Design the holistic outreach and engagement process
- Develop a community network analysis. Identify community navigators and other key partners and determine who are your untapped community partners. Trusted community leaders from nonprofits, faith groups, schools, and industry can have a profound impact on whether community groups feel comfortable and motivated to participate. See Community Heart & Soul’s Network Analysis Tool for an extensive guide to this aspect.
- Identify groups impacted and affected. Now and in the future, who does a specific planning effort or project affect most, and how? Who benefits the most, and who benefits the least? What is the driving factor behind this project and its priority? Is there capital planning? Does that capital planning seek input from all members of your community regardless of identity and class? Use tools from our State Demography Office to add data to your analysis.
- Identify groups who are or were marginalized in public decisions. Did marginalized communities face harm historically? For example, redlining, segregating, exclusion from economic, social or educational opportunities, or disinvestment in disadvantaged communities? Does this project exacerbate, alleviate, or not affect those inherited conditions? Does a proposed comprehensive plan incorporate these conditions?
- Consider engagement tools that will be effective in getting needed input. Engagement tools may include:
- Focus groups with stakeholders/community navigators
- One-on-one meetings with stakeholders/community navigators
- Development of discussion guides and presentations that stakeholders & community navigators can share with constituencies as part of their regular outreach and conversations
- Digital and print surveys
- Secondary studies and research
- Focus groups, charrettes, and open houses
- Tactical urbanism, or “pop-up design” - a short-term demonstration of a long-term vision.
- Canvassing to have door-to-door discussions.
- Online engagement, through social media, website, and email, using tools such as videos, photos, and maps.
- Align community engagement schedule with project timeline. Consider when you need input throughout a comprehensive planning development process or prior to implementing an infrastructure project. Plan fundraising efforts and milestone setting appropriately and with plenty of space to seek input.
Draft an engagement plan and share that with key partners, including community navigators and mediators.
- Assess the needs of all segments of your constituents. Utilize existing data and studies to identify best practices. Consider various types of engagement and how best to seek input from previously identified affected groups.
- Perform initial analysis of partner and stakeholder participation. Engage key partners and identify any needed changes to the engagement plan. Get input and refine.
Implement community outreach and engagement plan in collaboration with partners.
- Provide background and context. Ensure that community input is informed when weighing in on policy development. This practice reduces the chance for severe opposition due to misunderstanding, and can transform would-be project opposition to project champions.
- Evaluate input and check in regularly. Be flexible enough to course-correct mid project, and share back often. Reiterate what has been heard at key points and verify accuracy throughout the plan development process, including with partners, and how that input was incorporated. Invite disproportionately impacted communities to a special meeting to discuss what was heard and ask for feedback.
Reflect and measure implementation success.
- “Close the loop” after engagement. Invite hard to reach constituents that do not typically provide input in engagement processes to a special meeting to discuss what was heard from the engagement process. Summarize those needs and share back to the participating stakeholders for their feedback.
- Operationalize. Make adjustments according to findings, and consider developing a community engagement policy that incorporates this feedback accordingly.
- Evaluate. Who was not engaged? What unexpected opposition existed and who felt left out?
Credits
This guide is inspired by work performed by University of Colorado Denver Masters in Urban Planning students and refined by Colorado Main Street and other resources as cited.
Resources
- The Community Engagement Guide for Sustainable Communities - Policy Link and the Kirwan Institute
- Best Practices for Meaningful Community Engagement - The Groundwork Institute
- Authentic Community Engagement to Advance Equity - Colorado Office of Health Equity
- Colorado Community Engagement Toolkit - Colorado Department of Transportation
- Engaging the community in the development of a local housing strategy - LocalHousingSolutions.org
- Engaging the Community – Colorado Affordable Housing Developer’s Guide
- Equity in Zoning Policy Guide - American Planning Association
- An Equitable Approach to Zoning Notifications – American Planning Association
- Overcoming NIMBY Opposition to Affordable Housing – National Low Income Housing Coalition
- Overcoming NIMBYism to improve communities – CBRE
Tools For Identifying Marginalized Communities and Vulnerable Population Engagement
- Colorado State Demography Office
- National Equity Atlas - Policy Link & USC Equity Research Institute
- Equitable Engagement for Comprehensive Plans - Puget Sound Regional Council - See especially page 2 questions to ask about community engagement
- Colorado Enviroscreen - Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment - assistance with determining environmental justice metrics. See also EPA’s EJScreen.
- Social Vulnerability Index - Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
- Historically Marginalized Populations Engagement Toolkit
- Best Practices Tool Kit for State and Local Governments - ADA
- Effective Tools for Communications and Leadership in Indian Country - Suicide Prevention Resource Center
- Reaching and Engaging with Hispanic Communities: A Research-Informed Communication Guide for Nonprofits, Policymakers, and Funders - Child Trends
- Authentic Youth Engagement Toolkit - CDPHE
- Historic Loss Assessment - Truth, Restoration & Education Commission
- Using the Equity Resource Navigator to Advance Equity in Communities | Urban Institute