January 28th is Global Community Engagement Day – a day that encourages local governments, businesses and organizations to engage with the communities they serve, and for residents in turn to get involved locally in planning, decision-making, and advocacy for the things most important to them. Community engagement serves an important role in:
- ensuring more equitable decision-making
- building trust between residents and leadership
- strengthening relationships with neighbors
- increasing support for projects or initiatives
But for it to work as intended, we need as many voices as possible to get involved in the process.
Who is typically included in community engagement? Who is often left out?
The decisions made at the local level – from neighborhood and school board to city and county – are the ones most likely to impact your day-to-day life. And yet, engagement at this level tends to be much lower than at the national level. Despite the huge impact of local decisions, a Boston University study found that participants at planning and zoning meetings are often not representative of the broader community and are significantly more likely to be:
Older, Male, Longtime residents, Voters in local elections, and Homeowners
This disparity in representation extends to turnout in local elections as well.
What does this look like in action?
Let’s take the issue of affordable housing and we can see where a skewed engagement by these demographics would impact decision-making for the whole community. These individuals are significantly more likely than the general public to oppose the construction of new housing. This means that homeowners, who don’t need housing, are often the loudest voices in housing discussions at the local level. This vocal opposition to development of things like housing supply and density can increase costs for everyone and reinforce segregation by race and class in our cities and towns.
What are the alternatives?
While some argue that these shortcomings are actually bad for our communities because they stand in the way of progress and development of needed infrastructure, others suggest that we just need to make the tools and processes by which people engage more realistic for real people (for example: people who have families, work unpredictable hours, have a disability, are non-English speakers, don’t have access to a vehicle, or simply don’t know where to start with local engagement).
Intentional outreach and inclusive engagement of these groups, minimizing obstacles like language barriers and transportation, and creating multi-channel opportunities could be key to diversifying voices and engagement. Chayenne Polimedio of Vox suggests that beyond individual motivation to stay informed and engaged, “Institutions that connect people, aggregate their concerns, and create a channel for communication between them and policymakers writing and voting on legislation also play a key role.”
What are the benefits of community engagement?
When a representative portion of the community is involved in decision-making and problem solving, it leads to better outcomes.
Source: City Leader Guide on Civic Engagement (Fig. 1)
How can you stay engaged in Wake County?
WakeUP’s core mission is to promote good growth planning and sustainable, healthy communities through education, advocacy and civic engagement. Because no one is a “super citizen” who can know about all the issues, attend all the meetings, and fill out all the surveys, we do our best to make it easier for you to find engagements that are meaningful to you:
- Visit our Community Engagement page to see how you can be engaged in the work being done in your area
- Check out our Community Calendar for more details on upcoming meetings and events – links are included with agendas and meeting minutes
- Keep up with our social media and check out our blog to learn more about the issues we care about
- Register to vote! Voting will always be the most important way to influence decisions in your area
In a federal election year, one no less contentious or divisive than the elections of the recent past, it’s easy to feel angry and powerless. We argue that one antidote to those feelings of powerlessness is to get engaged locally and speak UP for what’s important to you!