Mississippi Farm to School Network Listen4Good Survey: Insights for Equity and Inclusion
Engaging deeply with our community members, understanding their unique needs and preferences, and taking decisive action based on what we hear is a core discipline and practice that advances our equity goals. At the heart of our mission lies the dedication to amplify the voices of those we serve, ensuring that they are not just heard but truly listened to.
Through robust listening, we ensure community voices are more effectively integrated into organizational decision-making, thereby leading to more responsive, inclusive, and equitable programming. This isn't just about providing a service; it's about building a community where every voice matters.
Mississippi Farm to School Network participated with Listen4Good, a nationally recognized and evidence-based capacity-building program, to develop our equity-focused feedback system. Listen4Good’s model has been researched by third-party evaluators and has been shown to improve nonprofits’ capacity to use participant feedback for more equitable service delivery.
Guided by Listen4Good's principles, we've implemented a framework that ensures our feedback systems are not just equitable but deeply rooted in our community's diversity:
Feedback must be gathered repeatedly and in a way that prioritizes accessibility and inclusivity.
Organizations must seek high representation rates from the communities they serve.
Organizations should disaggregate feedback by client subgroups (especially by clients’ age, gender, or race-ethnicity) and prioritize feedback from those who have been historically marginalized by prevailing systems.
Recipients of feedback must do something in response to what they hear and let the community know what they heard and what they’re doing about it.
Organizations should create habitual practices and cultural norms that celebrate questioning and not let those with more positional power dictate how things are done.
Together, we're not just listening; we're empowering our community to shape the future we all aspire to see.
