Community Engagement
In 2020, we knew we wanted to focus more efforts on bringing community into our work. We participated in a co-development fellowship with our national network, StriveTogether, and worked to get our team all thinking about community engagement in the same way and measuring our engagement efforts in our work. Over the past two years, we’ve worked hard for community engagement to be an essential part of who we are as an organization.
Our Definition of Community
Those who have been systematically and historically excluded from leadership and power, with a focus on Black, Indigenous, Latinx and Asian youth and families and those experiencing poverty.
How we define & measure engagement
To measure our team’s progress in community engagement, we used a community engagement spectrum from StriveTogether. This spectrum measures engagement in six categories, explained below.
Community Engagement Spectrum
Ignore: There is no community engagement
Inform: Information is provided to the community
Consult: Feedback is gathered from community on analysis, issues, alternatives, and decisions through focus groups or surveys
Involve: Concerns and aspirations from community are considered and understood.
Collaborate: Community is seen as a partner in each aspect of decision-making
Shift Power: The final decision making power is in the hands of the community
Current Engagement Opportunities
Racine Parent Leaders
We know the common phrase, it takes a village to raise a child. The goal of Racine Parent Leaders is to connect parents from various backgrounds to create that village and have parents and families come together to create the changes they want to see in their community. If parents have ideas about community events, or how parents can support each other, this is a great place to get connected to the community! We will be working on making this space a place for bigger advocacy in the next few years!
In the past 2 years, Racine Parent Leaders has organized a back-to-school haircuts and backpack giveaway, gone into the school to talk to students about bullying, and helped organize various events with The Main Project.
Racine Parent Leaders utilizes the COFI (Community Organizing & Family Issues) model, which first came to Racine as a United Way of Racine County initiative at the three Community Schools and has since grown to become a part of Racine Unified’s Parent Leadership Network training.
Interested in learning more about Racine Parent Leaders or COFI?
Contact our Community Engagement Manager, Leanna Jones, by emailing her at leanna.jones@career2cradle.org
Community members providing feedback to Racine Unfied School District’s upcoming strategic plan
Community Engagement with Partners
We have worked with our organizational and institutional partners to better showcase how true community engagement can make initiatives more successful. Due to the hard work of our team, we often learn about or create opportunities for community members to be a part of creating change in the Racine Community. We strive to compensate all engaged participants for their time if they are not already being paid to be present by their organization.