The Participatory Budgeting Project recently highlighted a valuable tool for assessing and improving community engagement practices. The "Spectrum of Community Engagement to Ownership," developed in 2019 by Rosa González of Facilitating Power in partnership with Movement Strategy Center, offers a framework for organizations to evaluate and enhance their community participation efforts.
The spectrum provides insights on moving from marginalization to community ownership in decision-making processes.
The Spectrum of Community Engagement to Ownership is designed to:
1. Acknowledge marginalization as the status quo in systems historically designed to exclude certain populations.
2. Assert a clear vision for rebuilding local democracies.
3. Articulate a developmental process for rebuilding local democracies, requiring investment in participation capacity and breaking down systemic barriers.
4. Assess community participation efforts and progress toward participation goals.
The tool emphasizes the importance of equity and accessibility in community engagement, recognizing that without concerted efforts to remove barriers, certain groups will continue to be marginalized by default. It provides a framework for organizations to evaluate their current practices and develop strategies for more inclusive and empowering community involvement.
The Participatory Budgeting Project's article includes example activity templates for community campaign development and project assessment, making it a practical resource for those looking to implement these concepts in their work.
