Discover Together, an initiative of Dakota County Community Services, aims to engage communities around working together to create strategies that address the needs of Dakota County residents relating to housing stability, employment and income stability, food and nutrition, environmental health, health and well-being, safety, and education.
Community Services partners with the University of Minnesota’s Future Services Institute at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs to facilitate this community engagement work. South St. Paul was selected as the first site in which to create strategies with community residents to improve community engagement while recognizing the challenges that individuals and families face.
The project has formed a core team, which defined the purpose and guiding principles of our work in South St. Paul. The core team consists of members of the South St. Paul city government, school district, faith community and Dakota County Community Services staff.
The work is divided into four phases:
- Laying the ground work – building relationships and discovering the community assets and challenges
- Broad community engagement – hosting community conversations, documenting and sharing back what information we have gathered
- Testing ideas – testing ideas in rapid, low-cost ways
- Planning long-term investments — present action plan for short- and long-term investments in South St. Paul
For more information, visit the Discover Together website.