Why are outreach and engagement important to building vibrant communities?
With the importance of building trust and communicating with stakeholders, outreach and engagement are required steps in any community-driven process. While it can be applied for a single initiative, outreach and engagement should also be viewed as ongoing processes which help to better connect communities to respond to future opportunities or threats. This document provides you with tools to inform and educate stakeholders, include voices from underrepresented populations, elicit feedback from community members, and increase active community participation and connectivity.
What is outreach and engagement?
Outreach is the process of bringing people closer to their community or group by spreading information through targeted interactions, and creating a welcoming space for everyone, especially marginalized or minority populations.
Engagement is the process of facilitating increased and sustained active participation of individuals to promote trust throughout the planning, decision making, and implementation of community goals.
Important Notes on Using the Toolkit
We highly suggest downloading these documents and typing your plan directly in the Planning Supplement document. Before sharing your plan with others, please remember to save and export as a new pdf.
As you read through the Outreach & Engagement Toolkit, take note of which strategies stand out to you or fit best with your project. When you see an activity that you want to use, add it by filling out the table on page 30 or in the Planning Supplement document. The check boxes throughout the document are to call attention to activities that you may be interested in. Selecting them will not auto populate the table.