Good Food, Good Jobs Community

A Popular Education-Based Resource for Community Organizers

By: The Restaurant Opportunities Center of Michigan (ROC-Michigan) The Good Food, Good Jobs Coalition Doing Development Differently in Detroit (D-4)

Workshop Facilitators Guide

Workshop Development Assistance Provided by: Colectivo Flatlander & the Praxis Project Funding Provided by: Communities Creating Healthy Environments (CCHE)

Good Food, Good Jobs Facilitation Guide

Table of Contents
Framing Tools
3 What Is Popular Education? 4 Tips for Effective Facilitation

Good Food, Good Jobs Workshop

5 Workshop Backgrounder 6 Workshop Agenda 6 Welcome & Introduction Exercise/Icebreaker 7 Goals for the Good Food, Good Jobs Workshop 7 Ground Rules 8 Teaching the Report Findings 8 Indetifying Problems & Barriers to Good Corner Stores 9 Stepping Forward, Stepping Back: Presenting the Report Findings 10 Debriefing Findings: Large Group Conversation 10 Moving to Action: Discussing of Next Steps 11 Closing Exercise/Evaluation

Acknowledgments:
Special thanks to Pancho Arguelles of Colectivo Flatlander, the Praxis Project, and the National Network of Immigrant and Refugee Rights for his invaluable assistance in developing this toolkit. We are also grateful for the assistance of Allison Burkett of the Detroit Food Policy Council, Lynn Wiggins from Doing Development Differently in Detroit and the following students Miriam Bernstein, Michaela Goralski, Cassie Peabody, and Rene Schomp who assisted in drafting this toolkit. Finally, our deepest gratitude to the dozens of community volunteers and leaders who collected the community surveys as well as to the restaurant worker members of the ROC-Michigan Policy Committee who piloted and offered feedback on these exercises. This workshop is grounded in the principles of popular education. We believe that education should be participatory, develop

critical thinking and engagement about relations of power, and should support people in organizing to change their lives.

What is Popular Education?

Everyone has knowledge, and we can all educate each other.
This understanding results in a shift from the banking education model, where knowledge is placed in students minds like the filling of an empty bank account, to a mutual sharing of knowledge and experience.

Popular education encourages active participation, to engage people in dialogues,

fun and creative activities, and draw on the strength of our diverse cultures. We learn in many waysby seeing, hearing, talking, doing, creating, or a combination of these modes.

The ways in which we feel safe in a space depends on our own circumstancesour class, our race, gender, sexual orientation, age, immigration status, disability, and many
other variables. As facilitators, we cannot remove these differences, but we can acknowledge their existence in order to open a space of more direct dialogue.

Is clear about its agenda. All education reproduces a set of values, ideologies, and attitudes.
Popular education is not neutral, but holds a commitment to liberation from oppression at its ethical core.

Is accessible to all participants, and actively works to investigate and challenge ways that create
unequal access to participation, such as language barriers, disability, and group dynamics.

Connects our lived experiences to historical, economic,social, and political structures of power. When our personal experiences are placed in larger contexts and
patterns of power, our personal realities are transformed.

Investigates our multiple identities and experiences of inclusion and exclusion, oppression and privilege. Popular education is not about building tolerance, but
about building respect, acceptance, equality, and solidarity.

Develops new community leaders to build movements for social change. Popular education
is a way to develop new leaders, who will in turn, develop other leaders.

Results in action that challenges oppression, and help develop political spaces that are democratic
and equal.

Affirms the dignity of every human being. All popular education goes through a cycle: (1) see; (2) judge; (3) act; and (4) celebrate.
Popular education is a process, not an event and should be connected to your overall campaigns and leadership development.

BRIDGE Project Workshop: Building a Race and Immigration Dialogue In the Global Economy (A Popular Education Resource for Immigrant & Refugee Community Organizers).
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Tips for Effective Facilitation

Listen to your group, and flow with how they are feeling. Good listening includes checking for
non-verbal cues, such as body language.

Facilitators play a key role in creating a positive and respectful learning environment for participants, and for making sure that a workshop creates and develops new learning and knowledge for participants through activities and discussions. Here are some tips:

Develop ground rules as a group. Ground rules can be an effective way to develop an
atmosphere of trust and respect; you can refer to them later in the workshop.

Equalize participation. Encourage a variety of participants to report back from small group discussions and
in large group discussions. Watch for power imbalances and point them out (for example, if men are overshadowing women.)

Be flexible with your agendathere may be moments where an activity goes on for too long.
Be willing to cut an activity; the workshop may be stronger.

Ensure that logistics are taken care of well before the workshop, so they
dont disrupt the agenda. If possible, find someone who is not facilitating to handle them.

Take breaks when needed, or use energizing activities. If you dont schedule breaks when they
are needed, participants will often take breaks by disengaging.

Encourage participation by asking open-ended and clarifying questions, creating space for participants to speak up. Give everyone the benefit of the doubt, and avoid making assumptions. Summarize key points and highlight points of agreement. Repeat a statement
back to a participant to clarify what s/he has said; connect points of agreement between participants to demonstrate a common thread after it has been stated by the group.

Dont fish for the right answers; if there are important points that you want to make, be sure to state it,
instead of trying to lead participants into giving you the answer. If you would like to draw out the teaching points from a discussion, use questions to develop some of the pointsand chart out the different points raised by participants on easel paper. After the discussion is finished, highlight the points raised, and if all the teaching points have not been covered, add them to the list. If you are charting responses to a discussion on easel paper, be sure to record all statements made by participantsif you are selective about what you record, it implies that their point is not important.

Allow participants to pass on an activity. Giving participants the option to pass

conveys a message of respect for participants to choose their level of involvement.

Expose yourself as a learner, particularly after you have established rapport with a group.
Dont be afraid to say I dont know, but instead, use it as a moment for the group to figure out what new information they need to discover. If a participant raises a point that is new to you, say so; it communicates to participants that what they have to share is valuable and important.
This list is adapted from Building Immigrant Community Power Through Legislative Advocacy, A BRIDGE Project Workshop: Building a Race and Immigration Dialogue In the Global Economy (A Popular Education Resource for Immigrant & Refugee Community Organizers). Many of these points were adapted by the BRIDGE Guide with permission from the excellent discussion in Education for Changing Unions, by Bev Burke, Jojo Geronimo, DArcy Martin, Barb Thomas, and Carol Wall, which explores this topic in much greater depth.
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Good Food, Good Jobs Workshop:

Backgrounder
Backgrounder:

In 2011, dozens of community volunteers conducted surveys of corner and grocery stores with liquor licenses in Detroit, documenting food safety and sanitation in these establishments. The survey results were published in a research report, Unequal Access that accompanies this toolkit. This toolkit is an attempt to provide communities with a way to engage their members and leaders around the reports findings and to determine specific actions steps they would like to take in light of its findings.

Good Food, Good Jobs Workshop Goals Overview:

Create an open space for participation and trust for dialogue on three levels: (1) peoples experiences should be shared in dialogue with one another; (2) the experience should be put in context; (3) place our common experience into action that will transform the root causes of the problems we are facing as a community and simultaneously transform ourselves. Connect the information and findings in the Unequal Access report to peoples lived experiences. Win the campaign and build the organization and our leadership base

Questions for Discussion during the Workshop:

What is our ideal vision of a neighborhood food retail store in our community? What are some of our experiences of accessing food in our community? How do our experiences differ from our ideals? How do our experiences differ based on the types of neighborhoods we live in? (i.e. racial and income characteristics, number of children) What are some of the barriers and root causes of these differences and of the gaps between our experiences and our ideals? What is our vision for creating change and what are some steps we can take together to help achieve it?

Workshop Summary Points

Access to safe and healthy food in our communities reflects patterns of social, racial, and economic inequities Community organizing and mobilization is a useful tool to help promote access to fresh and healthy foods in our communities; it can be used as a short-term strategy to build towards a long-term vision of human rights, self-determination, and the education and building of our communities We all have the power to influence access to food in our communities, no matter our experience

Good Food, Good Jobs Workshop Agenda

Exercise:
Welcome introduction exercise/Dinmica Goals for the Good Food, Good Jobs Workshop Ground Rules Envisioning the Ideal Corner Store Exercise Identifying Problems & Barriers to Good Corner Stores Exercise Presenting the Report Findings Large Group Conversation Discussion of Next Steps Closing Exercise/Evaluation

Time:
10 minutes 10 minutes 10 minutes 20 minutes 10 minutes 10 minutes 15 minutes 15 minutes 10 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours

Welcome & Introduction Exercise/Icebreaker

10 Minutes Why do it?
To use as an introduction and an interactive icebreaker To create a center of gravity for the workshop

Materials:
8 x 11 inch pieces of paper for each participant and markers

With the whole group:

Go around the room and have each person say their first name as well as one thing theyre bringing with them to the meeting today. For example, you may say, My name is Daniel, and Im bringing energy. During this exercise, the facilitator will be seated at the center of the room. As each person says what theyre bringing with them into the room, the facilitator will write that word into large onto a single sheet of paper. As soon as the facilitator is done writing that word, the facilitator will place the sheet of paper into a growing spiral that is in the middle of the floor, in full view of all of the participants. The facilitator should explain that this spiral will serve as a center of gravity for the meeting and a reminder of what each of us is bringing, as a whole person, to this effort.

Goals for the Good Food, Good Jobs Workshop

10 Minutes Why do it?
Create an open space for participation and trust for dialogue

Materials:
None

With the whole group:

Read the agenda and goals for the workshop out loud. Make sure the agenda is posted for participants to see, and ask if anyone has any questions. It is often useful to review the goals that are stated as questions (What will we be talking about?) for clarity, and get feedback from participants about their goalsand how they will be met in the workshop.

Ground Rules 10 Minutes

Why do it?
Create an opportunity for the group to establish common ground rules for the workshop and to establish an environment of mutual trust.

Materials:
None

With the whole group:

Mention a few examples of ground rules (ex. Respect yourself and others, honor confidentiality, step up/step back, etc.) Ask for people to call out ground rules, and write them down on a sheet of paper on the wall, where they will be readily seen by the group during the entire exercise

Teaching the Report Findings

Envisioning the Ideal Corner Store

20 Minutes

Why do it?
To encourage reflection and to create space for participants to share their knowledge and wisdom regarding their corner store needs

Materials:
Poster board-sized paper and markers

With the whole group:

Introduce the exercise [2 minutes] Explain that everyone is now going to form into small groups and they will draw an ideal corner store. Explain that afterwards they will have three minutes to present to the entire group their image of an ideal corner store. They may do anything they want to present (speak, sing, dance). Emphasize that it must be a picture and not a bullet point list. Split up the room into small groups of 5 or 6 people. Provide each group with a poster board and markers. Each small group draw their common picture of an ideal corner store [8 minutes] Plenary debrief: [10 minutes] The small groups will gather together and each small group will present their poster to the whole group.

Identifying Problems & Barriers to Good Corner Stores 10 Minutes

Why do it?
To create space for participants to share their knowledge and wisdom regarding problems with their local corner stores

Materials:
Post-it notes and markers

With the whole group:

Remain in the large group. Pass out two post-it notes to every participant. Ask the participants to write or draw two things that are violations they identify in existing corner stores. Note that its not just about healthy food; its also about root causes that interfere with access to healthy food such as low-wages The facilitator will call on people (focus on those who havent spoken up yet) to read their problems and place the post-it with onto the ideal corner store picture After about 10 people have been heard, have the rest of the people come up and place their post it notes on the image of the ideal corner store. By the end of the exercise, the images of the ideal corner store will be covered with the problems and barriers that have been identified by individuals in the large group.

Stepping Forward, Stepping Back:

Presenting the Report Findings

10 Minutes

Why do it?
Explain to participants how the community corner store survey was conducted and demonstrate corner store disparities in different neighborhoods

Materials:
Push pins or tape

With the whole group:

Hang up the healthy corner store pictures all along one wall. Describe how the community corner store survey was done celebrate the community members and groups who were involved in gathering, analyzing, and presenting the report and its findings Have half the group stand in a line which represents a more affluent neighborhood Have the other half of the group stand in a line, which represents a disinvested neighborhood Based on the findings of the report, for each violation those in the disinvested group should take a step back. Depending on the groups interests and time, this exercise can be done with the three major disparities that were identified in the report: high-income vs. low-income neighborhoods, white neighborhoods vs. neighborhoods of color, neighborhoods with low vs. high concentrations of children After reading out the violations have the two groups take a minute to silently reflect on their distance

Distances for the Exercise Based on Results from Community Surveys:

RACE: Whites (6 steps back from image of ideal store); African-American & Latino (8 steps back) INCOME: 0-15% Poverty (3 steps back); 15-30% (7 steps back); 30-45% (9 steps back); 45% and above (10 steps back) CHILDREN: 0-20% Children (6 steps back); 20-30% Children (7 steps back); 30-40% Children (10 steps back)

Distances for the Exercise Based on Results from Community Surveys:

RACE:
Whites (6 steps back from image of ideal store) African-American & Latino (8 steps back)

INCOME:
0-15% Poverty (3 steps back) 15-30% Poverty (7 steps back) 30-45% Poverty (9 steps back) 45% & Above Poverty (10 steps back)

CHILDREN:
0-20% Children (6 steps back) 20-30% Children (7 steps back) 30-40% Children (10 steps back)

Debriefing Findings: Large Group Conversation

15 Minutes Why do it?
To reflect as a group on the knowledge weve shared with each other during the workshop

Materials:
None

With the whole group:

Have everyone gather back into the large group to discuss the findings. Ask them the following questions: What are some things that you or your organization is doing that can work to remove these barriers? As a facilitator, try to get the group to engage in solutions that address both immediate symptoms of the problem as well as root causes. What can we do to remove these barriers? Policy Structural & root causes Campaign Food justice, racial justice, and worker justice What do we need to do for a healthier and stronger Detroit?

Moving to Action: Discussion of Next Steps

15 Minutes Why do it?
To discuss what action steps we can take to remedy the issues we identified

Materials:
None

With the whole group:

Facilitator leads a discussion where group participants can identify short-term and long-term action steps they can take as individuals or as a group to address and transform some of the barriers we have discussed today, and to promote a healthy and stronger community Depending on the time and context of the discussion, the facilitator may want to bring up particular action steps related to an ongoing community effort or campaigns, as well as address the extent to which proposed action steps will address root causes of the underlying issues

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Closing Exercise/Evaluation
Why do it?

10 Minutes

To learn from participants how we can improve and maintain the quality of the workshop as well as reflect on what knowledge weve gained

Materials:
Poster board-sized paper and markers

With the whole group:

Evaluation Facilitator will lead a 3 minute evaluation of mangos and onions Mangos are what individuals liked about the workshop. Onions are what individuals would like to change about the workshop Closing The facilitator will introduce an exercise where participants will stand in a circle and go one by one. You may want to consider having music playing softly in the background, if you feel that is something that may inspire a more reflective mood. The facilitator will sit on the floor in the center of the group, with a large (poster board-sized) sheet of paper and marker. The facilitator will have each person share one word of something that nourished them from todays workshop. The facilitator will write each persons word so that the groups words form a large spiral. The facilitator will explain that the spiral symbolizes the growth, action, and reflection of movement building and read the spiral like a poem at the end of the exercise.

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Good Food Good Jobs Coalition partners include:

Corporation for a Skilled Workforce Detroit Eastside Community Collaborative (DECC) Detroit Food Justice Task Force Detroit Food Policy Council Detroit Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) Detroit Residents Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice (DWEJ) Fair Food Network Food Service and Food Retail Employers Food and Water Watch Greater Detroit Building Trades Council Greater Woodward CDC International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), Local 58 Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO Metropolitan Organizing Strategy Enabling Strength (MOSES) Michigan Building Trades Council Michigan Suburbs Alliance Michigan Teamsters Joint Council, 43 Restaurant Opportunities Center of Michigan (ROC-Michigan) Restaurant Workers Rosa Parks Institute for Self-Development Sierra Club Southwest Detroit Community Benefits Coalition Southwest Detroit Development Collaborative (SDDC) Southwest Detroit Environmental Vision Storehouse of Hope Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), Local 876 & Statewide

ROC-Michigan
311 E. Grand River Ave. Detroit, MI 48226 Phone: (313) 962-5020 www.rocmichigan.org

United Way of Southeastern Michigan UNITE-HERE Local 24 Urban Neighborhoods Initiatives Vanguard CDC Wayne State University Labor Studies Center