Community Engagement

“Community engagement is the process of working collaboratively with and through groups of people affiliated by geographic proximity, special interest, or similar situations to address issues affecting the well-being of those people. It is a powerful vehicle for bringing about environmental and behavioral changes that will improve the health of the community and its members. It often involves partnerships and coalitions that help mobilize resources and influence systems, change relationships among partners, and serve as catalysts for changing policies, programs, and practices.”

– Fawcett et al., 1995, CDC Community Engagement Project

• Building Knowledge refers to the process of identifying the cultural, linguistic, and socio-demographic features of a community and assessing which populations may be particularly vulnerable and need to be accounted for in a disaster. This involves identifying each community’s unique strengths and opportunities as well as barriers, challenges and gaps.
• Building Partnerships refer to efforts which promote collaborative planning and action between communities and key national, state, and local emergency management and healthcare organizations.
• Building Trust refers to programs which help cultivate feelings of trust between local communities and service providers, including government officials, to promote compliance with emergency management efforts.