In their book, “Principles of Community Engagement

“, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention find a community can be viewed as a living organism or well-oiled machine. For the community to be successful, each sector has its role and failure to perform that role will diminish success.   In a systems view, healthy communities are those that have well-integrated, interdependent sectors that share responsibility to resolve problems and enhance the well-being of the community.

It is increasingly recognized that to successfully address a community’s complex problems and quality of life issues, it is necessary to promote better integration, collaboration, and coordination of resources from these multiple community sectors.

Neighborhood Assets Map

“Map” your neighborhood assets to identify, mobilize, and address issues of concern and bring about change.

From a systems perspective, another way to understand an describe a community might involve exploring:

• People (socioeconomics and demographics, health status and risk profiles, cultural and ethnic characteristics)
• Location (geographic boundaries)
• Connectors (shared values, interests, motivating forces)
• Power relationships (communication patterns, formal and informal lines of authority and influence, stake holder relationships, resource flows)

Similarly we can define the community from a broader socialogical perspective by describing the social and political networks that link individuals and community organizations and leaders. Understanding the nature and boundaries of these networks is critical to planning engagement efforts. For example, tracing individuals’ social ties may help those who are initiating a community engagement effort to identify leaders within a community, understand community patterns, identify high risk groups within the community, and strengthen networks within the community.

Individuals also have their own sense of community membership. The presence or absence of a sense of membership in a community may vary over time and is likely to influence participation in community activities.

People may feel emotional, cultural or experiential tie to a community, or feel they can make a contribution, see membership as a way to meet their own individual needs. Loosely defined, community engagement is the process of working collaboratively with and through groups of people affiliated by geographic proximity or special interest to address issues affecting the well-being of those people.

It is a powerful vehicle for bringing about environmental and behavioral changes that will improve the health of the community and its members. It often involves partnerships and coalitions that help mobilize resources and influence systems, change relationships among partners and serve as catalysts for changing polices, programs and practices.

In practice, community engagement is a blend of social science and art. The science comes from sociology, political science, cultural anthropology, organizational development, psychology, social work and other disciplines with organizing concepts drawn from the literature on community participation, community mobilization, constituency building, community psychology, cultural influences, and other sources. The equally important artistic element is necessary to the process involves using understanding, skill, and sensitivity to apply and adapt the science in ways that fit the community and purposes of specific engagement efforts.

Power and Usefulness of Community Engagement

There is consensus in research that engaging and supporting the empowerment of the community for community health decision-making and action is a critical element in health promotion, health protection, and disease prevention. The impact of programs that target individual behavior change is often transient and diluted unless efforts are also undertaken to bring about systematic change at multiple levels of society.

There are several trigger activities that might begin the community engagement process. Some are tied to legislative or program mandates, others involve special initiatives. Once triggered, the community engagement process itself can take many forms. It can range from cooperation, where relationships are informal and where there is not necessarily a commonly-defined structure, to collaboration, pr partnerships where previously separated groups are brought together with full commitment to a common mission.

The organizational concepts lead to a number of general conclusions about what lies at the heart of successful community engagement efforts.

• Community engagement efforts should address multiple levels of the social environment, rather than only individual behaviors, to bring about desired changes.
• Health behaviors are influenced by culture. To ensure that engagement efforts are culturally and linguistically appropriate, they must be developed from a knowledge and respect for the targeted community’s culture.
• People participate when they feel a sense of community, see their involvement and the issues as relevant and worth their time, and view the process and organizational climate of participation as open and supportive of their right to have a voice in the process.
• While it cannot be externally imposed on a community, a sense of empowerment — the ability to take action, influence, and make decisions on critical issues — is crucial to successful engagement efforts.
• Community mobilization and self-determination frequently need nurturing. Before individuals and organizations can gain control and influence and become players and partners in community health decision-making and action, they may need additional knowledge, skills, and resources.
• Coalitions, when adequately supported, can be useful vehicles for mobilizing and using community assets for health decision-making and action.
• Participation is influenced by whether community members believe that the benefits of participation outweigh the costs. Community leaders can use their understanding of perceived costs to develop appropriate incentives for participation.

The following table, based on the social science literature and the above conclusions, offers a set of specific factors that can positively influence the success of community engagement efforts. Planners and organizers of these efforts may find it useful to keep the factors in mind as they work through the engagement process.

Factors Contributing to the Success of Community Engagement Efforts

Environmental

• History of collaboration or cooperation in the community
• Collaborating group (and agencies in group) seen as leader in community
• Favorable political and social climate

Membership

• Mutual respect, understanding, and trust
• Appropriate cross-section of members
• Members see engagement in their self-interest — benefits of engagement as offsetting costs
• Ability to compromise

Process/Structure

• Members feel ownership — share stake in both process and outcome
• Every level in each organization in collaborating groups participates in decision-making
• Flexibility of collaborating group
• Clarity of roles and guidelines
• Ability to sustain itself in midst of changing conditions

Communication

• Open and frequent interaction, information, and discussion
• Informal and formal channels of communications

Purpose

• Goals clear and realistic to all partners
• Shared vision
• Unique to the effort (i.e., different at least in part from mission, goals or approach of member organizations)

Resources

• Sufficient funds
• Skilled convener

Download:   CAI’s Best Practices Report – Reserve Studies/Management