ICLEI USA Commons

Effective community engagement can be a powerful tool for creating better policies, addressing inequality, fostering community support, and building stronger communities. However, it is often compromised to accommodate tight budgets, strict timelines, and to avoid difficult conversations. The hope is that the best practices presented here can inform agency budgeting and project scoping so that good community engagement is not jeopardized down the road.

This guide, published in 2018, outlines a “model” for community engagement where government and community work together as equal partners. The model also articulates how District agencies can integrate racial equity practices into community engagement efforts. The model encourages government to shift from exclusion to inclusion by encouraging government to involve people from traditionally disenfranchised groups, lean into conversations about racial equity, and put equity at the center of
solutions development.

The guide identifies best practices for each phase of the engagement process, from forming a committee and to maintain relationships longterm.

While the guide is informed by a committee of community members from Washington D.C., the best practices can be useful to any local entity hoping to center communities and racial justice in their programming and policies.