Community engagement is a foundational practice of community change
Tamarack’s experience has shown that one of the most effective ways to challenge our own biases and generate the new thinking necessary to solve community challenges is to emphasize diversity and welcome the perspectives and insights that are brought by those whose experiences are different from our own.
Community engagement is rooted in the belief that the best solutions to complex community issues are most often discovered when a dedicated group of community leaders, from multiple perspectives, work together to better align their efforts and partner together on new community innovations.
But engaging diverse perspectives to work well together is not always easy. It requires people to be willing and able to suspend their belief that they have “the answer” and instead become curious about the experiences of others to broaden their understanding. To do this, all must let go of blame and judgment and slow down our thinking to create a common language and a richer appreciation of their shared issue.
