One DSD People, Access and Culture · Learning path · I'm planning work with a community
Community engagement or co-design effort
You are planning community engagement and want the work to be respectful, useful, and grounded in what people actually need.
Outcome: By the end, you will have an engagement plan grounded in the relevant Minnesota Communities briefs, with access needs, partners, and assumptions clearly addressed. Review each relevant brief before completing the plan.

SITUATIONS THAT MAY FIT THIS PATH
• Outreach, listening sessions, advisory groups, co-design
• Work that names Minnesota communities or partners

SIX STEPS TO WORK THROUGH IN ORDER
1. Plan a respectful approach — Use Ask to consider how the partnership commitments and anti-profiling practices apply to your work. · Ask a question — program page /ask?path=gp-3
2. Read the relevant community briefs (Needed for this optional worksheet) — Open the brief for each community named in the work. Read the overview and the guidance on what to ask, access needs, who to involve, and what not to assume. Note in your plan which briefs you reviewed. · Explore Minnesota Communities — program page /minnesota-communities
3. Choose practical resources — Use the meeting and outreach access checklist, partner map, and language access checklist as needed. · Access checks before a meeting or outreach — program page /library/ja-access-checks · Partner map — program page /library/ja-stakeholder-map
4. Draft your engagement plan — Include the questions you will ask, access needs, who to involve, what not to assume, compensation, and how you will report back. Use the downloaded checklist to write your answers in a tool you normally use. This page does not save them.
5. Review your work — Confirm that you reviewed the relevant briefs, recognized differences within each community, noted what remains unknown, and did not apply group information to any one person.
6. Talk it through with a consultant (optional) — A consultation can help when a brief does not address your question, the work may involve trauma, or Tribal consultation may be required. · Request a consultation — program page /support/request?path=gp-3

WHAT A USEFUL RESULT LOOKS LIKE
Still needs work
• General cultural facts with no connection to the work
• Applying information about a group to a named person
Ready to use
• The plan addresses questions, access, involvement, and assumptions
• Differences within the community are recognized
• Questions that remain are clearly noted
Privacy: Briefs do not describe any one person. Please leave case details out of your notes and seek the appropriate authority before using Nation-specific guidance. This page does not save your answers or progress. Notes saved through an earlier version may still be in this browser's site data; this page does not show or delete them.

ENGAGEMENT PLAN
Privacy: This is a blank published checklist. If you complete a downloaded copy, store and share that file according to DHS requirements. Nothing you write in that file is saved back to this page.
Effort name and purpose (required): What decision this engagement will influence.
Community briefs you reviewed (required): List each brief and note that you read its overview and practice guidance.
What you will ask (required): Use open questions without asking people to relive trauma unnecessarily.
Access needs (required): Consider language and dialect, interpreters, captioning, timing, location, transportation, child care, and trust.
Who to involve, why, and in what role (required): Note their purpose, authority, compensation, and how you will report back. For Tribal Nations, consultation comes first.
What not to assume (required): Recognize differences within every community; immigration, faith, and language are not interchangeable.
Who is responsible for each follow-up (required): Include the person who will report back to participants.
Questions that remain: Note what is still unknown and seek the appropriate guidance rather than guessing.
Review your notes against
• Every follow-up has a named owner
• A next review date is set
• This is connected to your specific work
• Language, disability, and communication access were considered for this work
• You named who was involved and the role they had
• You noted what you chose not to assume
• The relevant Minnesota Communities briefs were reviewed

QUESTIONS TO BRING TO ASK
• How should we plan a listening session with Somali families in Greater Minnesota without stereotyping?
• What does the partnership spine mean for a co-design effort?
• Who should be involved in a community engagement plan?

One DSD People, Access and Culture