Community Engagement Projects

What is Community Engagement at the Kitchen Table?

Oregon’s Kitchen Table creates community engagement opportunities to allow Oregonians to influence the decisions that impact their lives.  We believe in offering many different ways for people to participate in these decisions, from activities that require little time or effort to activities that invite people to come together over longer periods of time and deliberate with one another.  We also believe that no one way of participation is better or more important than another.

Here are examples of some of the ways we have involved Oregonians in the decisions that impact them:

1. Community conversations: we host conversations - always with food if we are gathering in person! - open to any member of the community where the project is taking place.  These are discussion-based and aimed at allowing people to hear from each other as well as for decision makers and OKT to hear from people.
2. Culturally and linguistically specific community conversations: we work with community organizers and partners to invite people to gather and share in the spaces and languages in which they are most comfortable.
3. Culturally specific activities: OKT community organizers gather input from members of their communities in the ways that work best for them.  Some examples are: A parents group that regularly meets to talk about their children’s education.  A trivia night for Slavic community members. A sewing circle for Somali mothers. A Zumba class attended by Spanish speaking adults.
4. Survey tools: For some people, answering a set of questions about the topic or decision via an online survey they can complete at a time and place convenient to them in 10 minutes works best.  For others, filling out a paper survey at the weekly lunch they attend at their local senior center is most convenient.
5. Games, art, or craft activities: We often employ some kind of game, art, or craft activity to spark conversation or allow people to contribute their ideas in a more playful way.  We’ve used these activities to engage youth as well as adults.
6. Tabling at cultural and community festivals, events, and fairs: We set up tables with activities and opportunities to give input. We’ve conducted one-on-one or small group conversations, brief surveys, and storytelling.

Decision makers and public managers have turned to Oregon’s Kitchen Table to gather input at the state, local and regional levels on a range of topics, including state budgeting priorities, county budgeting, kindergarten readiness, school boundaries, regional economic development priorities, and natural resource management.

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