Community engagement & working with communities

The following are some posts that might be of interest to students and practitioners in relation to community engagement and working with communities.

A few good places to start are:

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Here are some of the other blog posts that could be of interest:

Assertive outreach with women experiencing homelessness: A rapid review of literature - The following is the executive summary of a rapid review on assertive outreach with women experiencing homelessness by Tamara Blakemore, Joel McGregor and me. The review was done as part of a research project we are doing in partnership with Nova for Women and Children. Continue reading →
Creating a safe space for a workshop on Zoom - Reflecting on strategies for creating a safe space for an Alternatives to Violence Project workshop we are offering via Zoom Continue reading →
What is praxis? - Recently I was attacked for being “out of touch with the real world” with the person going on to say that “many academics have a profound inability to communicate with the less ‘enlightened.’” It seems to me that the attack … Continue reading →
Some literature on engaging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and communities - A collection of articles on engaging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and communities Continue reading →
A reading list on family and community engagement - Here is a reading list for an online elective I offer to students at the University of Newcastle about family and community engagement. Continue reading →
An introduction to strengths-based practice (a video lecture) - An introductory lecture on strengths-based practice I prepared for students in a course on engaging families and communities. In it I outline 8 principles of strengths-based practice. Continue reading →
Strengths-based measurement and collective impact - Data driven approaches like collective impact often prioritise shared measurement and collecting data, particularly quantitative measures, and do not consider the impact of what questions they ask, how they collect data, and who is responsible for interpreting the data. If … Continue reading →
A strengths-based approach to collective impact - Collective impact is an approach to addressing complex social problems. As discussed in the previous post (Collective impact and community engagement), community engagement needs to be at the heart of collective impact, but the (sometimes subtle) message underlying too many initiatives is that the community is part of the problem. When initiatives take a top-down approach and do not involve the community from the start, they are implying that the community has little of value to offer. Continue reading →
Collective impact and community engagement - Kania and Kramer 1 argue that collective impact involves “the commitment of a group of important actors from different sectors.” There can be a great deal of variation in how these “important actors” are defined and identified. Some collective impact initiatives are quite top down with a focus on government agencies and professional community services rather than adopting a more bottom up approach that starts with community members. Continue reading →
What is collective impact? - Collective impact is a multi-sector/multi-agency, collaborative leadership approach to large scale social change in communities that is usually place based (i.e., it is focused on a particular town, neighbourhood or community). Continue reading →
Power and strengths-based practice - Strengths-based practice fundamentally challenges traditional approaches to power relationships in working with individuals, families and communities. Rather than operating from a position of power-over, strengths-based practice requires us to critically reflect on the dynamics of power in our relationships and to focus on power-with and power-to, and to nurture power-within. Continue reading →
4 types of power: What are power over; power with; power to and power within? - When I first started as a youth worker in 1991, I was working in a medium-term accommodation unit for young people who were homeless. I really struggled with being in a position of authority having just graduated from a welfare … Continue reading →
A video introducing asset-based community development (ABCD) - This is a brief introduction to ABCD—asset-based community development (or asset-based community-led development)—produced by The Calabash Trust in South Africa. I like how it discusses the idea that the health of our minds and hearts affect our material well-being. Too much … Continue reading →
Resources for churches on asset-based community development (ABCD) - A while ago somebody asked me about resources on strengths-based approaches to community development for churches. Here are some suggestions, mainly related to asset-based community-driven development (ABCD). Articles about ABCD and churches or faith communities. Barrett, A. (2013). Asset-based community … Continue reading →
Evidence-informed practice, evidence-based programs and measuring outcomes -
This post is based on a workshop on evidence-informed practice, evidence-based programs and measuring outcomes that Alan Hayes, Jamin Day and I facilitated for the Combined Upper Hunter Interagencies. The slides from the workshop are above or you can download … Continue reading →
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Effective Engagement: building relationships with community and other stakeholders - In 2005 the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment released a three part resource on Effective Engagement: building relationships with community and other stakeholder. In 2015, it was re-released by the Department of Environment‚ Land‚ Water and Planning (which had … Continue reading →
Reflections on community development vs community work - I’ve recently been thinking about the difference between community development and community work, and the importance of being clear about which is appropriate for a given context. These are fairly initial thoughts so I’d welcome any feedback or comments. In … Continue reading →
Evidence-based practice and innovation - In some ways we live in an exciting time where we are learning more and more about what works—and what doesn’t—in helping to nurturing strong families and communities. Research and research evidence play a crucial role in these discoveries and … Continue reading →
Community engagement in marketing - In an introduction to herself in a university course I teach on engaging communities (HLSC2241 at the University of Newcastle), one of my students said she was studying a Bachelor of Business majoring in marketing. In response to a question … Continue reading →
An example of asset-based community development - Asset-based community-driven development (ABCD) is built on four foundations (Kretzmann, 2010; Kretzmann & McKnight, 1993; Mathie & Cunningham, 2003): It focuses on community assets and strengths rather than problems and needs It identifies and mobilises individual and community assets, skills … Continue reading →
The relationship between community engagement and community development - Community engagement is at the heart of community development. In her useful discussion of community development, Jessica Smart (2017) discusses the difference between community-based work “which involves the community”, and community development, “which is led by the community” (para. 5, … Continue reading →
Principles of effective parent engagement in early childhood education - The engaging diverse families project of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) identified principles of family engagement in early childhood education, collected case studies of good practice and developed resources to help programs more effectively engage … Continue reading →
A continuum of engagement: A focus on the individual to a focus on the collective - A definition of community engagement by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning [1] reminds us that community engagement has a focus on the collective rather than the individual: Community engagement… is a planned process with the specific purpose … Continue reading →
What is the Spectrum of Public Participation? - The Spectrum of Public Participation was developed by the International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) to help clarify the role of the public (or community) in planning and decision-making, and how much influence the community has over planning or decision-making … Continue reading →
Mobilising community assets and volunteers can have side effects - One of the strengths of asset-based community-driven development (ABCD) is how it builds on the passions and skills of volunteer community members. It’s amazing what communities can achieve when they rely on their own resources. But there can be a … Continue reading →
Encouraging a broad understanding of community engagement - A paper about evaluating community engagement as part of the public health system (South & Phillips, 2014) recognises the potential for community engagement in health to involve more than simply engaging people in planning and decision making. They suggests that … Continue reading →
Retelling the story of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus boycott (Paul Schmitz) - At the recent Connecting Communities conference, one of the highlights was Paul Schmitz retelling the story of Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks is the woman whose arrest after refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white man … Continue reading →
Rethinking the roles of families and clients in evidence-based practice - The principles which underpinned our approach to supporting Children and Parenting Support programs to implement evidence-based programs and practice as part of the Children and Families Expert Panel, had a large influence on how I presented evidence-based practice in the … Continue reading →
What is evidence-informed practice? - Some authors appear to use evidence-based practice and evidence-informed practice interchangeably [e.g., 1] but other authors identify significant difference [2-5]. The main difference is in the approach to evidence. Webber & Carr [4] suggest that, in evidence-informed practice: Evidence is … Continue reading →
What are evidence-based programs? - While evidence-based practice is a decision-making process that incorporates the best research evidence, the best clinical experience and family and client values; evidence-based programs are programs that have been standardised, systematised and rigorously evaluated. According to Williams-Taylor [1], evidence-based practice … Continue reading →
What is evidence-based practice? - Although there is no universally accepted definition of evidence-based practice in social work and family work [1, 2], it is generally described as a decision-making process that incorporates: The best research evidence The best clinical experience Family and client values … Continue reading →
6 characteristics of an urban village - Urban design plays a vital role in community building and promoting horizontal community engagement. This video and an associated report, New London Villages: Creating community, (Scanlon, Sagor, Whitehead and Mossa, 2016) explore the concept of villages within the city of … Continue reading →
Types of community engagement – creating boxes? - Community engagement covers a very broad range of meanings, aims and strategies. In teaching community engagement to undergraduate and postgraduate students, I need to find ways to explore the diversity of practice that are relevant to students from a wide … Continue reading →
Luis von Ahn: Massive-scale online collaboration - I’ve decided to make this entertaining and surprising TEDx talk, by Luis von Ahn, required watching in an online undergraduate course (or subject) I teach on community engagement (HLSC2241). Although the course is online, I haven’t included much material about … Continue reading →
Navigating dilemmas of community development: Practitioner reflections on working with Aboriginal communities - Abstract Intrinsically, community development involves navigating dilemmas. These dilemmas have intensified as neoliberal “arts of government” become more widespread and a “results agenda” more entrenched. Recent studies explore how community development practitioners manage the ambiguities of this current context. This … Continue reading →
Engaging fathers: An overview of evidence-based practice - Fathers are important. Research demonstrates that close involvement of fathers from birth can support positive infant and child development. This includes boosting social, emotional and academic development. Effective co-parenting, where fathers are engaged in positive ways with the mother and … Continue reading →
36 ideas for helping to engage fathers - The importance of fathers is increasingly recognised in working with families. The following are 36 ideas that could help services engage fathers. Prioritise father inclusive practice in the annual strategic plan Ensure support for father inclusion through policy development Have … Continue reading →
Dave Meslin: The antidote to apathy - An interesting short (7:05 mins) TEDx talk about barriers to community engagement. Dave Meslin suggests apathy isn’t the reason people aren’t involved in community engagement initiatives; it is because they are actively discouraged from becoming involved. He gives a number … Continue reading →
Program fidelity and baking a cake - Program fidelity is an important concept in evidence-based programs. It is the “extent to which an enacted program is consistent with the intended program model” [1, p. 202]. In other words, it’s about ensuring we stay true to the original … Continue reading →
A reading list on ABCD (over 150 resources) - [Updated 9 November 2019 to add new resources. Click here for a list of the new ones.] The following are readings I’ve collected about asset-based community development (ABCD) and other asset-based approaches to working with communities. (If you want you … Continue reading →
An introduction to community engagement - [Updated 5 December 2017] As a Butteriss 1 highlights, community engagement means different things to different people and there is no widdepely accepted definition of community engagement. It might help to think about community engagement in three broad contexts: Community … Continue reading →
What are program logic models? - [Updated 13 July 2017 to add a new resource.] Program logic models are like “road maps” which show how your initiative will work and why you believe that if you do certain things, you will get the results you are … Continue reading →
A community engagement reading list - The following are some readings from a couple of subjects I teach (at both an undergraduate and postgraduate) on community engagement. The reading lists for the two courses are quite different but I have combined them here to provide a … Continue reading →
12 principles of a problem solving approach to conflict resolution - I’ve recently been involved with a couple of community groups experiencing conflict. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever been involved in an ongoing group that hasn’t had some conflict. A group without conflict is probably in danger of stagnation. … Continue reading →
Jihad Dib on school transformation (TEDx talk) - This TEDx talk by Jihad Dib, the Principal at Punchbowl Boys High, captures the essence of strengths-based practice and highlights the importance of community engagement. In the school of around 450 students, 65% of the students come from the bottom … Continue reading →
Some good articles/links – evidence-based programs and practice - [Links check and updated, 18 September 2019] Four weeks ago I posted some articles about evidence-based programs and practice. As I’ve continued looking, I’ve found many more useful resources and thus decided to include some more. This time, most of … Continue reading →
Some good articles/links for the start of semester - Semester 2 starts on Monday so I’ve been busy getting a number of subjects ready. This semester I’m responsible for two undergraduate electives (Engaging communities and Volunteerism – perspectives and management) and a postgraduate subject (School and community partnerships). Because … Continue reading →
9 principles for supporting families and communities - In 2006 I helped facilitate a national forum for family and community workers supporting permanent residents of caravan parks. Through the forum we identified nine principles of promising practice for working with permanent residents of caravan parks. These principles, however, … Continue reading →
3 types of community engagement (with related concepts and literature) - In the last post I discussed the first of two challenges faced by students in critiquing an example of community engagement: selecting a good example of community engagement. In this post I’ll discuss the second challenge: deciding what literature and … Continue reading →
Selecting an example of community engagement to critique - I ask students doing an online subject on community engagement at the University of Newcastle to critique an example of community engagement as one of their major assessments and, because the students come from a wide range of disciplines, it … Continue reading →
What are social models of health? - Social models of health recognise that our health is influenced by a wide range of individual, interpersonal, organisation, social, environmental, political and economic factors. They encourage us to have a deeper understanding of health than a focus on biology, physiology … Continue reading →
ABCD and Making the invisible visible - This is a great TEDx talk by DeAmon Harges demonstrating some features of asset-based community-driven development (ABCD). The following are a few of the great quotes that stood out for me. Find the gifts and talents of everyone in the … Continue reading →
Domestic violence, family, friends and neighbours - Domestic violence is still largely seen as a private matter between two individuals and few services successfully engage the informal social networks (e.g., family, friends, neighbours and work colleagues) of survivors [1]. Even ‘community’ responses, frequently focus on service providers … Continue reading →
Learning vs school education - [Updated 24 July 2017 to fix link to second video.] Engaging children in their school is not the same as engaging children in learning. I’m a huge fan of families being engaged with schools but we also need to recognise … Continue reading →
How painting can transform communities - In this TED talk, Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn talk about their community art which involves working with local communities to paint entire neighbourhoods. It is a wonderful example of a bottom-up approach to community development. I found their description … Continue reading →
Creating positive images of Aboriginal fathers - We are surrounded by negative images of Aboriginal men and fathers. In the mainstream media, and even academic literature, they are mostly portrayed in a negative context: the focus is on crime, domestic violence, alcohol and other drugs, unemployment, and … Continue reading →
What are complex problems? - [Updated 23 February 2018] Working with families and communities is a very different process to solving a maths problem, diagnosing and treating a medical issue, designing and building a bridge, or testing a new medicine. In family and community work … Continue reading →
Reflections on using conversations in a course on community engagement - In the undergraduate online community engagement elective I teach, I introduce students to strengths-based approaches (e.g., asset-based community-driven development and appreciative inquiry). To encourage them to think about the difference between deficit-based questions and strengths-based questions, I ask students to … Continue reading →
Bottom-up community development - [Updated 15 March 2018] “You cannot waltz into a community and fix the world…. no matter how well you can dance” (Melinda Jurd, a speech pathology student doing an elective on community engagement). I love this quote and I … Continue reading →
Community engagement in turning around schools - Earlier this year, the Grattan Institute released a report “Turning around schools: it can be done” (Jensen & Sonnemann, 2014). It explored how schools can transform from being a “low-performing’ school into a “high-performing” school. I suspected that engaging parents … Continue reading →
Seven principles of asset-based community-driven development (Jim Diers) - This is a short video with Jim Diers (from Neighbor Power) in which he outlines seven principles of asset-based community-driven development (ABCD). The seven principles are: Have Fun Start where people are… But don’t leave them there (Strive for results) … Continue reading →
Angela Blanchard – Building on the strengths of communities - In this TEDx talk, Angela Blanchard (Neighborhood Centers Inc) discusses a strengths-based approach to working with communities. It is an example of what asset-based community-driven development (ABCD) looks like in practice. ABCD is built on four foundations: It focuses on … Continue reading →
6 keys to community engagement in schools - When I read the definition of community engagement in Community & family engagement: Principals share what works (Berg, Melaville, & Blank, 2006), I was confident it would be an interesting report. Community engagement is a two-way street where the school, … Continue reading →
Playgroups as a foundation for working with hard to reach families - The Caravan Project at the Family Action Centre has been using playgroups for over 20 years as a foundation for working with families who are suspicious of, and reluctant to use, health and welfare services. Playgroups are valuable in promoting … Continue reading →
Take a street and build a community - This TEDx talk by Shani Graham shows what can happen when neighbours get together. Who knows what could happen if you consciously built relations with your neighbours! We are discovering what a difference it can make through the Kids Vegies … Continue reading →
Community engagement and caravan parks - I have been reflecting on how some of the concepts I teach in community engagement courses relate to my work. In this post I think back on my work in caravan parks (2003-2008), mainly with people who were using it … Continue reading →
What is Appreciative Inquiry? - Appreciative Inquiry is a strengths-based approach to creating change. Although it is often discussed in the context organisational change, Appreciative Inquiry can be applied in a range of contexts. The following is a great overview by Jackie Kelm from Appreciative … Continue reading →
10 things I’ve learnt about strengths-based community engagement - Strengths-based community engagement recognises that communities have many strengths that can help achieve a wide range of objectives. The following are 10 things I’ve learned from doing strengths-based community engagement in a variety of contexts. They aren’t commandments or principles, … Continue reading →
Community engagement in NSW schools - There is clearly an increasing emphasis on community engagement in NSW public schools. In December 2008, State, Territory and Commonwealth Ministers of Education signed the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians. In the Declaration they recognised that: Parents, … Continue reading →
A World Cafe in a school – a step-by-step description - World Café’s are interactive, inclusive group processes that encourage conversation-like discussion of things that matter. (It might help to read an overview of World Cafés available HERE.) I recently facilitated a couple of sessions at my daughter’s school to help … Continue reading →
Setting the context for a world cafe - Over the next couple of days I’m facilitating some conversations at my daughter’s school which are essentially part of a visioning process. As with any school there are some parents who will attend with specific concerns. I want to ensure … Continue reading →
Supporting residents of caravan parks - Caravan parks play an important role in Australian housing, particular for those who have few or no other options. Marginalised residents of caravan parks often face significant disadvantage and it is therefore important that a range of health and … Continue reading →
What is asset-based community development (ABCD)? - [Updated 7 November 2017] Asset-based community development (ABCD), or asset-based community-driven development as it is sometimes called, is a bottom-up way of working with communities that focuses on community strengths and assets rather than on deficits and problems. In another … Continue reading →
Parent engagement @ school - We had 19 parents at the P&C (Parents and Citizens Association) of my daughter’s primary school last week. We regularly get strong attendance (there are a few things I used to do when I was President to try to encourage … Continue reading →
10 Ways to build school-community partnerships - Here is a video by the Collaborative for Building After-School Systems with 10 ways to build school-community partnerships. Their 10 suggestions are: Give young people a voice Plan for effective collaboration Develop a shared vision Establish clear roles and responsibilities … Continue reading →
Ethics and community engagement - The ethics of community engagement needs to come to the forefront of our work. Let me start with a confession. When I started to develop an undergraduate elective on community engagement at Newcastle Uni in 2008, I included ethics in … Continue reading →
Making parents feel welcome in schools - 12 things that would make me feel parents are welcome at a primary school (some of which have happened at my daughters’ school and some at other schools I’ve seen): Consistent messages in the newsletter that the school values the … Continue reading →
A short definition of community - A colleague recently asked me to define community in 100 words or less. Here is my attempt. What do you think? A group of people with something in common who consider they have some connection. Community suggests some form of … Continue reading →
Community leadership: A tale of two residential parks - This is a slightly extended version of a paper that appeared in Stuart, G. (2004) ‘Community leadership: A tale of two residential parks’, in Education and Social Action Conference Proceedings, (ed.) R Flowers, Sydney: University of Technology of Sydney. If … Continue reading →
A story of two communities - Some colleagues and I have recently started using a great asset-based community development (ABCD) training exercise—Community A and Community B—to explore how the questions we ask can shape how we see the communities we work with. There is a bit … Continue reading →
Libraries and community engagement - I’m meeting with somebody soon to discuss a workshop on asset-based community development (ABCD) for library staff. To help prepare myself I’ve been looking at some resources. Not surprisingly there isn’t much on ABCD, but there is quite a bit … Continue reading →
“I try and make it feel more like a home” – families living in caravan parks - A paper I presented in 2008. In this presentation I want to compare two pictures of caravan parks and their residents (especially families). One picture is created by focusing on the deficits or problems we can find in caravan parks. … Continue reading →
It’s nearly time to go: ABCD with transient caravan park communities - An article originally published in Parity in 2009. Caravan parks play an important role in pathways in and out of homelessness; and many marginalised residents are currently, or have been, homeless (Stuart, 2007). Because of their clearly defined boundaries and … Continue reading →
It beats living in a tent (a survey of caravan park residents in 2005) - An article originally published in Parity in 2005. The Caravan Project recently completed surveys with 142 residents on eight caravan parks in the Lower Hunter with the aim of providing a snapshot of the park residents we support. The study … Continue reading →
What are vertical and horizontal community engagement? - [Updated 21 July 2017] The more I read and practice, the more aware I become of the many dimensions of community engagement. One of these dimensions is vertical and horizontal community engagement. At a seminar in 2012, Alison Mathie from … Continue reading →
Asking questions in workshops - An important skill in facilitating experiential workshops is asking questions. There are many different ways of asking questions, but I think there are four that show up frequently in workshops: Questions to find out what happened – like the police … Continue reading →
What is social capital? - At one level, social capital is a very easy concept to understand. Essentially it comes down to who you know, not what you know. It’s a bit like community. Everybody knows what we mean, but it might mean slightly different … Continue reading →
Definitions of community engagement - [Post updated: 14 February 2017] There is no widely accepted definition of community engagement and the meaning can vary in different contexts. The following are some definitions of community engagement mainly in the context vertical community engagement, particularly in relation … Continue reading →