WHAT IS COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT?

“The Congress finds and hereby declares that…public television and radio stations and public telecommunications services constitute valuable local community resources for utilizing electronic media to address national concerns and solve local problems through community programs and outreach programs.”

– Public Broadcasting Act, 1967

 

Congress understood, nearly half a century ago, that public media could foster productive civic engagement, and could enlighten and empower communities.

Illinois Public Media is just one of hundreds of local stations that engage with community non-profits, civic leaders, faith-based group and others to address community issues.

 

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In public media, we use the phrase “community engagement” to encapsulate a strategic mindset oriented toward the community. For hundreds of local public television and radio stations, community engagement is about continually convening, connecting and collaborating to discover, understand, and address community needs and aspirations.

 

From a producer’s perspective, content provides the focus for this engagement, with compelling stories that spark dialogue, invite reflection and catalyze action. While public media is not the appropriate venue for activism, it is the place to raise awareness, change attitudes and inspire new behaviors. For a local station, your program can provide the kickoff for a new initiative, or part of an ongoing, multi-year effort.

 

There are myriad ways for you to engage audiences, and to sustain that engagement over time:

• Create a project website that provides additional content, invites interaction and links users to concerned organizations and thought leaders
• Use social media to build interest, promote content and foster conversation
• Sponsor community screenings
• Develop resource and discussion guides
• Solicit user-generated content (UGC) through blogs, story-sharing tools and online contests
• Use crowdsourcing and other techniques to foster problem solving and innovation
• Support the creation of related content at local stations
• Hold in-person national and local leadership summits
• Create short clips or audio segments for use online and for in-person meetings
• Provide information and incentives for local volunteering and mentoring
• Provide curriculum-correlated education materials for teachers and students
• Collect stories of impact from your project and share them with partners and funders

 

The best engagement projects reflect thoughtful consideration of issues, audiences, alliances and, most importantly, outcomes. You will need to know why a problem or opportunity matters, who else agrees with that perspective, who will benefit from engaging with your content, and what you want to happen when they do engage. It will be important to create opportunities for interaction that map realistically to the way people use media and to the way they relate to each other in person. While it’s simpler and possibly more appealing to imagine a family gathered in front of a glowing TV set, eating popcorn and enjoying every minute of your program, the reality is more complex. If you want to affect the way people think, believe and act, you must engage them across platforms, in different settings and over time. This Engagement Guide for Producers is designed to help you with that process.

 

Like media itself, engagement is a dynamic field. Here are some recent ideas, trends and projects.

Public Insight Network
Spreading the Zing, Reimagining Public Media Through the Makers Quest 2.0
Knight News Challenge 2010 Winners
PubCamps
PBS MediaShift