Community engagement is involvement and participation in an organization for the welfare of the community, and is thus a form of civic engagement.
Defining characteristics Volunteering, which involves giving personal time to projects in humanitarian NGOs or religious groups, are forms of community involvement.Marie Weil, Michael S. Reisch, Mary L. Ohmer, The Handbook of Community Practice, SAGE Publications, USA, 2012, p. 169 The engagement is generally motivated by values and ideals of social justice.Nichole Georgeou, Neoliberalism, Development, and Aid Volunteering, Routledge, Abingdon-on-Thames, 2012, p. 103-105 Community engagement can be volunteering at food banks, homeless shelters, emergency assistance programs, neighborhood cleanup programs, etc.Cathryn Crosby, Frederick Brockmeier, Student Experiences and Educational Outcomes in Community Engagement for the 21st Century, IGI Global, USA, 2016, p. 45Paul A. Gaist, Igniting the Power of Community: The Role of CBOs and NGOs in Global Public Health, Springer, USA, 2009, p. 239Yves Beigbeder, The Role and Statuts of International Humanitarian Volunteers and Organizations: The Right and Duty to Humanitarian Assistance, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Belgium, 1991, p. 83
It is also defined as "a dynamic relational process that facilitates communication, interaction, involvement, and exchange between an organization and a community for a range of social and organizational outcomes".Johnston, K. A. (2018). Toward a theory of social engagement. In K. A. Johnston & M. Taylor (Eds.), The Handbook of Communication Engagement (pp. 19-32). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. As a concept, engagement features attributes of connection, interaction, participation, and involvement, designed to achieve or elicit an outcome at individual, organization, or social levels. Current research acknowledges engagement's socially-situated nature. Community engagement, therefore, offers an ethical, reflexive, and socially responsive approach to community-organizational relationships with engagement practices that aim to both understand and be responsive to community needs, views, and expectations.Johnston, K. A. (2018). Engagement. In R. L. Heath (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Strategic Communication: Wiley For academic research to have an impact, community engagement is essential, especially for the research around population health and wellness issues. It is imperative that the researchers employ community-engaged approaches where community members and organizations and researchers work hand-in-hand to identify the problems, co-develop solutions, and recommend policy changes.
Community engagement is a community-centered orientation based in dialogue. Community engagement enables a more contextualized understanding of community members' perceptions of the topics and contexts, and facilitates stronger relationships among and between community members.Johnston, K. A., & Lane, A. (2018). Building relational capital: The contribution of episodic and relational community engagement. Public Relation Review. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2018.10.006 The outcome of community engagement is ultimately social capital and stronger relational networks.Johnston, K. A., & Lane, A. (2018). Building relational capital: The contribution of episodic and relational community engagement. Public Relation Review. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2018.10.006 While community organizing involves the process of building a grassroots movement involving communities, community engagement primarily deals with the practice of moving communities toward change, usually from a stalled or similarly suspended position.
See also List of community topics Community development Community building Community economic development Community emergency response team Community practice Community service Communities That Care
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