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I was living and working in British Columbia at the time. I used what I’d learned about engagement to do a few things that seemed to work. And from my experience, they do well in a variety of different contexts. I engaged an advisory committee representing youth-serving organizations that seemed to have good reputations. With the help of that advisory committee, I connected with youth to inform program design and implementation. I went to where youth were - community centres, after school programs, and events, to not only talk about what we had to offer but learn about what their needs were. I hired some of the youth that were involved with program design to go across the province during the summer and host engagement events - at beaches, parks, and festivals. I created simple, step-by-step how-to documents for applying for funding, reporting on funding, and shared ideas for what people might ask for in their funding applications.
After the first year of the project, we had the highest youth registrants per capita, the most community organizations total, and we had administered the most grants. We did our best to create a low-barrier process, but we also were constantly learning from the youth and the organizations that were supporting them about what we could do better. Sometimes organizations I work with are reluctant to engage people in committees or program design because it does take an investment of staff time and capacity. Sometimes they’re worried that they might not be expert facilitators. These are all valid and engagement saves you time in the long run by creating quality programs for the people you support. What’s important is creating opportunities to listen and using what you hear to make things better.
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