MPO

Identifying The Issues | Dialogue Sessions | Mental Models

Identifying the Issues

In order to get information about why people in low income and minority areas were not participating in the transportation planning sessions currently being sponsored by the MPO, the study team decided to ask the different stakeholder groups what they thought was happening. The dialogue sessions and the identification of mental models as a means of gaining understanding into what was keeping people from participating were considered new approaches, since no one had asked these stakeholders about these specific issues in this way. The information from the dialogue sessions was used to identify the mental models and develop the Community-based Transportation Model.

Dialogue Sessions
The dialogue sessions were an opportunity to speak clearly and openly about the concerns and ideas related to participation in the transportation planning process by low income and minority residents of San Antonio and Bexar County. Originally, three dialogue sessions were planned: 1) community residents; 2) staff and consultants working with public agencies related either to transportation or serving low-income populations; and 3) a joint session with the community residents and agency staff. As the project continued, two additional dialogue sessions were added: 1) community leaders; and 2) case managers with the state agency working with low income clients seeking job training as part of the local welfare-to-work program.

The dialogue sessions are somewhat different from a typical discussion group because one of the ground rules up front is that everyone is a colleague, consequently, no one is given deference over anyone else and no one is expected to play the role of the expert. The rationale for this collegiality was that we were asking for people’s opinions and experiences from their particular perspective and because of that, no one could be an expert on their experience but them.

These sessions gave the study team the raw data that could be used to develop the mental models (see below) for each of the groups.

Each of the dialogue sessions, with the exception of the joint dialogue session, was intended to be a small, informal opportunity to discuss issues related to participation in transportation planning by minority and low income populations. Consequently, the desired number for attendance was between 15 and 20 participants.

A dialogue session was held with each of the following participant groups:

Community members—this group was drawn from the consultant’s database of community members from the target area. They were invited by letter and then called by phone to confirm their participation.
Community leaders—this group of leaders was selected from an initial list of community organizations, primarily neighborhood associations, in the target area. They were invited by mail and then contacted by phone to confirm their attendance.
Agency staff and consultants— representatives of the transportation planning agencies as well as a social service agency and a workforce development agency whose primary clientele are low income and minority residents of the target area were invited to attend this session.
Caseworkers—the members of this dialogue group represented caseworkers of the state social services agency and a workforce development agency. The representatives on the Study Oversight Committee for the agencies recruited them

The groups were convened separately to find out what they thought about participation in the transportation planning process from their own individual perspective and the perspective of their constituency group. The study team assumed that if the groups were mixed initially there might be hesitancy to speak frankly and openly in front of a different constituency group. It was hoped that after attending the session with their own group, there would not be the same hesitancy to speak up when others were present.

After the four sessions were conducted, the comments were reviewed and analyzed, looking for patterns of thought and elements that could be used to provide insights into the mental models of the different constituency groups. Mental models are those sets of assumptions and beliefs that people have about a particular topic that lead them to behave in a particular way.

A fifth dialogue session was held with members of the four groups together. This session was intended to test the assumptions (mental models) that were identified as a result of the individual dialogue sessions.

Click on the links to see copies of the meeting notes from the dialogue sessions. (The notes are in Microsoft Word format.)

Mental Models
Early in the project separate dialogue sessions were held with community representatives, social service agency representatives, and agency and consultant representatives to talk to them about the involvement of traditionally under-served populations in the transportation planning process. The essence of the dialogue was to examine the reasons for the lack of participation and to begin identifying mechanisms for involving the low income and minority populations in the transportation planning process. Of particular interest to the project were the mental models, or paradigms, that were implied by the different audiences during the dialogue sessions.

Mental models, also known as paradigms, were identified using the data collected from the dialogue sessions. A mental model is a “deeply held internal image of how the world works, images that limit us to familiar ways of thinking and acting” . The study team expected that the mental models would explain some of the reasons for the lack of involvement of low-income and minority populations both from their perspective as well as the viewpoint of the agencies and consultants.

It is important to note that the individual may or may not be particularly aware of what the mental model is, but it nevertheless affects how they behave. For example, the assumption that “They need to be educated.” From the perspective of the consultant or agency representative, this assumption is valid at the onset of a project if no information has been disseminated about it. In some cases it tends to create a situation where the public is seen as not having any knowledge or information at all. This assumption sometimes leads the agency to take on an air of condescension toward the community to which some community members may take offense.

It could certainly be argued that the community does, in fact, need to be educated, but it may be that the education needs to occur only with respect to a particular project. It is ironic, however, that until the assumption is clearly pointed out, “transportationese” may get in the way of truly helping people to understand the transportation needs being addressed by a particular project and the importance of their participation in the planning process.

Community members also have the mental model of “they need to be educated.” Some community members believe that the agencies and consultants need to be educated about the history, conditions, interactions, culture and people in the community being addressed because what they are planning is not appropriate, or could be made more beneficial if they had that information. In fact, this can be one of the most significant contributions the community can make to the planning process. On occasion though, this assumption by community members has made them appear hostile or unwilling to accept the benefits brought by the transportation project. This is the “other side of the coin” of this assumption.

The mental models – assumptions about how the world is that influence behavior— identified for this project are listed below.

What I say won’t make a difference.
They don’t care.
It won’t affect me.
How do I get them to my meetings?
They need to be educated.
It’ll slow things down if they get too involved.
I’m too busy to get involved.
There aren’t enough resources to get the job done.

The identification of these mental models– only a few to be sure– can be helpful in and of themselves. The hope is that it will lead to the examination of one’s own ideas about “how the world is” and how those beliefs affect and shape one’s behavior. It was with this intention that the dialogue session about the mental models was held: to say, “This is what we found. What do you think?”

The Community-based Transportation Planning Model was designed as a pilot project to test the strategies and approaches suggested in the joint dialogue session where the mental models and the transportation planning model were examined.