Insights & resources
Community engagement blog
Insights, frameworks, and practical guidance on community engagement, stakeholder participation, and AI-assisted engagement practice.
Community Engagement Framework Series
Start with the core sequence posts that explain how credible engagement work is planned, delivered, and followed through.
The Community Engagement Process: A 10-Step Order of Operations
A practical 10-step community engagement process that shows the order of operations behind credible, decision-relevant participation.
Before You Write a Question, Answer This One
Define engagement objectives before writing questions so your process gathers decision-relevant input from the right communities.
A Promise, Not a Preference
Choose Consult, Involve, or Collaborate as a promise your objectives, constraints, and decision authority can genuinely support.
Stop Choosing Engagement Methods By Habit
Methods should be chosen by barriers, not by routine. A barrier-first approach reaches communities that habit-driven plans repeatedly miss.
The Step That Determines Whether Communities Trust You
Closing the feedback loop is where engagement promises are kept. Specific follow-through protects trust and improves future participation.
Engagement Theatre: Warning Signs and Course Correction
Engagement theatre happens when a process implies influence it cannot deliver. Learn the warning signs and how to reset before trust breaks.
The Slow Erosion of Community Trust
Trust erodes when feedback loops stay unclosed. Learn why experienced communities go quiet and how to rebuild credibility over time.
One Instrument, One Audience
One-size engagement instruments exclude critical voices. Design questions and formats by stakeholder group to improve data quality.
All Articles
Beyond the Digital Engagement Platform
A digital engagement platform delivers participation. The practice around it is what connects participation to the decision.
The Hard Part Comes After the Engagement Framework Is Finished
Approving an engagement framework is the easy part. The hard work is turning its principles into the hundreds of decisions staff make on every project.
Your stakeholder map is a snapshot, not the landscape
Stakeholder maps record a team’s current judgement—not a permanent truth. Learn when to reassess the map, preserve its history and adapt engagement.
Reading Is Not Coding
AI can assign codes, and do it well. What it cannot do is design, refine and govern the framework that makes coding consistent and defensible.
Less Time Preparing Engagement. More Time Engaging.
AI is getting better at the paperwork of engagement. That is not a threat to the profession — it is a reallocation of where practitioner time goes.
IAP2 Spectrum Evolution: What's Changing and Why It Matters
IAP2's Spectrum Evolution recommendations are with the Board: five new labels, Inform demoted from a level, and "promise" replaced by "commitment".
Community Engagement Examples: Real Projects and What They Reveal
Local government community engagement examples, with lessons for planning, infrastructure, participation, and follow-through.
Community Engagement Reporting: From Summary to Defensible Outcomes
Build community engagement reporting that shows what was heard, what it meant, and how feedback influenced the final decision.
What Happened to Social Pinpoint: The Rebrand to OpenPoint
What happened to Social Pinpoint, why it rebranded to OpenPoint, and what that shift reveals about where engagement platforms still fall short.
AI in Community Engagement: What Actually Matters (And What Doesn’t)
A practical overview of what actually matters in AI for community engagement, from governance and judgement to workflow design and defensibility.
What Responsible AI Looks Like in Community Engagement Practice
What responsible AI really means in community engagement and how to apply it without compromising trust or practitioner control.
Why We Built EVA Differently: AI Grounded in Engagement Practice
The thinking behind EVA and why AI in engagement needs to be built around practice, not content generation.