Why do Community Engagement Community Benefit Project Benefit

Why do Community Engagement Community Benefit Project Benefit Builds social capital – better community health, working together and achieving self determined goals Gains legitimacy from funders and government. Builds community capacity and skills Gains legitimacy and trust from community itself. A community informed project is more useful to community and builds more vibrant community Participation and control lead to greater personal agency and commitment to other parts of life and community Encourages ownership and stewardship of project by community Uncover community assets and knowledge and will make a better project.

WHO? WHAT? WHERE? WHEN? HOW? • Consider, acknowledge and address legacy challenges in a community. • Loss of industry, mistrust of developers, history of broken promises, etc. • Have the right people at the right points in the process. • Avoid participation fatigue by targeting specific groups for relevant decisions. • Make the process accessible AND meaningful. • “Participation without redistribution of power is an empty and frustrating process for the powerless. ” – (Arnstein, 1969) • Offer multiple entry points for participation. • Offer childcare and food, and time it to be accessible for working people. • Work through existing networks and community leaders. • Explore multiple points within a community to avoid alienating factions. • Cultivate new community leaders. Invest in training participants. • Invest in programs that will train participants. • Face to face interactions yield the most genuine input. • Listen to what people are actually saying, not just what you expect them to say. • Spend time building relationships even if that time has nothing to do with the project. • Go to the (public) place where the people you want to engage are. • If the project is in the public realm, engage the people that encounter it publicly. Go to the place. • Show up for others’ meetings. • Have more than a token representation of minority groups so their voices aren’t drowned by perspectives used to having power. • Don’t consider one person to be a representation of their whole demographic.