On March 26, the Minnesota Council on Foundations, Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy and PFund Foundation held a briefing on capacity building and community engagement for social change at the Northwest Area Foundation in St. Paul.
The National Gender & Equity Campaign, a demonstration project of AAPIP and PFund Foundation, shared best practices and key lessons from their community engagement approaches. Grantmakers also heard various community perspectives about the NGEC and PFund Foundation’s community engagement processes. They shared their reflections and insights in to the impacts on the ground and how to enact approaches that stay relevant to community contexts.
This sparked a thoughtful discussion among participants. The discussion revolved around the questions: How can we keep our organization relevant to our audience? How can we reflect the needs of the community back into the community through responsive services? How can we make the evaluation process more realistic? Once you’ve participated in the community engagement process, how do you move forward strategically? One attendee remarked, “The community engagement process helps to debunk myths and satisfy truths. It helps you keep your organization relevant.” In light of today’s economic environment, I think we can all agree that we need to attend to the needs of our audiences now more than ever before.
The National Gender & Equity Campaign, a demonstration project of AAPIP, has produced ”A Guide on Community Engagement: Making Social Justice Work Inclusive”. This facilitation guide shares a framework, tools and methods for community engagement. If you’re interested in engaging the communities you serve, check out the full facilitation guide on NGEC’s website.
- Lisa Johnson, MCF’s manager of professional development and e-learning
