Community engagement has become a popular approach to advancing civic projects involving public funds, public assets and other aspects of the greater good such as public health. These bottom-up efforts are in contrast to entrenched, top-down, fait accompli approaches that favor elites and spur inequity and resentment. Public projects that successfully achieve community engagement can relevantly address true needs and foster real ownership and consensus.
Community engagement is inherently a complex process. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defined it in 1997 as “working collaboratively with and through groups of people affiliated by geographic proximity, special interest or similar situations to address issues affecting the well-being of those people. It is a powerful vehicle for bringing about environmental and behavioral changes that will improve the health of the community and its members.”
Community engagement often involves partnerships and coalitions that help mobilize resources and influence systems, change relationships among partners and catalyze shifts in policies, programs and practices. Engagement may be initiated by individuals, organizations or governmental agencies. Spheres of influence can range from single blocks and neighborhoods to groups of people sharing common interests or goals. Within greater Milwaukee, community engagement is now often an aspect of planning new or renovated green spaces and playgrounds, revitalizing neighborhoods and addressing environmental health and justice and other community issues.
Several professionals who regularly facilitate community engagement in their respective organizations shared their perspectives for this article. Common themes emerged during separate conversations.
Harnessing Concerns and Creativity
Successful community engagement can lead to unexpected solutions, says Stephanie Mercado, neighborhood revitalization coordinator for the Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers (SSCHC). That was the case with the recent creation of the Kinnickinnic River Plaza. The transitional green space evolved since 2018 following extensive community involvement and multi-agency collaboration. Neighbors responded to the removal of 27 homes along Harrison Street between 13th and 16th streets, which occurred as part of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Sewerage District’s long-term naturalization of the Kinnickinnic River, which long ago was channeled with concrete.
Mercado said that early feedback about the changed landscape emerged during door-to-door canvasing about neighborhood issues and community health. Those conversations revealed that residents wanted the remaining alleyways removed and to have a walking trail and place for children to play, as well as public art. Motivated by those conversations, SSCHC and other partners collaborated with residents to fulfill their goals. The interim community space evolved around the theme “Water Is Life—Aqua Es Vida.” It quickly became valued by the neighborhood, said Mercado. The project is a finalist for a coveted Milwaukee Award for Neighborhood Development Innovation (MANDI) in the public-space category.
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Successful community engagement is deliberate and often requires multiple techniques to elicit appropriate and relevant input. Jamie Ferschinger, director of environmental health at SSCHC, stresses the importance of eliminating barriers to participation. “Meet people in their neighborhoods. Hold meetings at different times, including during weekends and evenings. Provide childcare, if possible,” says Ferschinger. Removing language barriers and creating easy-to-understand materials is also crucial.
Mercado adds that when the SSCHC holds workshops about resources available to the community or on topics such as the hazards of lead, “we hold them in a neighborhood park, make it a party and serve food that will be recognized by participants.” Working within a majority Latinx neighborhood, SSCHC staff involved in community outreach speak both Spanish and English.
An Open-ended Process
Joe Kaltenberg, the MKE Plays program coordinator for the City of Milwaukee, engages with people citywide to renovate playgrounds and neighborhood parks. “We do hyperlocal projects, so we focus on reaching residents within a half-mile radius of that park, at most. We analyze census-tract data and send communications to nearby residents, but those are just starting points,” says Kaltenberg. Community engagement “is never a linear process with a checklist where you start with item ‘A’ and then move on to ‘B’; you may need to go back to ‘A1’ and ‘A2,’” he says.
“We try find the right voices, older and younger, and from all the cultural backgrounds within a neighborhood,” Kaltenberg continues. He seeks out groups that have boots on the ground and people who know what it may take to serve that specific community. “Go down the rabbit hole and follow wherever that leads,” he said. “We work to build consensus, which often takes time and may seem inefficient to people who want immediate results.” He avoids rushing to decisions, such as taking a show of hands among whoever shows up at a single meeting. Kaltenberg adds that if he didn’t do community engagement, he “could build some sweet parks, or at least ones I think are cool.” Instead, the “pocket parks” he helps to revitalize “need to be authentic reflections of a neighborhood’s needs and interests. I want them to be used and enjoyed. That’s my metric of success.”
Communication—Early and Often
Ideally, it’s best to involve community members from the start of a project and to let those being engaged know what’s possible, based on budget and other factors. For example, “if you can only affect the color of a jungle gym, don’t ask what people want in a park,” says Ferschinger.
Dan Adams, planning director for the nonprofit Harbor District, Inc., says that “transparency is extremely important—explaining what you are doing and why and how input will be used. Set expectations up front, describe the wider context and what a project will entail.” Those engaged should also be kept apprised of status updates and changes in the scope of projects.”
Mercado says, “There are always challenges in community work. Whenever something is part of larger project, the engineers and implementation folks may have a different timeline. Delays or unforeseen changes can lead to tension.” To retain trust developed within a neighborhood, those conducting engagement must navigate between residents and other project partners. Communication must include follow-up through various means and during all project phases.”
Focusing on Resident-led Initiatives
The Dominican Center, a 25-year-old community organization based in Milwaukee’s Amani neighborhood, focuses on facilitating resident-led efforts to drive sustainable social change. The center’s executive director, Sister Patricia Rogers, OP, says it’s essential to listen to members of the community and support what they want to happen. “When residents take ownership of a process, you know that whatever comes after that is really going to be something that residents want and are willing to work for.”
One goal established by residents has been to identify and assist a full roster of leaders within the neighborhood, which encompasses 130 square blocks. Rogers says that six individuals have stepped up to help lead revitalization in Amani. The Dominican Center recently enlisted a professional organizer to conduct training sessions on how to engage other residents and is working to secure funding to stipend such work. “As a result, we are seeing some movement in terms of safety, in education, family well-being and in economic redevelopment. For example, to address safety issues, a community priority is to get an ambassador on each block—someone who knows what’s happening, what people need,” she says.
Denisha Tate-McAlister, the Dominican Center’s project director, assists resident leaders in setting goals to address specific issues and following through on developing solutions, including in collaboration with other community organizations. The Dominican Center received a three-year, federal Building Neighborhood Capacity Grant starting in 2014, which supported the early phases of these efforts. The center is a 2020 MANDI finalist in the “Cornerstone” category.
Informing, Engaging, Empowering
The Harbor District interweaves community engagement within all aspects of its planning, events and programming, Adams explains. Projects invariably involve collaboration with other community groups, the City of Milwaukee and other governmental agencies. Adams cites three types of community interactions. The most basic approach entails informing people, whether through social media, a website, public open houses or other means, so that “people can take appropriate action.” Engagement is the second type and may rely on surveys, public meetings or workshops, such as a design-planning session.
Empowerment is the third approach, in which community members directly assist in decision-making processes. For example, the Harbor District initiated a Neighborhood Advisory Committee three years ago, with subcommittees that address specific tasks or focus areas. One project involves selecting and planning events at the newly created Harbor View Plaza at the east end of Greenfield Avenue. Community engagement played an ongoing role in creating the already-popular park which opened last summer.
This three-step approach—which Adams first learned in the urban-planning graduate program at UW-Milwaukee more than a decade ago—has since guided his thinking about community engagement.
“It’s important to be diligent about seeking ways to move up the scale from informing, to engaging, to empowering members of the community, Adams says. “Whenever there are multiple stakeholders, some have louder voices. It’s essential to compensate so that marginalized voices can be heard. Historically, the planning profession made some terrible, long-lasting mistakes, including large-scale clearing of neighborhoods for urban renewal,” he says. “Now, people understand that community engagement is integral and necessary to any planning process.”
