Community engagement

Community engagement is involvement and participation in an organization for the welfare of the community.

This article is about grassroots community benefit efforts. For governmental community benefit efforts, see Public engagement.

Defining characteristics

Volunteers actions, which involves giving personal time to projects in humanitarian NGOs or religious groups, are forms of community involvement. [1] The engagement is generally motivated by values and ideals of social justice [2] Community engagement can be volunteering at food banks, homeless shelters, emergency assistance programs, neighborhood cleanup programs, etc. [3][4][5].

It is also defined as "a dynamic relational process that facilitates communication, interaction, involvement, and exchange between an organization and a community for a range of social and organizational outcomes" [6]. As a concept, engagement features attributes of connection, interaction, participation, and involvement, designed to achieve or elicit an outcome at individual, organization, or social levels [7]. Current research acknowledges engagement’s socially-situated nature. Community engagement therefore offers an ethical, reflexive, and socially responsive approach to community-organizational relationships with engagement practices that aim to both understand and be responsive to community needs, views, and expectations.[8]

Community engagement is a community-centered orientation based in dialogue [9]. Community engagement enables a more contextualized understanding of community members’ perceptions of the topics and contexts, and facilitates stronger relationships among and between community members [10]. The outcome of community engagement is ultimately social capital and stronger relational networks [11]. While community organizing involves the process of building a grassroots movement involving communities, community engagement primarily deals with the practice of moving communities toward change, usually from a stalled or similarly suspended position.

See also

References
  1. Marie Weil, Michael S. Reisch, Mary L. Ohmer, The Handbook of Community Practice, SAGE Publications, USA, 2012, p. 169
  2. Nichole Georgeou, Neoliberalism, Development, and Aid Volunteering, Routledge, USA, 2012, p. 103-105
  3. Cathryn Crosby, Frederick Brockmeier, Student Experiences and Educational Outcomes in Community Engagement for the 21st Century, IGI Global, USA, 2016, p. 45
  4. Paul A. Gaist, Igniting the Power of Community: The Role of CBOs and NGOs in Global Public Health, Springer, USA, 2009, p. 239
  5. Yves Beigbeder, The Role and Statuts of International Humanitarian Volunteers and Organizations: The Right and Duty to Humanitarian Assistance, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Belgium, 1991, p. 83
  6. Johnston, K. A. (2018). Toward a theory of social engagement. In K. A. Johnston & M. Taylor (Eds.), The Handbook of Communication Engagement (pp. 19-32). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
  7. Johnston, Kim A. (2010-03-17). "Community Engagement: Exploring a Relational Approach to Consultation and Collaborative Practice in Australia". Journal of Promotion Management. 16 (1–2): 217–234. doi:10.1080/10496490903578550. ISSN 1049-6491.
  8. Johnston, K. A. (2018). Engagement. In R. L. Heath (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Strategic Communication: Wiley
  9. Taylor, Maureen; Kent, Michael L. (2014-10-20). "Dialogic Engagement: Clarifying Foundational Concepts". Journal of Public Relations Research. 26 (5): 384–398. doi:10.1080/1062726x.2014.956106. ISSN 1062-726X.
  10. Johnston, K. A., & Lane, A. (2018). Building relational capital: The contribution of episodic and relational community engagement. Public Relation Review. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2018.10.006
  11. Johnston, K. A., & Lane, A. (2018). Building relational capital: The contribution of episodic and relational community engagement. Public Relation Review. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2018.10.006
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