Engaging community members in problem-solving solutions to issues that affect them is one of the fundamental principles of public health. The most effective way to achieve public health goals, especially the elimination of disparities in health status, is to actively engage those experiencing the problems in every aspect of addressing them. Community engagement means involving community members in all activities—from identifying the relevant issues and making decisions about how to address them, to evaluating and sharing the results with the community.
Community engagement is a strong value and fundamental practice of public health. The importance of engaging the community is grounded in the belief that the public has a right to participate. The public health community believes that by using our "collective intelligence" and working together, we will more accurately identify problems and develop more elegant and effective solutions. We also believe that conflict will be minimized if people have had a chance to "buy into" the process.
Community engagement is a vital part of conducting a community health assessment and a community health improvement plan, both required components of the Local Public Health Assessment and Planning cycle.
Related chapter: Assessment, planning, and reporting
Benefits of community engagement
Focuses on social justice: Community wisdom and science work in tandem to ensure a more balanced set of political, social, economic and cultural priorities, resulting in shared resources and shared power, thus leading to equity and social justice.
Helps shape services: Including a broad array of community residents from the beginning of a planning process will help shape services so they are culturally acceptable and more closely meet specific needs.
Helps build trust: Inviting leadership from community groups will help demonstrate that their participation is valued and that their views will be considered. This can help to build trust, increase communication and create openness to utilizing services.
Helps with outreach: More residents will feel involved with community activities and decisions and will be able to explain or interpret them positively to others. Spreading the word through this informal approach will improve outreach.
Connects people and resources: Community engagement efforts improve connections between individuals, community associations, businesses, and churches, which in turn creates greater community support for public health.
Develops new leaders: Inviting community members and leaders of community groups into planning processes will help in the identification of champions and development of leaders who understand public health issues.
Creates an opportunity for critical reflection: Community engagement processes provide opportunities for cooperative, co-learning experiences, and critical reflection that benefit from community wisdom.
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Building community relationships
Benefits of community engagement
Principles of community engagement
Community engagement models
Key resources
Engaging community members in problem-solving solutions to issues that affect them is one of the fundamental principles of public health. The most effective way to achieve public health goals, especially the elimination of disparities in health status, is to actively engage those experiencing the problems in every aspect of addressing them. Community engagement means involving community members in all activities—from identifying the relevant issues and making decisions about how to address them, to evaluating and sharing the results with the community.
Community engagement is a strong value and fundamental practice of public health. The importance of engaging the community is grounded in the belief that the public has a right to participate. The public health community believes that by using our "collective intelligence" and working together, we will more accurately identify problems and develop more elegant and effective solutions. We also believe that conflict will be minimized if people have had a chance to "buy into" the process.
Community engagement is a vital part of conducting a community health assessment and a community health improvement plan, both required components of the Local Public Health Assessment and Planning cycle.
Related chapter: Assessment, planning, and reporting
Benefits of community engagement
Focuses on social justice: Community wisdom and science work in tandem to ensure a more balanced set of political, social, economic and cultural priorities, resulting in shared resources and shared power, thus leading to equity and social justice.
Helps shape services: Including a broad array of community residents from the beginning of a planning process will help shape services so they are culturally acceptable and more closely meet specific needs.
Helps build trust: Inviting leadership from community groups will help demonstrate that their participation is valued and that their views will be considered. This can help to build trust, increase communication and create openness to utilizing services.
Helps with outreach: More residents will feel involved with community activities and decisions and will be able to explain or interpret them positively to others. Spreading the word through this informal approach will improve outreach.
Connects people and resources: Community engagement efforts improve connections between individuals, community associations, businesses, and churches, which in turn creates greater community support for public health.
Develops new leaders: Inviting community members and leaders of community groups into planning processes will help in the identification of champions and development of leaders who understand public health issues.
Creates an opportunity for critical reflection: Community engagement processes provide opportunities for cooperative, co-learning experiences, and critical reflection that benefit from community wisdom.
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