In the second week of our e-course on community engagement in collective impact, we explore the ways in which you can amplify the voices of community members to contribute to your collective impact initiative.

Time: ~30 minutes of reading; ~2 hours of group time

This is the second of five modules to help collective impact initiatives better understand why and how to work with community members. Each module includes resources, discussion questions and interactive exercises. While the course can be taken as an individual, it is recommended that participants discuss the modules in a group, with other members of their collective impact initiative. We recommend setting aside a few hours each work week to discuss the resources and complete the exercises. We also offer questions for each resource to help guide discussion.

This e-course is not intended to be seen as the final word on community engagement in collective impact, but rather a starting place for the conversation. We offer these curated resources as an introductory scan of the literature and a way for your collective impact initiative to begin developing strategies for partnering with community members more deeply.

This module has four components to complete: Reading materials and video, an exercise, online discussion and a post-module survey. Access these components online by scrolling down, or by downloading the “asset package,” in the right hand column of this page. The “download this document” option listed first allows you to download ONLY this overview if you prefer to reference it offline. There are “additional resources” listed in case you want to go deeper in certain areas.

Module 2 Purpose:

This module will help you think through how to support community members in contributing to a collective impact initiative. Through two readings and a video, we present several approaches and help you consider what is right for your community. The exercise allows you to assess your “deeper” engagement strategies. Each resource will help you consider what should be revised in the “Assessing Your Engagement Strategies” exercise from Module 1.

Learning objectives:

• Understand the need to support community members in contributing to a collective impact initiative.
• Become familiar with several approaches to investing in and supporting community members.
• Analyze “deep” engagement strategies for working with community members.
• Revise “Assessing Your Engagement Strategies” exercise from Module 1 based on what you learned from this module.

Readings Materials and Video:

1. Amplifying the Voices of Community Members in Collective Impact

This blog post from Living Cities discusses the main learning objectives for Module 2. It also introduces you to several approaches to support communities in contributing to collective impact initiatives.

Guiding discussion questions:

• Do the issues discussed in this blog post make you reconsider any assumptions you listed in the “Assessing Your Engagement Strategies” exercise from Module 1?
• What assets exist in your community that can be a starting point for your work with your targeted community groups?

2. Four Approaches for Working with Communities

This video offers an overview of four approaches to supporting community members to contribute to collective impact initiatives. The approaches introduced here are:

• Network building among community members
• Creating shared aspirations
• Leadership training (Nexus; Urban Habitat )
• Capacity building grants

https://vimeo.com/114256400

Guiding discussion questions:

• Do any of these approaches to working with community members fit with your collective impact initiative?
• Can these approaches be incorporated into the strategies you outlined in “Assessing Your Engagement Strategies” exercise from Module 1?

3. Case study: Native American Community Development Institute (NACDI)

This case study illustrates how strategies that invest in community relationships can lead to policy wins. It is recommend you read the whole piece, but pages 7-12 provide an analysis of specific strategies.

Guiding discussion questions:

• What can you adopt from NACDI’s work into your own?
• Why do you think NACDI was so successful in its campaign to recognize Indigenous Peoples Day?

Exercise

Distinguish Your Work: Outreach or Community Engagement? An Assessment Tool

As we’ve discussed in Module 1, the level of community engagement depends on the goals you want to achieve through the engagement itself. This particular tool from Nexus Community Partners offers a way to assess efforts that require deep engagement with community members as warranted. Nexus has a specific definition of community engagement as “a process that includes multiple processes or strategies to promote the participation of residents in community life, especially those who are excluded and isolated, by engaging them in collective action to create a healthy community.” This tool should only be used to assess an initiative or parts of an initiative that require “deep” engagement with community members. Again, we feel that at least some component of a collective impact initiative should strive for the highest levels of co-creation with community members, but not every intervention or process point needs deep engagement.

Guiding discussion questions:

• Which parts of your initiative require a deeper level of engagement with community members?
• After completing this assessment, what needs to be re-analyzed in “Assessing Your Engagement Strategies” exercise from Module 1?

Online Discussion

There are many ways you can discuss the course topics in this and other modules with participants:

You can join the on-going conversation on the Collective Impact Forum community discussion page, which requires free registration.

To join the conversation with other course participants, join our Twitter “study halls” on Friday, March 27th at 1pm ET (10am PT; 6pm GMT) to ask your questions and share your insights. We will be joined by Theresa Gardella, Director of Strategic Development for Nexus Community Partners, as a special guest to help spark and moderate discussion. Use the hashtag #CEinCI to join in.

Post-Module Survey

Once you and our team have completed this module, please complete the Module 2 Survey, which will take about five minutes. This survey lets us know you have completed this module and gives us valuable feedback on how to improve the e-course.

Join the conversation on community engagement in collective impact online with #CEinCI.

Additional resources:

• Building the Field of Community Engagement This hub of resources, hosted by Nexus Community Partners, will allow you to consider how to engage more deeply with the community members you seek to serve.
• Asset Based Community Development resources from consultant Dan Duncan, particularly “Effective Collective Impact: Through the Power of ABCD and RBA” These resources, and the Asset Based Community Development approach in general, can help you consider what assets exist in your community to be leveraged.

To subscribe to the e-course and gain additional access to supplemental resources, interactive digital discussions, a live webinar and alerts to help you and/or your team stay on track along the way, register now.