-constructed term with material
consequences; used as a tool of categorizing people
and creating hierarchies of power during colonialism.
Race Relations - The pattern of interaction, in an
inter-racial setting, between racially different people.
Racial Discrimination - Any distinction, exclusion,
restriction or preference based on race, colour,
descent, or national or ethnic origin, which nullifies or
impairs the recognition, enjoyment or exercise of
human rights and fundamental freedoms in the
political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of
public life.
Racial Minority - A term which applies to all people who
are not seen as White by the dominant group including
Aboriginal, Black, Chinese, South Asian, South East
Asian and other peoples. Sometimes used instead of
Visible Minority.
Racial Profiling - Any action undertaken for reasons of
safety, security or public protection that relies on
stereotypes about race, colour, ethnicity, ancestry,
religion, or place of origin rather than on reasonable
suspicion, to single out an individual for greater
scrutiny or differential treatment.
Racialization - Racialization refers to processes
through which groups are designated as having
different racial identities. Often the process of
racialization can produce racial relationships where
none existed previously.
Racism - Acting on the belief that superiority is based
on racial identity; racism can operate on many levels:
linguistic, personal belief, institutional, cultural, and
epistemological.
Racist - Refers to an individual, institution, or
organization whose beliefs and/or actions imply
(intentionally or unintentionally) that certain races have
distinctive negative or inferior characteristics.

Segregation - The social, physical, political and
economic separation of diverse groups of people,
particularly referring to ideological and structural
barriers to civil liberties, equal opportunity and
participation by minorities within a majority racial,
ethnic, religious, linguistic or social group.
Sexism - The belief or attitude that one gender or sex is
inferior to, less competent, or less valuable than the
other.
Sins of Omission - In generic terms, the failure to speak
out or act, thereby causing harm to individuals or
groups by maintaining silence or lack of action. The
term may also refer to the omission of minority groups
from the media, educational or religious materials and
from cultural and political life.
Social Exclusion - The state of group disempowerment,
degradation and disenfranchisement maintained by
systemic barriers and supported by an implicit ideology
of ethnic or racial superiority.
Social Hierarchy - The social stratification of societies; a
relational set of inequalities based on economic, social,
ideological, and political identities.
Social Inclusion - The process that respects and
includes marginalized groups who have traditionally
been excluded from decision-making and policy
development processes in communities.
Social Justice - A concept premised upon the belief that
each individual and group within society is to be given
equal opportunity, fairness, civil liberties and
participation in the social, educational, economic,
institutional and moral freedoms and responsibilities
valued by the society.
Sovereignty - Having supreme, independent authority
over a territory; freedom from external control.
Status - The relative position or standing of things or
especially persons in a society.
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Stereotype - A fixed mental picture or image of a group
of people, ascribing the same characteristic(s) to all
members of the group, regardless of their individual
differences; may be based upon misconceptions,
incomplete information and/or false generalizations
about any of the group’s or individual’s characteristics.
Systemic/Institutional Discrimination - The
institutionalization of discrimination through policies
and practices which may appear neutral on the surface
but which have an exclusionary impact on particular
groups.
Tolerance - Usually meant as a liberal attitude toward
those whose race, religion, nationality, etc. is different
from one’s own and is tolerated. Tolerance does not
mean acceptance, equity, or full participation in society.
Transformative Planning - Planning with the purpose of
regenerating a community by looking to the community
for input, creativity and direction.
Unlearning Privilege - The process of learning about
and locating oneself in systems of privilege and
oppression.
Visible Minority - A legal term widely used to describe
non-dominant groups in human rights legislation and
various policies; also referred to as racialized minority
or people of colour.
Vulnerable - Susceptible to physical, emotional,
economic, social, and political attack or discrimination.
White - Politically, historically, and socially constructed
and usually connected with power and privilege. White
supremacy has been used as a tool in colonialism.
Xenophobia - An unreasonable fear or hatred of
foreigners or strangers, their cultures and their
customs.

Strategies & Tools
“… a sensitive approach to planning that also recognizes planning’s impact on race, class and
gender …”
- Michael Burayidi
BASICS
Community planning is an ongoing process of development and improvement, and should never be seen as a final
product1
. It is a process in which the environment, the economy and social equity are interconnected and can be
mutually reinforcing2
, and it must place emphasis on diversity, health, access to resources and decision-making
opportunities, and the empowerment of its community3
. In developing an alternative methodology for community
planning, we need to investigate and evaluate our current situation in order to develop sustainable solutions that
address the root of current inequities in the planning system.
CENTRAL FOCUS
The goal of the development of an alternative form of community planning is to investigate and transform the causes at
the root of exclusion. Alternative Community Planners need to engage in participatory research of their current contexts;
to develop ways of sharing the knowledge generated in the planning process; to ensure that that research moves to
action; and to engage in collaborative evaluation of a project both during and after its completion4
. These strategies are
further described in the following pages.
CHARACTERISTICS
Alternative Community Planning is a process which is participatory and locally-driven, and which develops from the
bottom up, rather than from the top down5
. It works to empower communities by giving them the products of community
planning as well as the power to create and use those products6
. It recognizes the importance and interdependence of
different groups within the community7
through the use of different forms of knowledge, learning and expression such
as dialogue, learning by doing, contemplation, and symbolic, visual and interactive knowledge . An essential starting
point to Alternative Community Planning is an honest self-assessment by participants, an assessment of the Alternative
Community Planning team and an assessment of the existing context of the community, as described in Tools One and
Two.
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Tools One and Two are designed to help individuals and organizations identify issues or gaps in understandings of
diversity and power in order to develop better planning strategies with communities. Both tools help you to locate
yourself and the organization in the planning process so as to gain a better understanding of how relate to the
experiences of others and effectively work with the community. For an example of how such understandings are
part of better planning, see “Restoring and strengthening sovereignty: Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations in Clayoquot
Sound, BC,” p. 37 and “The Alternative Planning Group (1998-2004) Toronto, Ontario,” p. 39.

COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT
Alternative Community Planners should work to develop the trust and genuine participation of the community through
the use of participatory strategies (for examples see Tool Three and Tool Four) and through attention to different frames
of reference and forms of knowledge, learning and expression9
. The planning process should be controlled by local
groups rather than by outside experts, and should be based on community learning and empowerment10
. Projects
should aim to strengthen the community capacity for planning through the development of skills and experience, and
should enable collaboration and mutual learning between participants11
.
THE IMPORTANCE OF DIVERSITY
The encounter with difference in our lives encourages the re-evaluation of our viewpoints and practices12
. It reveals our
preconceptions, and promotes innovation through our exposure to alternative perspectives and methods13
. It can allow
us to take advantage of the potential for mutual reinforcement between different groups, and for these reasons should
be seen as an asset and not as a problem in the Alternative Community Planning process14
.
A DIALOGUE OF EQUALS
As a prerequisite for participatory decision-making, alternative community planners must create space and
opportunities for a dialogue of diverse community voices in which all have the opportunity to hear and to be heard, and
to have an impact on a project15
. Through dialogue, community members are given the opportunity to be listened to and
also to listen to others, and this helps to build relationships of trust and respect in the community. Dialogue has the
added advantage of bringing diverse groups into habitual and engaged contact with one another, so that they can come
to see one another as equal actors in the community16
and develop an understanding of one another’s positions. In
bringing diverse groups together outside of the everyday community context, dialogue can allow alternative inter-group
relationships to develop outside of the context of everyday power relations17
.
Central to dialogue in community planning is the validation of diversity within that dialogue. This diversity can be
ideological, cultural, ethnic or gender-based, to name just a few, and community planners need to recognize the
importance of different issues, frames of reference and ways of knowing, learning and expression for different groups in
their community. Please refer to Tool Five for a description of one alternative form of knowledge and expression, and
how it can be used in community planning.
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Tool Three lays out clear steps on how an organization can work with diverse groups so that both parties are
engaged in a joint planning process. This helps the organization to identify partners in the planning process and
provides direction on how the organization can work identified partners to develop programs that are responsive
to the community. To read examples of how such a tool could make an impact on a community refer to the
following: “Increasing affordable housing: The Dudley Street Neighbourhood Initiative (Boston, MA)” p.34, and
“Community development through participatory action: East St. Louis Action Research Project (Chicago, IL)” p. 35.
Tool Four outlines one way for organizations to engage in a joint planning process with the community. The tool
helps the organization conduct participatory research through each stage of the policy cycle, from development to
implementation and evaluation. To read an example of how different forms of participatory practices can make an
impact on a community refer to the following case study: “Participatory budgeting: Porto Alegre, Brazil” p. 36.

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An openness to and validation of this diversity can challenge the dominant “story” of a community by introducing a
different voice and perspective into the community dialogue18
, and by recognizing alternatives to the dominant version
of the reality of the community19
. Community dialogue can reject simplistic “black-and-white” thinking to acknowledge
the existence of multiple shades of grey20
, and in this way can be a catalyst for change in community planning.
In fostering dialogue between diverse community groups, community planners need to ensure that that dialogue is
transparent and accessible, and that there is both accountability and respect for all groups in the community
throughout the process21
.
The role of social planning organizations in Alternative Community Planning
WORKING WITH THE COMMUNITY
Alternative Community Planning aims to transform the conditions which permit the marginalization of communities in
the first place. It is a process which empowers communities by developing their capacity through experience22
. It
enables the re-conceptualization of problems so that marginalization is overcome and community action is possible23
.
Alternative Community Planning builds community capacity in order to enable the community to plan sustainably for the
future, and in this way is done with and by, rather than for, the community24
(Tool Three).
ENABLING GENUINE COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION
Alternative Community Planning must be based on community participation in the planning process, and must build the
trust of the community through the building and use of community capacity and through the validation of issues and
methods important to community members25
. The Alternative Community Planning process can use dialogue and other
forms of expression to find common situations and issues of importance for diverse community groups, and can both
recognize existing community abilities and build those abilities by engaging community members as both participants
and decision-makers in the project26
, ensuring that members build skills through experience and have an opportunity to
apply their skills in the planning process.
THE ROLE OF THE PROFESSIONAL IN ALTERNATIVE COMMUNITY PLANNING
If an outside professional is involved in the community planning process, the input of that professional should be seen
as a support for community action27
. Professionals in Alternative Community Planning need to be seen as project
collaborators on equal grounds with community members. They can contribute knowledge gained from their past
experience of similar projects, and this knowledge should be seen as part of a collaborative process in which the
context-specific knowledge of community members is equally important. Ultimately, professionals collaborating in the
Community Planning process should act as enablers of the communities in which they work, and should enable a
gradual “handing-off” of the project to community participants by building community capacity through experience28
.
Community members, ultimately, should control the Alternative Community Planning process.
Tool Five refers to storytelling as an alternative form of expression that can unearth rich information held by the
community and help to inform the planning process. Since stories are told in various forum and formats, this tool
sets out four guiding principles as a mechanism to help the organization use alternative expression in
participatory planning. For an example of how storytelling can be an important part of multicultural planning, see
the case study : “Multicultural Social Plan: Canterbury, Australia,” p. 40.
For examples of working with communities and developing capacity, see the following case studies: “Increasing
affordable housing: The Dudley Street Neighbourhood Initiative (Boston, MA),” p.34, and “Community Housing:
Mabuhay Manor: Hamilton, Ontario,” p. 38.

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Professional collaborators can use their skills and training to help communities to make informed decisions – to enable
community self-planning, rather than merely facilitating community consultation in the planning process29
.
Professionals need to think outside of normal planning practice – they need to use alternative methods like those
detailed in the Tools below to enable communities to plan for themselves30
.
A framework for Alternative Community Planning
IDENTIFICATION OF THE PROBLEM
An important first step in Alternative Community Planning is the identification of the problem to be solved, and the
investigation of its causes, consequences, and interrelations with other issues in the community31
; or the identification
of the specific project to be undertaken and the reason that it is needed, its desired outcome and its interrelations. The
next step is to conduct a brief preliminary appraisal of the community to identify the community context and the
resources existing in the community which could be applicable to the identified problem or project32
. These preliminary
steps, because they are undertaken prior to the establishment of a Planning Team representative of the diverse groups
of the community, should be seen as idea-generators rather than as definers of the project to be undertaken. The
definition of the project must be refined by the Planning Team as a whole, as is described below.
DEFINITION OF THE COMMUNITY PLANNING TEAM
Once the problem or project has been generally identified, community members need to define the Community
Planning Team. This team should include a broad range of community members across the diverse groups of the
community so that the project will truly be a product of the community as a whole, and will draw on its expertise and
serve its unique needs. Care should be taken that all members of the community realize their importance to the
project’s achievement, and that all are able to contribute to this through the integration of different forms of knowledge,
learning and expression in the planning process, and the development of a shared definition of the project and its
goals, as described below. In addition, the project planning process should be made accessible to all community
members in terms of time and location of meetings. These may need to be arranged on a rotating schedule and in
rotating locations to be accessible to all community members (Tool Three).
The Community Planning Team should work together to develop a shared definition of themselves as a whole, a
definition which is a layering of the multiple stories that community members bring to the team, and which will help in
the definition of the project to be undertaken collectively33
. From here the Community Planning Team can start to define
a common set of core community values which will guide the project – a definition of what is important to the team,
physically, socially and ideologically, in the context of the project.
As described above, if there are outside collaborators involved in the project, these professionals should be seen as a
resource and as participants in the project rather than as interpreters of community goals. They should use their
experience to develop the capacity of the community to self-organize and to undertake future community planning
projects without outside collaboration.

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DEFINITION VISION, OBJECTIVES, STRATEGIES
Once the Community Planning Team has been formed, it should define a shared vision and overall strategy and desired
outcome for the project to be undertaken . From here the team can create objectives that represent the achievement of
that vision in concrete terms. These objectives should be specific and realistic, and should have defined timelines for
completion35
. The team can then identify indicators for recognizing when progress is being made towards those objec-
tives, whether in the form of conventional quantitative measurements or more abstract indicators for less quantitative
goals36
.
Once this framework for the project has been set up, the team can move on to define the action strategy, in terms of
participatory tools to be used (see, for example, Tool Four) and desired timelines for the achievement of specific
objectives37
. This strategy should make full use of resources and skills available in the community. Within this strategy
framework, the team can define specific tasks and responsibilities for the achievement of the project goals38
.
GROUP FORMATION AND CAPACITY-BUILDING
Once the Community Planning Team has defined the concrete tasks and actions necessary for the achievement of the
project, Research Groups can be formed. These groups should be representative of the heterogeneity of the Community
Planning Team, and should be based on an assessment of who is suited to perform which of the identified project
tasks, with the aim of ensuring that a variety of perspectives and experiences are brought to each task. Care should
also be taken to ensure inclusion across diverse cultural and gender communities in the Research Groups39
.
In the formation of Research Groups, the planning team should pay close attention to community-level capacity build-
ing, as described above. Groups should build on existing community strengths, strengthen linkages between community
members, and build capacity within the community through concrete experience. The Community Planning Team as a
whole should lay out specific responsibilities and timelines for each Research Group, and should identify tasks which
are dependent on one another40
. These specifications provide a clear framework within which individual Research
Groups can begin to undertake their specific tasks.
Throughout the group formation process, the Community Planning Team should develop ways that the different
Research Groups can communicate during the project to share information and questions, and should develop strate-
gies to link the levels of planning required by the project, be they local, municipal, regional, provincial, national or
international41
. The Planning Team as a whole should also be accountable and responsive to each other and to the
community as a whole – regular meetings should be held between Research Groups for reporting and feedback on the
progress of specific tasks, and the Planning Team as a whole should report to and consult with the larger community as
frequently as possible42
(Tool Four).
IDENTIFICATION, COLLECTION AND ACCESSIBILITY OF REQUIRED DATA
Each Research Group needs to identify the data required for the completion of their tasks, in order to be able to make
informed decisions43
. Group members should identify the concrete reasons that this information is needed, including
what will be done with that information once it is obtained, and any other factors or tasks on which it is dependent. The
Research Group should then identify strategies and sources for the collection of the identified data, and should look
beyond conventional sources to include both professional and community, primary and secondary, and conventional
and participatory sources44
.

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The required data can then be collected using the identified strategies and sources, and the Community Planning Team
can analyse the meaning of that data for the project and the community. The data should be made available throughout
the process between all Research Groups, and also to interested parties in the community who are not participating in
the project45
(Tool Four).
FROM RESEARCH TO ACTION
Once all Research Groups have completed the research process for their specific tasks, the entire Community Planning
Team should re-assemble to share and compile the data collected. The Team can then identify, and evaluate the
implications of alternative actions for the community within the project strategy framework, and can move from decision
to action, to create policies and action plans based on the compiled data46
. Implementation Groups, which may be
different from the Research Groups but may stay the same, can then be formed to create the required policies and
carry out the required actions.
EVALUATION OF THE PROJECT
It is important, once the project has been carried out, that the Community Planning Team takes the time to identify any
positive outcomes and unintended consequences of the policies and actions undertaken. The Planning Team can hold
discussions to evaluate the implications of these outcomes and any unforeseen interactions between the policies and
actions of the project, and to identify outcomes which should be intensified or mitigated through further action. Please
refer to Tool Six for a description of a tool for impact assessment.
From this evaluation, the Community Planning Team can formulate useful “next steps” by asking whether the
community is progressing towards their vision and whether there are any strategies or actions which should be
changed. The team should ask itself how well its action and management strategies are working, and identify potential
alternatives to the strategies that it has established, and should review the Research and Implementation Groups to
see whether team members can take on other roles in future projects based on their knowledge and skills gained in the
achievement of the current project.
This evaluation process ensures that projects undertaken by alternative community planning teams are ongoing
processes of improvement, and not fixed products. Teams must be able to critically evaluate programs and policies in
their communities, whether they are produced by outside agents or by alternative community planners themselves, in
order to allow the community to take control of its own development.
Tool Six is an evaluative tool to assess the impact of a new or existing policy on the community so that both the
organization and the community are held accountable. This tool helps the organization and the community to
identify impacts, make modifications, and monitor amendments based on the evaluation. Furthermore, this tool
fosters an ongoing relationship between the organization and the community.

Tool One: Individual Self-Assessment
This tool has been adapted from Peggy McIntosh’s “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” and subsequent versions.
Why should I use these tools?
We recognize that it is important to locate both ourselves as individuals and collectively as an organization. It is
important to identify issues or gaps in our understandings in order to develop better strategies as organizations. These
tools are meant to raise awareness in order to better plan for our communities.
By locating ourselves, we can better see how we relate to the work we do, and the people we work with. We can
understand our locations and experiences in order to better understand the experiences of others. Before looking at the
organizational level, we need to begin with ourselves. This tool will also create awareness of where we need to build
knowledge on diversity.
What will this tool accomplish?
The goal of the individual assessment is to increase our awareness of our social locations within the context of the
organization. We recognize that our personal experiences impact our relationships and the work we do, and that, by
better understanding where our views comes from, we can better work with others organizations and communities.
How do I use it?
Read the following “checklist” of statements. Go through the checklist and answer whether or not you feel that you
agree with, or have experienced each item in the list.
1. I can be pretty sure of having my voice heard in a group in which I am the only member of my race.
2. I can speak in public without putting my race on trial.
3. When speaking in public, I am expected to speak for all the people of my racial group.
4. I can criticize our government and talk about how much its policies and behaviour without being seen as a
cultural/ethnic/racial outsider.
5. I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to the “person in charge”, I will be facing a person of my race.
6. I can go home from most meetings of organizations I belong to without feeling isolated, out of place,
outnumbered, unheard, held at a distance, or feared.
7. I can worry about racism without being seen as self-interested or self-seeking.
8. I can speak English without a noticable “accent” (for example, West Indian, Chinese, Black Canadian).
9. I identify as part of the upper or middle class, or I have never lived in poverty.
10. I am not Indigenous as defined by the Indian Act of Canada or similar pieces of legislation elsewhere.
11. I identify as heterosexual. I have never been bullied, isolated, or bashed because of my sexual orientation.
12. I identify as being male and have male anatomy.
13. I do not have and have never feared that if my family, friends or people at work find out about my sexual
orientation there will be economic, emotional, physical or psychological consequences.
14. I can be open about my sexual orientation without worrying about my job.
15. I am or have been discriminated against because of the way I express or practice my religion.
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16. I have to “out” myself as a disabled person, or worry that people will treat me differently because I am
disabled.
17. I have to worry whether or not to tell a potential employer that I have a disability (even though it would be
against the law to discriminate against me).
18. I have to make careful choices about how much I do in a day, or spend days recovering from doing too much.
19. When I show up for work, people assume that I am an employee and that I deserve to be paid.
What now?
The above checklist should have started you thinking about our positions and locations within our organizations. Do any
of the statements below apply to you?
1. I was surprised at some of my responses to the above statements.
2. I am just beginning to think about oppression/privilege. This was new for me.
3. I am more aware of some areas than of others. For example, I think about race a lot, but I don't think about
sexual orientation.
4. I notice and think about if others have the same experiences of me. So, if I feel comfortable in a situation, I
wonder if others do, too, and for what reasons.
Next steps....
Now is the time to increase our knowledge of diversity in order to affect change at all levels of our organizations. Check
out the resources in the back of the toolkit. Becoming aware of our own experiences, locations, and knowledge is
important in creating equitable spaces and opportunities for all. Try bringing up some these issues in a group and see
where and how your experiences may be similar and different to that of others.
These checklist is a good place to start. Next, go through this document, it is meant to help your organization to become
more aware of these issues and to act upon them to improve its service and function.

Tool Two: Organizational Assessment
This tool has been adapted from the Race Matters initiative developed by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Conducting A
Cultural Competence Self-Assessment developed by Dennis Andrulis of SUNY and the Downstate Medical Centre, and
the Accessibility Checklist in the Inclusion Handbook developed by the Ontario Women’s Health Network.
Why should I use this tool?
As organizations providing social services, we hold enormous powers and privileges that at times produce large number
of inequalities in society, which later serve as barriers producing equal opportunities. Organizations need to minimize
unanticipated adverse consequences by producing more equitable opportunities that foster growth, prevents
institutional racism and increases the cultural awareness of its workforce.
What will this tool accomplish?
This tool will raise the organizational level of awareness and assist in the analysis of current and proposed policies,
institutional practices, programs, and budgetary decisions that affect lives of racial and ethnic minorities and other
marginalized groups. But more importantly, it will allow the organization to indentify the issues early and help to
develop long term strategies that assist in producing more equitable outcomes.
Staff Composition
Provide a rough estimate of the breakdown in your organization by the following ethnic-cultural groups for the past fiscal
or calendar year.
Administration/ Board of Professional Frontline Support Volunteers
Management Directors Staff Workers Staff
Visible Minority
-Chinese
-South Asian
-Black
-Filipino
-Latin American
-Southeast Asian
-Arab
-West Asian
-Korean
-Japanese
-Multiple visible minority
Not a visible minority
Aboriginal
(Inuit, Metis, or First Nation)
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- 19 -
To what degree do the members of your organization reflect the ethnic/cultural characteristics of the community you
serve?
1= Perfect match 2= Almost Perfect 3= Somewhat 4= Not at all
IF YES:
Is representation equal across all members of your organization? For example, are frontline workers more likely to
reflect the ethnic/cultural characteristics of the community you serve? What may be implications of this?
What are other kinds of representation may affect the work of your staff? For example, if your staff is reflective of the
ethnic/cultural characteristics of the community you serve, what are other areas that they may differ (e.g. class, sexual
orientation, ability, etc)? What are some implications?
IF NO:
If your organization does not reflect an equal representation of the community it serves, how has this impacted the
work of the organization? What are the current or proposed policies this organization has put practice to address these
concerns?
Staff Awareness
1. Staff are trained about the wide range of barriers to equal opportunity and the embedded inequalities
throughout society, from how they are produced to how they can be reduced.
0= None 1= Some 2= Almost All 3= All
2. Staff are well informed about the barriers to opportunity within their area of focus – including critical data and
information about how inequalities are produced and how they can be eliminated.
3. Staff are comfortable and proficient while communicating issues of barriers to opportunity and embedded
inequalities with relevant individuals and groups.
4. Staff are culturally sensitive and aware while interacting with diverse groups.
5. Staff separate data by race, gender etc. in all analyses.
0= None 1= Some 2= Almost All 3= Always
6. Equity analysis applied to policy issues.

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7. Equity analysis applied to practice issues.
8. Published materials reflect a knowledge and understanding of barriers to opportunity and embedded
inequalities.
9. Staff can articulate why it matters and the consequences if you do not address barriers to opportunity and
embedded inequalities.
Organizational Operations
1. Removing barriers to opportunity and disparity reduction are all explicit goals of the organization and is
articulated throughout the mission statement.
0= No 1= Leaning towards that direction 2= Yes
2. The organization has an internal team that oversees the ongoing efforts of removing barriers to opportunity
and reducing inequalities.
3. The organization’s goals of reducing barriers to opportunity are reflected in budgetary decisions.
4. Resources are put into promoting capacity-building and asset-building for people and communities who
experience marginalization.
0= Rarely 1= Sometimes 2= Almost Always 3= Always
5. Resources focus on creating opportunities for all and a reduction in inequalities.
0= Rarely 1= Sometimes 2= Almost Always 3= Always
6. The organization has a deliberate plan to pursue career and personal development of people from
diverse backgrounds.
0= No 1= Leaning in that direction 2= Yes

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7. The organization has regular training and discussion at the staff and/or board level meetings about removing
barriers to opportunity and reducing inequalities both internally and externally.
8. The organization regularly assesses workforce composition race and ethnicity and develops long term
strategies for increasing diversity at all levels.
0= No 1= Leaning in that direction 2=Yes
10. The environment of the organization openly embraces all cultural and religious practices.
11. The organization has procedures in place to address complaints about barriers to opportunity and inequalities
in the work place.

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BARRIERS TO PARTICIPATION
What makes an accessible participation process depends on the particular needs of your group. The items in this
checklist are suggestions of things to consider:
Choose a convenient time and day
• What are the working hours of the people coming to your group? Do people work office hours, shift work, at
home or other alternative work arrangements? Do work hours change depending on the season?
• Would it be easier for the people in your group to meet on a weekday or weekend?
• Do they have children or family members they take care of (e.g. elderly), and does the time and day you have
chosen take those commitments into account?
• Does the meeting clash with religious festivals or school holidays?
Provide child/elder care
• If the people in your group have children or family members they care for, providing child/ Elder/special care
will make it much easier for them to attend.
Offer translation services
• Providing language translation and/or American Sign Language interpretation if needed will make the group
more inclusive.
Choose a space that is safe, central and easy to get to
• Is the space you have chosen easily accessible by public transit or by car?
• Should you offer public transit tokens/gas subsidies?
• Is it easy to find?
• If you are having a meeting at night, is your location well-lit; will people feel safe arriving and departing?
• Is it easy for women to find the meeting room once they reach the facility? Will there be signs (and in multiple
languages)?
Choose a space that is barrier free
• Is the space you have chosen a well known place to the community? Is it a place that may be intimidating (e.g.
government building)?
• Is the space you have chosen wheelchair accessible?
• Are there close, easily accessible washrooms?
• Is there enough space in the room for a wheelchair, if you have participants who use wheelchairs?
Make sure room size and set up are comfortable
• Ensuring that the room size is appropriate for the size of the group will help to make the participants feel more
comfortable. Be prepared with the correct number of seats and set them up in a circle format, if possible. Also
ensure that the room’s temperature and light levels are comfortable.
• Make sure refreshments are healthy and sensitive to dietary needs.
• If possible always offer refreshments but make sure the women in the group can enjoy them check for food
allergies, dietary requirements such as vegetarian or vegan, and whether or not food needs to be Halal or
Kosher. Try to offer food that is healthy and fresh.

Tool Three: Impact Assessment
This tool has been adapted from the Health Equity Impact Assessment Tool developed by the Ontario Ministry of Health and
Long-Term Care in partnership with the Toronto Central LHIN. It lays out clear steps for how an organization can work with diverse
groups so that all parties are engaged in a joint planning process.
How this tool works
To make sure that the planning process is a joint effort, this tool is to be completed by both the organization and
members of the community. In order to do this, refer to the Impact Assessment Chart and identify representatives for
affected vulnerable or disadvantaged groups listed in section 1; keep in mind that for some, or all, groups,
representative organizations may already exist. This Chart is not to serve as a checklist that identifies groups as tokens,
but rather a mechanism in which to identify representatives who can engage with the organization in the planning
process.
SECTION 1: Identification of Affected Groups
This section provides further clarification of the classifications used in the Chart:
• Aboriginal people: First Nations, Inuit, Metis, and other indigenous populations.
• Racialized youth: youth from visible minority backgrounds. Census Canada defines visible minorities as
persons who are identified as being non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour: Chinese, South Asian, Black,
Arab/West Asian, Filipino, South East Asian, Latin American, Japanese, Korean, and Other. The youth are
separated out because they are particularly vulnerable to experiences in their communities during their
formative years which create an early impression about themselves.
• Racialized Minorities: Includes visible minority groups listed in Census Canada: Chinese, South Asian, Black,
Arab/West Asian, Filipino, South East Asian, Latin American, Japanese, Korean, and Other.
• Recent immigrants: Includes individuals that are new arrivals to Canada, typically less than five years. This
group is distinct as they face unique challenges, especially related to ‘settlement’ and ‘integration’.
• Refugees: This group also face ‘settlement’ and ‘integration’ challenges.
• Linguistic communities, e.g., people not comfortable receiving services in English or French –Many of these
groups listed in this chart speak several distinct languages and may not be fluent in English and French,
resulting in access barriers.
• Religious/faith communities: Groups whose religious or faith based practices may be infringed on by a policy.
• Rural/remote, inner-urban populations, e.g. geographic isolation, social isolation, under serviced areas –
includes groups that are subject to spatial segregation.
• Sexual orientation – Includes lesbian, gay, bisexual.
• Sex/gender: Includes women, men, transsexual, transgendered.
• Low income, underemployed, unemployed people: Includes groups living in poverty.
• Single parent households: Includes both female and male single parent households.
• Abilities: Includes individuals of levels of abilities that range from physical to developmental to mental health.
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- 24 -
SECTION 2: Impact Assessment
The next step is for the organization and the representatives of the identified groups to complete section 2 of the Chart
and analyze potential positive and negative impacts of the policy. As you fill out the Chart think about the following
questions:
1) What are the positive impacts of the policy?
2) What are the negative impacts of the policy?
3) How will the policy affect the groups over the short and longer-term?
4) Are there other factors that may be influencing on positive or negative impacts, e.g. other intersecting policies?
5) What other information do we need to help identify positive and negative impacts?
6) Will some groups benefit more from the policy than others, and why?
When completing this section also keep in mind the following:
• Evidence that is being used to assess impacts
• The probability of the predicted impacts
• The severity of the impacts
If additional research is required, follow up with the required research - see Tool 4 for information on how to conduct
participatory research – and input the new information in the respective impact columns.
SECTION 3: Modification
This section should also be completed by the organization and the group representatives. Compare the negative and
positive impacts listed by the organization and the representatives - where negative impacts are listed, analyze ways to
resolve the negative impacts, and where there are positive impacts stated, identify ways to enhance these impacts. List
the analysis under the modifications column.
While completing this section, keep the following questions in mind:
• How can I reduce or remove barriers that may be contributing to the negative impact?
• What specific changes do I need to make to the policy to minimize negative impacts and maximize positive
impacts?
• How do I ensure that the policy treats all groups equally?
• How do I address systemic barriers that may be contributing to negative impacts?
Compare the analysis under the modification section completed by both the organization and representatives and
identify similarities and differences. Where there are differences between the organization and the representative
groups identify a mutually agreeable solution and change the policy accordingly.
SECTION 4: Monitoring
This step is to identify ways that your organizations as well as the representative groups can monitor the roll out of the
policy. Therefore, this section should be completed by the organization and the group representatives so that both
perspectives can be shared and negotiated.
When completing this section, think about the following questions:
• What tools should each group use to monitor the policy?
• How frequently should the policy be monitored?
• What additional data is required to effectively monitor the policy?

- 25 -
IMPACT ASSESSMENT TOOL
How does your program/service affect these
vulnerable or disadvantaged populations?
Aboriginal People
Racialized Youth
Racialized Minorities (adults)
Recent Immigrants
Refugees
Linguistic communities
Religious/faith communities
Rural/remote, inner-urban populations,
Sexual orientation
Sex/gender
Low income, underemployed, or unemployed
people
Single parent households
Abilities
Other
Potential Impacts Modification Monitoring
Positive Impacts Negative Impacts

Tool Four: Participatory Research
This tool is adapted from the Inclusion Research Handbook available on the Ontario Women’s Health Network website:
http://www.owhn.on.ca/tools.htm. Some of the sections have been highlighted and/or amended in this tool to make it more general
for the purposes of this toolkit.
The objective of this tool is to help the organization conduct participatory research, which can be done at any stage of
the policy cycle, from development through to implementation and evaluation. This type of research can be facilitated
through various means, such data collection (quantitative and qualitative), storytelling, video projects, and visual arts.
Addressing Barriers to Participation
The first step to inclusionary research is to address barriers to participation in order for organizations to work with the
community. It is important that the inclusion of diverse groups not be tokenistic as the point of participatory research is
to exchange knowledge and thus should treat diverse groups as ‘experts’ who have valuable information to offer. To
facilitate the knowledge exchange, barriers to participation should be addressed prior to conducting the research
project; for example, child care is a major obstacle that could prevents members of diverse groups from participating.
A separate budget should be allocated to address barriers to participation and should not come out of funds that will be
used to pay community researchers. An analogy can be drawn to organizations that pay business executive for their
expertise through billable hours, and any extra expenses related the project, such as hotel and/or meals, are set aside.
The following are costs to consider before beginning the research project:
• Child care
• Travel stipend (transit tokens, mileage, taxi, parking)
• Refreshments
• Interpretation
• Accessible meeting space
Setting up a Local Advisory Committee:
The second step to participatory research is to form a Local Advisory Committee that will guide your organization
through each stage of the research process. To help with the selection of the Committee please refer to the chart
entitled ‘Tool for Selecting a Local Advisory Committee.’ This tool is not meant to serve as a checklist where identified
groups are checked off as tokenistic, but instead Committee members are to viewed as meaningful participants who
are brought on board as ‘experts’. Committee recruitment could be done through community organizations using
methods such as word of mouth or advertisement.
Once Committee members have been selected, the next step is to recruit community researchers.
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- 27 -
Recruiting from the community:
Individuals from the community should be hired as researchers because their experiences in the communities make
them the ‘experts’ and are also able to provide valuable information that would not be otherwise uncovered through
‘outside’ consultants. The following points are strategies to help your organization select members of the community for
the research project:
• Invite people through posters and word of mouth through community organizations, places of worship, and
other areas of community gathering.
• Set up information sessions through community organizations, places of worship, and other areas of
community gathering.
• Circulate flyers to community organizations.
• Speak to staff at community organizations and ask to inform clients.
The same tool used to select the Local Advisory Committee can also be used to determine if there is fair representation
from all of identified groups for community researcher positions.
Training:
Training allows both the organizations and community researchers (referred to as inclusionary researchers in the
Inclusion Research Handbook) to agree on a common understanding of what is expected from the project. Moreover,
training also enables knowledge sharing between the organizations, researchers, and members of the Committee so
that all parties are equipped with the same background and tools necessary to conduct the research project. The
following are some points to keep in mind when conducting the training:
• Training is about exchanging knowledge; therefore, trainers (whether they are independent facilitators or from
the organization) should be seen as disseminators of knowledge.
• A segment of the training should be allocated to committee members and community researchers to
disseminate their knowledge about their experiences in the community.
This information provides a very broad framework on how to conduct the training sessions. The next step is to identify
the methodology the community researchers will use in gathering information for the research project.
Conducting the Research:
Both the organization and the Committee should have an equal say in determining the methodology, such as data
collection, focus groups, interviews, storytelling, and visual arts. Once a methodology is selected, it is important that the
community researchers are the ones to conduct the research. To help your organization think of ways to make specific
methods of research inclusionary refer to Session 4 of the Inclusion Research Handbook (pages 76-83) which gives an
overview of some of the different research methods, such as a literature review, collecting demographics, focus groups,
and key informant interviews. However, note that the Handbook does not offer an exhaustive list of inclusionary
research methods, such as storytelling, video projects and visual arts.
After collecting the research, the next step is to amalgamate the information and draw recommendations.
Collaborative Analysis:
This step requires community researchers to disseminate, compare, and analyze the data/information in order to
develop recommendations. To ensure that the entire process is inclusionary, community researchers should extrapolate
the data and formulate the recommendations so that the research process from beginning to end is informed by
community.

- 28 -
TOOL FOR SELECTING A LOVAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Tool Five: Storytelling
Storytelling is a powerful way of sharing knowledge as it allows individuals to describe their ‘lived experience’, and is
insight that is housed only within the community. This form of research presents a collective narrative of the community
and should be received as a vehicle for transformative action that can be used to inform the planning process.
The following is a rough guide on how to use storytelling as a research methodology. The format and the forum of how
this process is conducted will vary; therefore, this tool presents guiding principles that can be used for multiple forms of
story telling, whether it is in oral form, through a video project, or even using visual art.
Throughout the research process, though, a strong relationship with the community is essential to extract information
that will enrich the research and the design of the policy. It first starts with setting up a steering committee.
Guiding Principle 1: Selecting a Steering Committee
The Steering Committee should be made up of members of the community who are identified in the impact assessment
tool (number two), or the Local Advisory Committee can provide a dual function. The purpose of this Committee is to
lead the entire research process from beginning to end, which would include the following: to identify, hire, and
supervise local community research assistants; advertise and recruit storytellers; facilitate the dissemination of
information; and develop recommendations.
Guiding Principle 2: Getting familiar with the neighbourhood
Storytelling is the expression of an individual’s experience living in the community and without having some exposure to
the storytellers’ surroundings it may be difficult to understand the person’s reference point. It is therefore suggested
that members of your organization familiarize themselves with the neighbourhood such as the streets, shops, people,
houses, parks, etc to get a general understanding of the environment in which the story teller lives.
Guiding Principle 3: Situating oneself
It is important to understand one’s position in the storytelling experience and be cognizant of how the story is being
interpreted, in other words, recognizing your own biases and how those filters shape your interpretation of the story. If
you have not done so already, complete the individual assessment tool (Tool One, p. ##) and examine any
preconceptions or biases you may think will act as filters to the story. When listening to the story, try to be aware of
these biases and think about your location in the storytelling experience.
Guiding Principle 4: storytelling where the community and the organization attend together
Sharing a story requires a safe space so that individuals feel comfortable to talk about their experiences with a group of
strangers; this could be the job of the Steering Committee. Storytelling should be attended by the Steering Committee
as well as the organizations and members should be open to different forms of communicating; for example, a person
with Aboriginal background should be encouraged to share his/her story through methods that use indigenous
knowledge, if he or she chooses to do so.
- 29 -

- 30 -
As the listener it is important to keep remembering your situation in the story (refer to guiding principle three). Also,
listen closely for any common themes and priorities during the storytelling process, and also among each of the stories;
while each story is unique, there may be common threads of action among the stories.
Points to keep in mind:
• Be aware of how your position in the story
• Ensure the privacy and confidentiality of participants and their story
• Provide storytellers with the background on why this research process is being conducted
• Set a realistic timeline.

Tool Six: Impact Evaluation
This tool has been adapted from the Health Equity Impact Assessment Tool developed by the Ontario Ministry of Health and
Long-Term Care in partnership with the Toronto Central LHIN. It builds on tool three with an added evaluation section (section five) to
be used to evaluate a new or existing policy so that the organization and the community are held accountable for the policy impact
on diverse groups. Evaluation timelines are at the discretion of both the organization and the community.
How this tool works:
Please refer to Tool Three Chart for the rest of the instructions. To keep the information consistent, use the same
representatives from identified groups used to complete tool two. If this is the first time the organization is using the
tool, review Tool Two, section 1, on how to recruit members of identified groups.
The organization and representatives of identified groups should complete the evaluation section of the tool to see if
the perspectives match up on how the policy is impacting on the community. Refer to tool two and go through
instructions for section two and then fill out the answers in section 5. If there are gaps between the organization and
the identified groups on the impact of the policy then go through section 3 and 4 to identify ways to modify and then
subsequently monitor any changes to the policy.
The evaluation of a policy is an ongoing process so completing this section of the tool is not the end; instead, it is an
ongoing relationship between the organization and the community to continually improve the quality and delivery of
policies.
- 31 -

- 32 -
IMPACT ASSESSMENT TOOL
How does your program/service affect these
vulnerable or disadvantaged populations?
Aboriginal People
Racialized Youth
Racialized Minorities (adults)
Recent Immigrants
Refugees
Linguistic communities
Religious/faith communities
Rural/remote, inner-urban populations,
Sexual orientation
Sex/gender
Low income, underemployed, or unemployed
people
Single parent households
Abilities
Other
Potential Impacts Modification Monitoring
Positive Impacts Negative Impacts

Case Studies
The case studies in the section provide an overview of some of the strategies employed around the
world to shift the emphasis away from the planning “professional-expert” model towards greater
community engagement in the planning process/planning decisions. A major criticism of the
professional-expert model is its top-down emphasis concentrates power in the hand of university
trained professionals resulting in the production of plans that are unresponsive to local needs. In
the case of Aboriginal peoples, transformative planning is a means of/provides a means of
transforming the institutional bases of indigenous subordination in post-settler states”48
.
The shifts towards a greater emphasis on community involvement/participation in planning are
manifold. This is because top down planning often leaves “communities with little input or control
over their own destinies”49
. Moreover, an increasing number of evidence suggests that the diversity
of communities adds to the planning process in a way that traditional planning processes cannot
capture.
- 33 -

Increasing affordable housing
The Dudley Street Neighbourhood Initiative (Boston, MA)
The Dudley Street Neighbourhood is located in the Roxbury-North Dorchester neighbourhood in Boston, Massachusetts.
The neighbourhood continues to be one of the poorest in Boston. The revitalization of the neighbourhood began in
1984 when a group of residents /community organizers founded the Dudley Street Neighbourhood Initiative (DSNI) to
promote community driven neighbourhood revitalization and address problems of disinvestment, arson, dumping,
neglect, redlining, and outside speculation.
PRINCIPLES EMPLOYED
• Empower residents to “organize, plan for, create and control a vibrant, diverse and high-quality neighborhood in
collaboration with community partners”50
.
• Focus on community development, resident development and youth leadership.
• Ensure the promotion of resident driven revitalization plan through strategic partnerships with individuals in
the community and organizations in the public, private and third sector.
• Enhance economic power in the neighbourhood.
STRATEGIES
• Assuming ownership of vacant land/unused land in the neighbourhood through resident cooperation/in
conjunction/through collaboration with civic organizations and church groups.
• Establishing Board of Directors representing the diversity of the neighbourhood so as to ensure democratic
formulation of the community’s long-term goals and decisions of brown field sites.
OUTCOMES
• The greatest achievement to date has been the facilitation of neighbourhood development without
displacement of community residents.
• More than half of the 1, 300 lots into affordable housing units, community centers, new schools, a Town
Common, a community greenhouse, parks, playgrounds, gardens, an orchard and other public spaces.
• The creation of the city’s lone permanent affordable housing through the DSNI land trust.
• A greater involvement of youth in sustaining neighbourhood change.
• The creation of a Memorandum of Understanding by the City of Boston which enables an involvement of the
DSNI and the community at large in every stage of the “new city-sponsored projects within the neighborhood”51
.
- 34 -

In the early 1980s a wide range of social and environmental problems plagued East St Louis. These problems were a
consequence of political issues and led to a decline of economic conditions undermining the economic development
plans of the city. The visible manifestations of these issues included: rising municipal debts, budget cuts, decaying
infrastructure; basements and playgrounds flooded with raw sewage and so on52
. In an attempt to address these
problems the East St Louis Action Research Project (ESLARP) was created in 1987. ESLARP was an
academic-community collaboration/partnership formed between a number of community-based organizations (at the
grassroots level) and planning students and faculty at the University of Chicago Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).
Since its inception and following work by ESLARP and the community, ESLARP received funding which it was able to use
for neighbourhood projects.
PRINCIPLES EMPLOYED
• Using an equity planning approach “incorporating the principles and methods of participatory action research,
direct action organizing and education for critical consciousness”53
.
• Engaging local residents in the creation of a community stabilization plan.
STRATEGIES
• Creating partnerships with community organizations to achieve greater community involvement and community
initiated planning and design.
• Engaging community in participatory research with UIUC.
• Providing leadership training to enable residents to become empowered actors in the local planning process
through an adult education program (a free ‘neighbourhood college’)54
.
• Providing technical assistance such as through the provision of hand-on planning and design services for over
40 community based organizations engaged in revitalization efforts.
OUTCOMES
• An increased number of community leaders some of which have transformed their neighbourhood
organizations into community development corporations (CDCs). These CDCs have attracted capital required
for development projects which address employment, housing and environmental problems.
• A greater local, county and state and federal recognition of CDCs resulting in increased capacity to raise funds.
• Improvement in neighbourhood infrastructure including the initialization of a mixed housing project with
affordable housing units.
Community development through participatory action
East St. Louis Action Research Project (Chicago, IL)
- 35 -

Participatory budgeting
Porto Alegre, Brazil
Participatory budgeting was implemented in an attempt to address the serious disparities in the living conditions, and
improve access to goods and services among residents of the city. Porto Alegre, the capital of Brazil55
, experienced
great disparities between the rich and poor. In an attempt to address these problems, three mayors elected to form a
coalition from the Workers Party along with their staff which initiated a number of reforms most notably with
participatory budgeting becoming the centrepiece.
PRINCIPLES EMPLOYED
• Achieve new forms of governance and create/establish new forms of resource allocation which will achieve
greater levels of transparency and accountability of decision makers in the budgeting process.
• Ensure greater levels of community participation in the decision making process.
• Prioritization of low income neighbourhoods in the allocation of resources.
STRATEGY
• Development of criteria to ensure that groups which typically are the poorest are involved in the process of
municipal budgeting; as well as to determine investment quota of each region ranging from the use of
“technically -defined quality of life index”56
to more participatory approaches.
OUTCOMES
• Reduced the extreme disparities in income and quality of life between the poor and the rich. Since 1986 there
has been an increase in the number of individuals housed in new units.
• Since participatory budgeting was initiated, there has been an increased level of participation by both wealthy
and poor residents in municipal affairs.
- 36 -

Along with the 3,000 non-Aboriginal residents, Clayoquot Sound is home to about 3,000 of the Central Region Tribes of
the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations57, 58, 59
. More than 90 percent of this land is forested, the majority of it being defined as
crown land. Until recently resource planning and management in short, forestry policy, was dominated by the Ministry of
Forests, and the wood products industry. Following extensive negotiations with the provincial government, the chiefs of
the five Nuu-chahnulth Central Region Tribes entered into negotiations with the provincial government to protect
Aboriginal rights in the area culminating in the creation of a joint management strategy. Prior to this there was no
involvement of the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations in these planning decisions.
PRINCIPLES EMPLOYED
• Ensuring the maintenance of distinct Aboriginal culture and sovereignty.
• Ensuring indigenous control over custodial lands.
• Achievement of political autonomy and creating means for sharing jurisdiction.
STRATEGY
• Joint management by the Nuu-chah-nulth nation and provincial government over land use and resource
management decisions; as well as the creation of the Clayoquot Sound Central Region Board (CRB), an
administrative body, to implement the management process.
• Decision making through a double majority strategy, with votes from the five Nuu-chah-nulth representatives
and the five from municipal and regional governments who are appointed by the province. In the majority of
instances, ensure that decisions are made by consensus.
• Ensuring that plans, permits, decisions, reports and recommendations relating to resource management or
land use in Clayoquot Sound obtain the approval or modification of the CRB.
• Ensuring the diversification of the local economy and sharing of benefits from resource use with the Aboriginal
community.
OUTCOMES
• Indigenous shared control over resource planning and management. More specifically, greater involvement of
Aboriginal people in forestry policy.
• Legal recognition of Nuu-chahnulth sovereignty and recognition of the Nuu-chahnulth as a coequals with the
Government of British Columbia.
Restoring and strengthening sovereignty:
Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations in Clayoquot Sound, BC
- 37 -

Community housing: Mabuhay Manor
Hamilton, Ontario
The Mabuhay Manor Project is a housing initiative of the Migrant Workers' Family Resource Centre (MWFRC) in
Hamilton, Ontario. It aims to support the needs of foreign migrant workers (particularly live-in caregivers) who often
have limited accessibility to a private living space, are isolated from community interaction and lack access to
employment and community information.
PRINCIPLES EMPLOYED
• Community participation and empowerment amongst newcomers is crucial to citizenship and proper
integration into Canadian society. Through the community ownership of the program, feelings of belonging are
fostered.
• The migrant worker community is a diverse group with varied needs and cultures. As such, they must play a
strategic role in conceptualizing and designing services which aim to meet their needs and directly affect their
population.
STRATEGIES
• Engaging the community if project design through vision setting exercises, where users of the resources centre
were asked to define their vision for a safe and comfortable living environment and community space. Some
responses were:
"I have a dream, a room I can actually lie on and be safe for one hour."
"I have a dream, where I can sit and talk in my language. I have a dream of a place where I can smell
the aroma of rice cooking and a sizzling of “toyo”(native dried fish from the Philippines) and no one is
yelling." 64
• The Mabuhay Manor, through the community vision, is designed to meet to needs identified by the workers.
That is, safe and supportive living space with resources providing access to information and referrals to existing
community service providers.
• Facilitating continuous feedback between the MWFRC and the community through needs-based collaborative
research to better facilitate delivery of services in the community.
OUTCOMES
• While the project is currently in the implementation phase and the results have yet to be seen, it sheds light on
the dilemma of migrant workers. In keeping with the values of this toolkit, the Mabuhay Manor will represent a
physical manifestation of the marginalized newcomer and is a prime example of the application of
transformative planning.
- 38 -

Four non-profit organizations in Toronto—the Council of Agencies Serving South Asians (CASSA), the Chinese Canadian
National Council-Toronto Chapter (CCNTO), the Hispanic Development council (HDC), and African Canadian Social
Development Council (ACSDC)—came together in 1999 with a shared goal and interests based on a collective
experience of marginality and adherence to principles of equity, plurality, difference, justice and solidarity65
. Recognizing
the connection between race, poverty and geography facing immigrant communities, they founded a community-based
social planning initiative, which came to be known as Alternative Planning Group (APG).
OBJECTIVES
• To build meaningful, inclusive and equitable social relations among diverse communities.
• To support social development of communities to negotiate power differentials in society by redistributing
resources.
• To make social development a tool for change.
PRINCIPLES
• Communities are self-defined and come together organically on points of commonality.
• Community work in partnership with the City of Toronto (government) acting as a distributor of resources for the
purpose of addressing inequities and making cities accountable for diversity.
• Resources are distributed to communities that have the greatest and most immediate needs.
STRATEGIES
• They recognized their differences as the starting point of equitable negotiating for designing a shared ‘common
good’, not as a marker of power and privilege.
• They began to conduct joint research.
• They relied on each individual council’s historical experience and expertise to benefit all.
• Having created a process of equitable collaboration, they initiated an informal merger of their administrative,
governance and policy structures.
OUTCOMES
APG has achieved many short-and long-term outcomes that emerged from the creation of effective partnership, reliable
critical forecasting, new epistemologies, meaningful policy interventions and active citizenships. However, it failed to
deliver a set of recommendations to the council for a city plan to fund and conduct social planning. The city’s creation
of Toronto Social Development Network (TSDN), a top-down structure forcing players with inherent inequality of
resources and power, divergent political agenda and understandings of planning to collaborate, in 2005 significantly
undermined the very premise of APG—to shift the planning paradigmx. In brief, the APG lost its battle ground and energy
in the legitimization of the paternalistic TSDN process.
The Alternative Planning Group (1998-2004)
Toronto, Ontario
- 39 -

Multicultural Social Plan
Canterbury, Australia
Located southwest of Sydney, Australia, with a population of 132,360, Canterbury has experienced significant growth in
the non-English speaking born (NESB) population from 28 percent in 1981 to 45.2 percent in 1996, making it the
second most diverse local government in New South Wales66
. The city’s motto is “City of Cultural Diversity”, promoting
itself in valuing cultural diversity and fostering ‘co-operation, mutual understanding and community pride’ (Ibid). The
City of Canterbury has successfully implemented the Council’s Multicultural Social Plan that recognizes the city’s
commitment to encompass equity and access to quality services for all residents as well as to promote the harmonious
and tolerant community relations67
. This plan also fulfills the New South Wales (NSW) State Government’s requirement
that all local councils prepare a social plan.
OBJECTIVES
• To provide a future direction in relation to issues which affect NESB people;
• To define a role for the Council in advocacy, facilitation and support of ethnic community organizations;
• To identify gaps in services and actions (and where possible) to address these;
• To plan for migrant services in a ‘rational and systemic’ manner; and
• To encourage NESB residents to identify their own needs .
STRATEGIES
• This plan focuses on the inter-disciplinary actions that require different departments of the city to collaborate in
order to competently and accountably deliver settlement needs of its diverse citizens.
• City Works, corporate and community services (including administrative functions and management), and
environmental services (encompassing town planning and health) holistically provide services ranging from
employment and training; income and support; housing; health, law and justice; environment; leisure and
recreation; information provision; participation in local decision-making and citizenship.
• Together with the ongoing employment of the Community Worker for Multicultural Services, Canterbury Council
has institutionalized important responsibilities ties in order to serve its diverse community.
OUTCOMES
A creative and exemplary initiative of this holistic model of service is the Town Centres Development Program, which is
managed by a co-coordinator. Strategically, this program is located in Council’s Environmental Services Strategic Town
Planning division (rather than the more peripheral location of community services). The coordinator works across all
Council departments and leads the strategic investigation of the municipality town’s centres. The current’s urban
design guidelines contribute to the preparation of a Development Control Plan (DCP)—a document prepared under the
NSW State Government’s Environmental Planning Legislation. Documenting the migration history to Canterbury and
contributions of local migrant families to the economic and social life, the Multicultural Oral History Project also feeds
into town planning policies by facilitating support for the heritage needs and aspiration of migrant communities. It plays
significant role in community relations by promoting cultural understanding ‘especially among younger generations to
combat racism and justice’ .
- 40 -

References
1
Alternative Planning Group. Alternative Social Planning: A Paradigm Shift Developing an Inclusive Healthy Toronto,
APG, 2004.
2
Saha, D; Paterson, RG. “Local government efforts to promote the "Three Es" of sustainable development: Survey in
medium to large cities in the United States”. Journal of Planning Education and Research, vol.28, no.1, 2008. pp.21-37.
3
Agyeman, J and T Evans. “Toward just sustainability in urban communities: Building equity rights with sustainable
solutions”. Annals of the American academy of Political and Social Sciences, vol.590, 2003. pp.35-53.
4
Ontario Women’s Health Network. Inclusion Research Handboook. OWHN, Toronto, 2009.
6
Kennedy, Marie. “Transformative Community Planning: Empowerment Through Community Development: A
Presentation to the 1996 Planners Network Conference”, 1996.
6
ibid.
7
Alternative Planning Group. Alternative Social Planning: A Paradigm Shift Developing an Inclusive, Healthy Toronto,
APG, 2004.
8
Sandercock, Leonie. Cosmopolis II: Mongrel Cities in the 21st Century. Continuum Press, London, 2004.
9
Saha, D; Paterson, RG. “Local government efforts to promote the "Three Es" of sustainable development: Survey in
medium to large cities in the United States”. Journal of Planning Education and Research, vol.28, no.1, 2008. pp.21-37.
10
Alternative Planning Group. Alternative Social Planning: A Paradigm Shift Developing an Inclusive, Healthy Toronto,
APG, 2004.
11
Ontario Women’s Health Network. Inclusion Research Handboook. OWHN, Toronto, 2009.
12
Healy, P. “Making policy debate matter: practical reason, political dialogue, and transformative learning”. History of
the Human Sciences, vol.17, no.1, 2004. pp.77-106.
13
Roberts, P. “Sustainable development and social justice: Spatial priorities and mechanisms for delivery”. Sociological
Inquiry, vol.73, no.2, 2003. pp.228-244.
14
Thompson, Susan. “Planning and Multiculturalism: A Reflection on Australian Local Practice”. Planning Theory and
Practice, vol.4, no.3, September 2003. pp. 275-293.
- 41 -

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