Strategies > Engagement > Community Engagement
Community Engagement
Photo: Flickr/ Peter Durand
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The purpose of community engagement is to inform, create, and implement plans and projects that enable the community to thrive. Authentic community engagement begins with listening to community members to understand their needs and hopes. However, community engagement is often merely a "checkbox" in planning processes rather than used as an opportunity to learn from residents. Ideas that emerge from governmental agencies may not be trusted by some community members, particularly in marginalized communities that have suffered from disinvestment. Consider new ways to engage that are based on the premise that residents are the experts of their community. Also consider how engagement can build community capacity to understand and navigate decision-making process.
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Likely Outcomes
Increase social connection and civic engagement
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Improved health outcomes
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Community engagement gives residents a voice in the design and function of their neighborhoods. Research has found that social media for civic participation (County Health Rankings & Roadmaps, 2020) is likely to improve civic and political participation. Experts agree that trauma-informed approaches to community building are important for those communities who have historically faced disinvestment, discrimination, and other community traumas (County Health Rankings & Roadmaps, 2020).
Equity and Inclusion
Communities do not have equal opportunity to safely access the goods and services they need to live healthy lives. The existence of these disparities can be traced in large part to decisions made by by federal, state, and local governments, including transportation and land use planners, that have resulted in inequitable access to community environments that support health (Bullard, 2003). Many of these decisions were made without community input, in the face of community opposition, or where community engagement was perfunctory. Transportation equity includes not only the outcomes created from transportation decisions but also the fairness of the process used to make the decision, sometimes called process or procedural equity.
For planning and community engagement guidance that is grounded in health equity, racial justice, and climate resilience, see the guiding principles from PHEAL (Planning for Health Equity, Advocacy, and Leadership). Principles of mobility justice can be found from the Untokening Collective. The Transportation Equity Caucus is a diverse coalition that promotes equitable transportation policy and has resources for practitioners. Additional guidance for equitable planning and design is available from BlackSpace and the Design Justice Network.
For planning and community engagement guidance that is grounded in health equity, racial justice, and climate resilience, see the guiding principles from PHEAL (Planning for Health Equity, Advocacy, and Leadership). Principles of mobility justice can be found from the Untokening Collective. The Transportation Equity Caucus is a diverse coalition that promotes equitable transportation policy and has resources for practitioners. Additional guidance for equitable planning and design is available from BlackSpace and the Design Justice Network.
Complementary Strategies
Community engagement is an important component of every strategy.
Implementation Guidance
Guides & Reports