Cultural Competency And Park Equity: Renaming Parks And Building Inclusivity with Maija Spencer

In this episode, Joy McFadden and Garrett Johnson interview Maija Spencer who works for Portland Parks and Recreation as the parks replacement bond community engagement coordinator. They discuss how parks engage communities and develop cultural competency in a meaningful way to create more inclusive and representative parks, including how to learn from a city’s history to honor overlooked heroes. Tune in to hear the whole conversation!

Highlights from the Conversation:

• Urban Planning and Park Equity.
• Recognizing a History of Racism
• Adapting communications and outreach for Equitable Community Engagement
• Government’s responsibility to Equity
• Balancing conflicting Cultural Practices and Values, fostering authentic relationships in programming
• Acknowledging Dominant Power Structures
• Community engagement liaisons and Cultural Ambassadors
• Barriers to parks Planning and Design Diversifying career field, increasing Representation
• Verdell Burdine Rutherford Park
• Impacts of the covid-19 pandemic

Guest Mini Bio:

• Maija Spencer has worked with the city of Portland for 10 years. As a community engagement coordinator, she emphasizes community experiences and equity. Check out her work as the community bond engagement coordinator for the Parks Replacement Bond Program. Learn more about her work on the Verdell Burdine Rutherford Park Playground Project that helped inspire this episode.

Learn More!

• Video about the Verdell Burdine Rutherford Park 
• Find out more about Verdell Burdine Rutherford! An important NAACP member who helped advance the rights of people of color within Portland.
• Learn more about the history and legacy of the Rutherford power couple and their work as part of the NAACP here!

Credits:

Special thanks to guest Maija Spencer. Research, concept, and voices: Joy McFadden and Garrett Johnson. Intro and Outro voice: Alex Davis. Produced by: Raven Nee.