Community engagement is a concept that changes the way organizations view their work. It recognizes that communities, both geographic and interest-based, are subject to public decisions made on behalf of all, which they play an active part in making.
This approach upholds the democratic principle that everyone deserves a say in policy decisions that affect them directly, by employing methods such as town hall meetings, surveys, charettes and more.
1. Organizing for ownership
Establishing community support requires careful organization. This begins by identifying stakeholders and assigning roles; an efficient project management tool such as Slack or Google Drive may prove helpful here.
As part of your analysis process, it is necessary to collect feedback and analyze it. This may involve qualitative or quantitative methods; tools that facilitate thematic coding or sentiment analysis may prove especially helpful. Interpreting this data is key in understanding how best to support the community – for instance Homewise in Santa Fe used network analysis to gather observations from program participants allowing them to implement an accountable evaluation process that allowed participants to provide input while also serving as marketing for future participation opportunities.
The Community Engagement Triangle provides an easy way of visualizing these objectives. While its design puts decision-making at the top, this should not be taken as any indication that this aspect of community engagement has less value; rather it acknowledges three potential goals which could be accomplished with community involvement.
2. Investing in relationships
Community engagement involves forging lasting relationships that benefit both sides. It involves working in partnership with communities to develop and realize sustainable visions for their own futures, with mutual decision-making among individuals, government entities, and organizations all working collaboratively towards this common goal.
At the core of these partnerships lies providing accurate and timely information to community members, and assuring them their contributions are valued. Furthermore, being responsive to feedback demonstrates your openness to listening and taking appropriate actions.
Building relationships and communicating with your community may seem like hard work, but the rewards for both your organization and its constituents make the effort worth its while. With proper process in place, community engagement empowers communities to solve their own issues while designing solutions with people as the top priority.
3. Investing in data
At its core, community engagement aims to give residents access to feedback information they can use to influence policy decisions at any level – be it neighborhood, city or national. With this data at hand, residents can help governments operate more efficiently and build long-term trusting relationships between themselves and local residents.
Effective community engagement requires open lines of communication between government organizations and their constituents; digital outreach must be combined with face-to-face contact through meetings, facility-based counseling services or home visits for those without reliable internet connectivity.
As part of their investment in relationships, government communicators should also invest in innovative data collection methods. Stakeholder maps and social network analysis can assist government communicators in prioritizing stakeholders by understanding their interests, influence, and opportunities for meaningful involvement – especially important when working on community-driven initiatives such as preservation catalogs or surveys, which are sometimes difficult to conduct due to high risk conditions.
4. Investing in leadership
Community engagement can have a dramatic impact on how people experience and use public services, particularly if it helps build relationships among diverse groups within a community and develop capacities to address local challenges.
There are various definitions of community engagement; therefore, determining the appropriate one for your organization will take some effort. As Amy puts it: “Community engagement can often cause much confusion and debate among practitioners.
As one example of community engagement, some experts differentiate between mobilizing and organizing activities in terms of engagement with community. Mobilizing refers to recruiting leaders who support a specific vision or cause, while organizing involves cultivating leaders so they can collaborate on making decisions together. An inclusive and empowering definition of Community engagement would consider both these activities together and consider existing power dynamics so as to include voices from marginalized communities in conversations that seek real change in lives of people. This aspect is especially vital when programs or projects seek real change for real.