Planning your engagement

Thoughtful planning of your approach is key to developing your community engagement process. Like many things in the development process, you will likely need to adjust over time, but it is a good idea to start planning your engagement as early as possible.

Step 1: Define your engagement goals

The community engagement goals for your project will vary depending on the nature of your development and the community in which you are working. Creating affordable housing through rehabilitating and preserving existing housing, for example, may not impact the surrounding neighborhood as significantly as a new construction development where the use of a vacant site is changing. Developing for a population or in a neighborhood with a history of significant trauma may require a more thoughtful approach to account for this. The planning and approval processes in a jurisdiction may also influence who has power and influence that can inform engagement. You will have multiple goals in your engagement process, but some combination of the benefits listed in the previous section will likely be incorporated.

Step 2: Identify community stakeholders

To start planning your engagement, make a list of the stakeholders you plan to engage. Given different types of stakeholders discussed in the previous section and/or others you feel are important to your project, consider these questions:

• What individuals or organizations have a stake in your development? For example, who will be impacted, directly or indirectly, by the affordable housing you will develop, the populations you plan to serve, and the changes in the use of the site or construction activities?

• Are there any community organizations, leaders, service providers, faith institutions, or others who may not have a significant stake themselves, but are trusted by community members and can help to engage those with a more direct stake?

• What individuals or organizations have insight, experience, influence, authority, and/or funding that could benefit your project and therefore should be engaged?

• How does your team’s lived experience relate to those you plan to engage? Are there others you could partner with to ensure you have a good starting point for engaging and understanding key issues, populations, and geographies? See Figure 2.

Answering each of these questions will help you create an effective list of community stakeholders to engage. Your answers to these questions may also change as you move through the development process and some aspects may become more specific. For example, before you have identified a site, you may not know what neighborhoods are relevant to engage.

Applying a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) lens is helpful and important in the stakeholder identification step. This means ensuring that individuals and organizations included in your engagement represent the key demographics you intend to serve. It also means ensuring there are varied perspectives represented from the community, especially those whose voices have not historically been heard in decision-making processes. Consider DEI across a broad range of perspectives, including but not limited to, race and ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, mental and physical ability, and geography. Also, consider your team’s relationship to the above factors. Do you feel you have the experience for effective engagement (as outlined in Figure 2)? For more information on considering a DEI lens in your work, see the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Self-Assessment tool.

Step 3: Stakeholder analysis

Once you have your list of potential stakeholders, conduct a stakeholder analysis by considering what you know about them. You can also use additional supplementary research, including reviewing organizational websites, asking colleagues or board members who have worked with them, and reading press coverage involving these stakeholders. You may also be able to sit in on convenings of these stakeholders to listen to their perspectives prior to your engagement. Public meetings happening as part of public planning processes, for example, can be a good place to hear what issues are top of mind for a neighborhood or population group. The following considerations can help guide your thinking.

• Engagement Logistics

  • Who at the organization might be a good point of contact? Do you already know them?
  • Are you aware of any existing initiatives, forums, organizations, such as a local business owners group, or engagement processes in which these stakeholders already convene that might provide a convenient entry point for engagement?
  • Are there particular development phases where engaging them will matter more?
  • Are there any meeting or planning process timelines that should inform your engagement timing?
  • Are there logistical issues you should anticipate in engagement, such as digital capabilities, childcare needs, translation needs, etc.?
  • Would compensating individuals for their time enable them to participate?

• Perspectives

  • What are their interests, priorities, organizational missions, and values?
  • What are their stated views on affordable housing development? Do you expect them to support or be resistant to the idea that affordable housing is needed or that your development is important for them and their community?
  • What information might support your case and help you convince them?
  • What other challenges or opportunities do you envision when engaging this person or group?

• Mutual Stakes

  • What stake do they have in your development and its success?
  • How will they benefit from participating in engagement?
  • What influence and resources do they have that could support your development, including influence with other stakeholders on your list?
  • What power do they have to directly impact your development?
  • What aspects of your development will be important for them to understand or have input on?
  • What expertise, experience, or information do they have that would be helpful for you to understand?

• Experience and Interactions

  • Has anyone in your organization had experience engaging or working with these groups previously? If so, what did you learn?
  • Do you know of historical engagement processes they have been involved in? If so, did it build or hinder trust for housing developers and engagement processes more generally?
  • Is the community where you will develop likely to be suffering from planning or engagement fatigue due to previous engagement processes?
  • •Are there alliances or a history of antagonism between stakeholders that you have identified?

Step 4: Plan your approach

Once you have a clear sense of who you seek to engage and the consideration for doing so, you can plan your approach. Some stakeholders may need to be engaged in one-on-one conversations, while this may be infeasible for others. Consider the notes you made in your stakeholder analysis to determine the format, timing, and design of your approach for engaging each. Which stakeholders can you effectively engage as a group? Which should you engage first? Are there groups that you need to spend more time understanding before you begin direct engagement? Will you need to account for language or cultural awareness in your efforts?

A common framework used for thinking about engagement approach is the International Association for Public Participation’s Public Participation Spectrum (Figure 3). This spectrum captures the degree of involvement you plan for stakeholders to have in your process. You will likely want to involve different stakeholders in different ways: some you may want to engage as collaborators in your development process, helping you solve problems and supporting your success; others may be relatively less involved but want to stay informed. Thinking about your engagement goals and approach in these terms can help you decide how to engage each type of community stakeholder.

There are many forms and models of engagement that you can consider using, including those below. You will likely need some combination of these approaches to achieve your engagement goals.

Individual interviews or conversations. Perhaps the simplest form of engagement to plan and implement is an individual interview or conversation with a stakeholder. This allows you to focus your attention and information on the perspective and role of that stakeholder. This is also a very time-intensive form of engagement and is not feasible when you are trying to engage large numbers of people. This is most commonly done with key stakeholders such as community leaders or points of contact at organizations who represent a broader set of stakeholders.

Community meetings and listening sessions. At the other end of the spectrum are larger group events with open invitations where many stakeholders can engage at the same time. The clear advantages of this are reaching many people at one time and allowing for diverse perspectives. However, while these can be efficient from an engagement time perspective, they can also be difficult spaces to engage in meaningful dialogue. Depending on the design of the meeting and the stakeholders in the room, you may struggle to capture the diversity of perspectives you are hoping for. A skilled independent facilitator can help address these challenges by creating an environment that welcomes diverse perspectives, gives everyone a chance to engage, and addresses conflicts that may arise. When planning sessions like these, consider the accessibility and relevance of the location to your audience, the transportation access, and whether childcare or language interpreters will need to be provided for stakeholders to participate. This will help ensure that you are not inadvertently excluding anyone.

Focus groups and group interviews. As a middle ground between engaging one-on-one and engaging a large group, small-group discussions and interviews can be an effective and relatively time-efficient engagement. The small-group setting makes people more comfortable to share their perspectives and you can better anticipate who is participating to help you achieve your engagement goals. For example, you may decide it makes sense to convene a group of representatives from multiple organizations who have a similar stake in your development so that you can discuss issues together. As with broader community meetings, a skilled facilitator can help you design and conduct these sessions. This may be particularly helpful if you have specific concerns or sensitive goals.

Written materials. You may choose to do some level of engagement through surveys, online outreach, web-based content, or printed materials. While these can be helpful approaches, they are not generally sufficient on their own and instead should be thought of as a complement to other engagement. Materials may need to be provided in languages additional to English. These tools can help you reach audiences who you might not otherwise engage and help stakeholders learn more or explore issues in more detail.

Digital engagement platforms. There are increasing varieties of digital platforms that are specifically designed for stakeholder engagement. They each function differently, so explore to find one that matches your engagement goals. CoUrbanize, Granicus, and Crowdbrite are examples, but there are a growing number of platforms that provide this kind of service. Like written materials, these platforms are generally used as a supplement to more direct forms of engagement to reach a broader audience. Some also have tools that can be used during in-person engagements to collect feedback. For example, collaborative digital mapping is often used to identify community assets.

Engagement via champions. As discussed above, you may find other organizations that are willing to engage stakeholders on your behalf and champion affordable housing needs and the value of your development. Although this would still require you to remain engaged in some way, this can save you time, create entry points with communities and populations you might not otherwise have, and help you leverage the trust that the champion has already built. Local or state government staff, community organizations, local leaders, and local employers are examples of groups that may potentially champion your work.

Leveraging existing engagement. In many cases, there will already be engagement activities occurring in your community. The city or county may be holding public meetings related to a local planning process. There may be organizations holding discussions of affordable housing needs. Identifying these opportunities can save you time in planning your own meetings, while providing space to engage the assembled group. The downside of this approach is having no management over who will attend or the timing of the engagement. Therefore, leveraging existing engagement is something to consider as an opportunity, but cannot be relied on as a primary strategy.

Step 5: Engage and adapt

Once you have defined your engagement approach and timeline, you can begin your engagement process. Although who and how you engage will vary based on the specifics of your development and location, there are a few key principles to keep in mind:

• Keep an open line of communication by being easily accessible and listening. Treat engagement as open and ongoing rather than confined to one meeting.

• Recognize the wisdom, voice, and experience of community stakeholders.

• Reach out to marginalized communities and create a safe space for participants who may be hesitant to express their opinions.

• Treat all stakeholders with integrity and respect, even when they do not agree with you.

• Be transparent about your motives and relevant power dynamics.

• Share decision-making and leadership when possible.

• Engage in continuous reflection and be willing to change course.

• Follow through with commitments you make to stakeholders.

• When things change, follow up to keep key stakeholders informed.

• See engagement as an opportunity to build long-term relationships with the community.

• Provide written materials (hard copy or virtual) to provide greater transparency and clarity.

For more information and tools to help you begin facilitation and engagement activities, see Collective Impact Forum’s Community Engagement Toolkit. Warm Cookies of the Revolution, based in Denver, also has many innovative models for engagement and provides videos and other media showcasing how facilitation style and engagement design can impact engagement outcomes.

With thoughtful planning and the above-listed principles in mind, engaging and building relationships with community stakeholders can be one of the most rewarding aspects of development and will contribute to the success of this development and the next.