Engaging St. Louis Communities in Neighborhood Development R I S E - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Engaging St. Louis Communities in Neighborhood Development R I S E C O M M U N I T Y D E V E L O P M E N T C D C G R O U P T R A I N I N G D E C E M B E R 1 5 , 2 0 1 7

WHY A TRAINING ON COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT? Bring community engagement at the center of our work • Build an understanding of community engagement in St. • Louis through interviews Share information and experiences • Develop a regional culture of community engagement • 2

SESSION OVERVIEW 1. Community Engagement Overview Definitions of community engagement • Needs and challenges of community engagement practitioners • Outcomes of community engagement • Break (15 min) 2. Breakout Groups How to build a supportive and engaging environment for the • community? What community engagement tools are available, benefits and limits? • How to do equitable and inclusive community engagement? • 3. Conclusion Lunch and activities 3

WHAT IS COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT? Definitions and Context

WHAT IS COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT? Using Poll Everywere (polleverywhere.com) Results: 5

WHAT IS NOT COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT? Using Poll Everywere (polleverywhere.com) Results: 6

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT SPECTRUM Spectrum of Community Engagement, IAP2 The Ladder of Citizen Participation, Sherry Arnstein (1969) 7

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT Community engagement is crucial to the • community development process • Communities are people and places The actors of community development: • Community Development Corporations, community leaders, civic groups, neighborhood organizations, elected officials, government and agencies, funders, developers, service providers, etc. The facets of community engagement: • community organizing, community building, advocacy.

WHAT IS COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT? Insights in the challenges of community engagement work.

CHALLENGE: LACK OF CAPACITY INCREASING FINANCIAL CAPACITY Funding • Program Support • Operational Expenses • Staff • Time • Continuous Struggle? • Politics • Policies • How can practitioners effectively and efficiently mobilize resources for community engagement? 10

CHALLENGE: LACK OF CAPACITY BUILDING EXPERTISE Knowledge, Skills, Abilities • Certain competencies needed for effectiveness • Attitude is Essential • Persistence • Comfort with conflict • Expert Practitioner • Community needs change, so should practitioners • How can practitioners improve their capacity to engage the community? What do they need? What mechanisms? 11

CHALLENGE: LACK OF TRUST OBTAINING INTERNAL BUY-IN Limited Internal Support for Community Engagement • Missing / ignoring the value & importance of • engagement Lack of staff understanding • Lack of dedicated training • Eliminating / mitigating the budget for engagement • Culture of Community Engagement • How can practitioners communicate the value of engagement to co-workers? How can they make it a priority? 12

CHALLENGE: LACK OF TRUST BUILDING COMMUNITY RELATIONSHIPS Connection with the Community • Time • Intentionality & Authenticity • Respect for Differences • Respect of Neighborhood History & Prior Engagement • Efforts Understanding of Trauma • How can practitioners build lasting relationships with the community? 13

CHALLENGE: LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY DEFINING SUCCESS Defined by Various Actors • Funders • Organization • Partners • Should Reflect Reality of Your Work • Based on physical environment • Based on social dynamics • Based on historical time • Should be Defined By and With the Community • How do you define successful community engagement? 14

CHALLENGE: LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY MEASURING OUTCOMES Objectives May Differ • Time • Forms of Evaluation: • Self-evaluation / organizational evaluation • Quantitative evaluation • Qualitative evaluation • What is the best way to collect feedback and evaluate a project? 15

SUMMARY OF CHALLENGES Increasing Financial • Capacity Building Expertise • Obtaining Internal • Buy-In Building Strong • Community Relationships Defining Success • Engagement Tool: Let’s Get Measuring & • Moving! Prioritize The Evaluating Outcomes Challenges 16

WHAT IS COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT? The vision that drives community engagement.

WHY IS COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IMPORTANT? The impact of community engagement: • … on your work • … on the community • The two long-term outcomes of community • engagement: Identity building: residents engage in neighborhood • relationships and build a strong common identity Empowerment: residents engage in decision-making to • impact the development of their community.

IDENTITY AND EMPOWERMENT Empowerment Establishing a Going to a Community public Land Trust meeting Taking a financial Maintaining a literacy training community garden Identity - building Organizing a neighborhood festival Painting Filling a murals survey -

BREAKOUT GROUPS

HOW TO ENGAGE THE COMMUNITY? 1. How to build a supportive and engaging environment for the community? Paul Sorenson, Founder and CEO, GoodMap • 2. What community engagement tools are available, benefits and limits? Amanda Colon-Smith, Executive Director, Dutchtown South • Community Corporation Sunni Hutton, Program Assistant, Dutchtown South Community • Corporation 3. How to do equitable and inclusive community engagement? Vontriece McDowell, Director of Community Based Interventions, • Alive and Well STL

CONCLUSION

CONCLUSION Work with the community. • Share experience, practices and resources. • Build trust, equity, and sustainability. • Collaborate toward the development of a regional culture • of community engagement. THANK YOU!