Building a more open and loving community takes time. The basic concept is that with dialogue and transparency, community members can become more emphatic, independent, advocate common sense solutions, and utilize a multi-prong approach to address complex issues. Authentic community engagement is having residents with differing views come together to discuss important matters in a respectful manner. This means having those difficult conversations AND residents becoming better communicators.
There are sever key points for community engagement:
- Partnership with District Planning Councils: share resources, improve communication, and accountability
- Community Forum: Digital Forum to have authentic conversations in the Ward: Join Here
- Expand Civic Engagement:
- We respect community members time i.e. monetarily/food/childcare and give them ownership/ decision-making prowess.
- Provide support services so people can attend and outreach to the population most directly impacted by an action.
- Digital tools so community members can participate at their own time (good for parents)
- Youth Engagement: Opportunities for them to self-organize, represent, and be a part of different communities that are relevant to them
- This is also a great learning opportunity => Students Lead & Adults facilitate
- Community Network: Residents are independently interacting, supporting, and working together via ‘asset based’ approach, which is an intentional process where community members provide their service, i.e. asset, to the corresponding community.
- Expansion of block club frameworks (community dinners, game nights, etc.)
- Local emergency support networks in cases of domestic violence
- Community Capacity/Resiliency: Knowledge & power is shared with the community rather than concentrated to single groups, making them less vulnerable to change via new leadership
- Art as a medium of Disruption & Inspiration: Creative means to reach out, educate, and entertain community members
- The Superhero project:
- Children create your own personal costume and role-play want it means to be a hero
- For adults, roleplaying as a superhero can help break away drudgery of depression and it shows to children that adult can “code-switch” between seriousness and character
- Cultural superheros?!?!?
- Spreading Joy and Smiles!
