What is community engagement?

Why does it matter?How is it changing?

Community Solutions for Community Issues

West Palm Beach, FL

April 11, 2011

The Deliberative Democracy Consortium

What is community engagement?

• Often used interchangeably – along with “participation,” “democratic governance,” “public involvement,” and other terms

• Definitions always fuzzy

You said engagement means:

• Voting• Advocacy• Collaborating• Making a difference• Volunteering• Involving others• Shared learning• Autonomy

• Equitable input• Networking• Action• Collective vision• Social capital• Personal transformation• “Peoplesteppingup”• nothing

The context:

How have citizens* changed?

More educated More skeptical – different attitudes

toward authority Have less time to spare Use the Internet to learn and connect

* “citizens” = residents, people

The context:

Families with young children

Have the most at stake in community success

Parents have even more motivation to engage, but even less time, than average resident

Want opportunities to engage in community, not just politics

Given these changes, why is it important to engage people?

And why might they want to be engaged?

Other research findings about engagement

Having a relationship with a person of a different group = greater empathy and understanding

People get involved because they want to affect an issue, stay involved because (and only when) they enjoy the experience (both process and outcome)

Stronger feelings of belonging to community = increased likelihood that person will stay in that place

Stronger feelings of loyalty to community = greater community economic health

Successful community engagement tactics

Proactive about recruitment Bringing diverse perspectives together Sharing experiences (‘power of story’) Giving people chance to make up their own

minds (deliberative) Different levels of action: volunteers, teams,

organizations, policy decisions Increasing use of online tools

Key differences between engagement approaches

(more advocacy-oriented vs. more deliberative)

1. Explaining your goals – naming outcomes explicitly vs. using broader language

2. Belief in equitable processes vs. insistence on equitable outcomes

Shared interest among different engagement

approaches: going beyond merely ‘engaging’ people

Successes, limitations of engagement so far

Why do it: Make a decision or plan in a reasonable wayGet more people working on the issueBuild trust

Successes: When done well, meets all three goals aboveGives new leaders a chance to step forward

Challenges: Takes lots of time (especially recruitment)Hard to sustain (not designed to be sustained)May meet goals of ‘engagers,’ but not ‘engaged’Doesn’t often change the institutionsTrust, relationships fade over time

Need more sustained, holistic forms of engagement: regular, structured, enjoyable opportunities that enable people to: Connect with other people (particularly people who are different from themselves) Feel like they belong to a community that values their voices and contributions Bring their concerns and priorities to the table (they help shape the agenda) Participate in governance (they have a say/hand in decision-making and problem-solving)

Does this reflect what you’re seeing in your community?

What are you up against, and what do you have going for you?