What Does It Mean to Do Community Driven Planning?

By, Janelle Wright, Environmental Justice Programs Manager, WAWA

While much of my work is centered in this ethic, I’ve had the exciting opportunity to learn from a community of other community-driven climate resilience planners across the US states and provinces, and the People’s Climate Innovation Center’s core program, the National Association of Climate Resilience Planners. I participated in their Facilitator Certification program from January to September 2024 . Our cohort came from a range of communities with varying projects, including the creation of a community land trust in Arkansas, to the development of a food forest in Austin, TX to clean energy infrastructure in Molokai, HI. The range of  insight was so rich and deeply intentional.

Doing community-driven planning looks like many different things. The certification program utilized popular education principles as its base, and at the highest level, the process is Seed, Harvest, and Weave. We were invited to reflect on our role and work and several tools and methods shaped our planning processes along the way.

My work at WAWA is primarily focused on guiding hyper local projects at the Outdoor Activity Center, a 26 acre nature preserve located in the Bush Mountain, Richland Hills and Oakland City neighborhoods. Amongst the acreage is a beech old-growth forest, a historic food growing space, changing neighborhood, and a rich history our work seeks to elevate through place-keeping and rememory , oral history archives.

WAWA’s work historically and as of present has been both place-based and project-based. Our work was founded by organizing efforts of resident elders whose efforts prevented harmful watershed infrastructure from exposing untreated wastewater to streets, parks, and the people who traverse these spaces. Our “community” is the past, the people who have informed that work and continue a legacy of organizing. It is also the present and the future. It is made up of supporting neighborhoods, schools, universities, service organizations, advocates and many others we work in collaboration with. Yet, so many remain unaware of the “hidden gem” this nature preserve has been called so often.

“Hidden gem” has almost become a moniker with benefits and downsides. The neighborhood is rapidly gentrifying (perhaps in part to the greenspace itself - green gentrification) and the 2 miles of trails, biodiverse plants and creatures, and creeks, likely elevate local property value. Our organizational mission towards equitable access to greenspace is a challenge that, through transformational conversations (ongoing and future) anti-displacement strategies can be put in place. This is not exclusive to the three neighborhoods, but a reality and need across the entire Atlanta landscape. It will be exciting to see how we can collaboratively design these tools into the community’s vision.

The community-driven planning process is exactly that - a process. It is one that begins at the “seed”, and seeks roots (eg: root cause analysis). Exponential growth of the organizational team is in part attributed to the historic efforts of the many grassroots stewards, organizers and educators who have molded such an intimate community dynamic. The continuation of a community-driven planning process into 2025 and beyond will look like converging and aligning the various priorities across our Environmental Justice, Environmental Education, and Environmental Stewardship teams and our partners near and distant. Many have aligning priorities related to nature-based solutions, such as green infrastructure, or community resilience, such as emergency preparedness tools.

The process also involves a level setting and analysis of our role in place - what power does the collective, the Alliance, hold, and how do we navigate this across the non-profit industrial complex? What comes to mind for me in terms of growth is regeneration. Regenerative methods imply utilization of the whole, with adaptation that is not wasteful and seeks knowledge across timelines. Like Sankofa, by looking back on the past to inform the future, such can be what our organization like to call “The WAWA Way”. Keep up with us to explore a path which is both figurative and literal. The vision is collective.