Community Engagement

Source:http://www.snowsbendfarm.com/wheretofindproduce.htm

After a few Sustainability and Community relation classes I think I have come up with a method to engage communities to make more environmentally sustainable choices (ie. Not shopping at *Wall-Mart). The first step would be to educate the community on the effects their unsustainable choices are having on the environment and their communities; educating people usually doesn’t have much of an effect on its own but I think it is important to begin change and to show the community why they should care. Once everyone is educated and on an equal playing field I would collect information by conducting surveys, interviews and workshops to determine if there is even a concern within the community; if most of the community isn’t on board the change will not be successful. The next step would be to identify key issues and barriers as well as possible solutions with the help of the community. The person leading the movement would need to continually involve and consult the community to ensure the ultimate outcomes are in line with what the community wants or is willing to accept. Having the community come together and concur an issue will empower the community to take on other initiatives in the future. When a community helps make major decisions which directly affect the community the ending results are much more sustainable as the community agrees and are more likely to embrace the change. It is also important to periodically check in with a community even after everything has been said and done to ensure that the new change is continually embrace and carried on.