How might we gather ideas from the community?

[marimuraki]

Who?

• Parents
• Not-yet parents

Where?

• Market Basket

What?

• What would you want to get in a Welcome Basket? (drawing of a basket, post-its with ideas, etc)

What?

• Plan for June 1-5

[alexsoble]

Another where:

• Elementary school after student drop off in the morning. Parents may have a few minutes to talk after drop-off.

[jsgeiser]

You would get a lot of useful info at drop off or even pick up.

[costaleabo]

Would it be worth asking pediatricians about what should be in the baskets? While getting parental input would be useful in terms of what they feel they need, it may also make sense to get professional recommendations on what items might solve some common problems that pediatricians see in their patients etc. I also think not-yet parents aren't going to have a clue what they'll need or want.

[dtaylorq]

Who? Seems like parents of kids aged baby and up will know what they wish they had had or had now moreso than nonparents.

Where? In addition to Market Basket, to reach the immigrant community, you might want to plan to attend the SomerViva Sat. June 20 Futsal Tourney with Info Fair and Immigration Clinic. We expect strong turnout from both the immigrant and overall community including many parents. Another less date-bound idea is to go to playgrounds. Albion Playground on a hot day is always full of parents for example. Besides that, how about an online survey and checking with the SomerViva staff about other events/community meetings/radio shows they have coming up.

What (survey content)? I agree with Joan that we should be sure to ask questions about info and services they would have liked to have had info on sooner rather than focusing on just material items and we should make very clear that outside funders will be sought for any material items. To that end, questions about material items could both limit dollar value and then be open ended to ensure suggestions don't all come in unattainably high. Info is always available but stuff will require funding by outside sources that is not guaranteed. Alternatively, I'd be interested to know what coupons they would have liked to receive. I see more opportunity for businesses to provide small freebies and coupons for larger items than I do for the city to consistently send out item-rich packets beyond the small items SFLC has identified a donor for. And including meaningful and valuable coupons (coupon to come in for a free box of diapers at x store, etc.) in an info packet will likely excite more people to open it than if it's only resource info.

[alexsoble]

@dtaylorq — Love these concepts! Getting local businesses involved could be a win/win/win/win.

[marimuraki]

We are scheduled to set up outreach booths at:

• Healey school drop-off
• Market Basket

Ideas to @alexsoble @AmirHadjihabib

Both school drop-off and grocery runs are hectic places where people are focused on their priorities of e.g., (1) getting their child to school or (2) buying groceries on route to making dinner for their families. In order to stand out in the crowd and efficiently engage as many diverse people:

• having an engaging / colorful / welcoming poster that shows "we are here!" rather than just have us stand there with people passing us by in the rush @AmirHadjihabib: can you lead this front and design a poster?
• making it easy for people to share their ideas without having to talk to us in length
  • some people may have time to talk
  • some people may be on the go but would like to share their ideas e.g., jot down on paper without getting into a conversation / interview
  • some people may want to know about what we are doing but don't want to share ideas then and there e.g., we can have a business card or info card that people can pick up with our contact info so that email us with ideas
• having language capacity
  • @alexsoble: are you comfortable speaking Spanish or should we have a liaison?
  • we should have materials in both English and Spanish (at least) especially since we are trying to reach the immigrant community

[alexsoble]

@marimuraki -- Great thoughts. On the language front, I would prefer to have a SomerViva liaison with us. Let's take Denise up on her offer! I could take notes on a SomerViva–Spanish speaking resident conversation, but I'm not confident that I have the cultural competency to bring up such a personal topic with strangers in Spanish.

[marimuraki]

Beautiful posters & takeaway pamphlets by @AmirHadjihabib

• poster
• takeaways: English, Spanish