Community engagement requires a deep understanding of shared values, extreme sensitivity, ongoing dialogue, thoughtful response and action that builds trust. Communication needs to be clear, two-way, on point – and just better. The stakes are that high.
Through engagement we connect neighbors, neighborhood organizations, cultural and academic institutions to macro and micro community issues or initiatives that span healthcare, real estate, utilities and corporate governance. Our goal is a transformative and sustainable outcome.
Your organization may be looking for ways to improve community relations, gain buy-in for future decisions or just strengthen the community’s capacity to evolve, making the community and the world a better place. Regardless, you need to define or clarify the goal. We can help you through the engagement journey: to inform, consult, involve, collaborate and empower.
Community outreach and engagement needs an underlying process, much like the process of employee engagement on a corporate issue or opportunity. Community engagement is built on some of the same principles, but with higher risk and significantly more polarization. Problems and opportunities are framed. Goals are set. Teams are created to execute a concept, plan outreach and evaluate feedback. Communication and face to face outreach tools are selected, and targeted outreach begins.
We are community engagement practitioners and facilitators. We encourage initiatives that collaborate and find answers to community issues. Finding the best solution will take an understanding and insightful choice of context, methods, tools, significance and place.
We frame every issue carefully. Our consumer knowledge, experience, deep understanding of what consumers value and our ability to provide state, city, and community context give us an edge. Framing the issue is everything: If you get this wrong, then discussions, conversations, and progress can quickly explode, or slowly unravel.
If managed correctly, conflict can lead to better outcomes. Our intervention choices and our collective insights throughout the process can help communities overcome perceived tensions, power differences, injustices and outright confrontations.
We use online communication to amplify key conversations, further engage the community and respond with facts to neutralize rising issues. We practice integrated marketing and communications, so our use of digital channels is intentional to meet your goal, whether alone or in combination with offline and face to face communication.
As soon as you submit the form, we will send to you a link to download our report.