Community Engagement - Current Methods and Implementation

Current Methods and Implementation

Practical community engagement is used as an active method of implementing change. While most current standards implore more static means through standard marketing techniques, community engagement involves actively implementing a specific process towards activism such as the 8-step guideline listed below developed by Hildy Gottlieb of Creating the Future. While the process may have similarities to a controversial form of friendraising, the emphasis in community engagement is that of honest relationship building for the sake of community, not for the sole purpose of money-making. The steps are:

1. Determine the goals of the plan
2. Plan out who to engage
3. Develop engagement strategies for those individuals you already know
4. Develop engagement strategies of those individuals you do not already know
5. Prioritize those activities
6. Create an implementation plan
7. Monitor your progress
8. Maintain those relationships

Other programs exist to assist communities in the process of building community coalitions for engagement. One such program is Communities That Care which helps communities asses their needs and implement tested and effective programs to address their identified issues.