PowerPoint Presentation
Shared Vision, Leadership and Action: Community engagement
metrics for success
Community engagement has been part of Openlands work for
decades.
In 2014, Openlands recognized that a shared understanding of
Quality Community Engagement among staff and board was necessary to
make these connections.
So today I will quickly talk about our process for developing an
Openlands definition of community engagement, then look at tools
for measuring our success through the lens of community tree
planting in Chicago.
1
THE PROCESS
Who: Board members, Community greening committee members, and
staff
Major questions:Why do we do community engagement?How do we
define community engagement?How do we measure community
engagement
WHY?
Because Openlands believes that stewardship grows best in
communities.
Access to nature enriches people, inspiring them to value,
steward, and advocate for the health of the region.
Before creating a definition, we found that as a group we needed
to agree on why quality community engagement is important for our
work. As a land trust, we could pay contracts to plant X number of
trees or install X number of school gardens or community gardens,
but who would maintain them in the long run? By taking the time to
involve community members from the start of the process they gain a
sense of ownership and an interest to become stewards of those
spaces. Involving people that live near these spaces or are likely
to use them not only increases the sustainability of those spaces,
but it increases access to nature and improves health of people
involved.3
QUALITY COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IS
Openlands defines community engagement as the process of working
collaboratively with groups of people who are connected by urban
and rural landscapes, or who share common community or
environmental interests. It is a powerful vehicle for connecting
people to nature at multiple scales. It contributes to a sense of
stewardship and leads to increased resilience and sustainability in
the face of climate change. By creating networking opportunities
and providing access to information and resources, it also fosters
personal recognition, skill enhancement, and contribution.
Openlands defines community engagement as the process of working
collaboratively with groups of people who are connected by urban
and rural landscapes, or who share common community or
environmental interests. It is a powerful vehicle for connecting
people to nature at multiple scales. It contributes to a sense of
stewardship and leads to increased resilience and sustainability in
the face of climate change. By creating networking opportunities
and providing access to information and resources, it also fosters
personal recognition, skill enhancement, and contribution.4
QUALITY COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IS
Collaborative
For people connected by landscape or interest
A way to connect people to nature at multiple scales
A way to increase stewardship, resiliency, and sustainability in
the face of climate change.
A way to increase access to information and resources
Fostering contribution, skill enhancement, and personal
recognition
From reading this, you hearing this you may be able to hear the
many perspectives that went into this definition. It is a lot! Here
are the main elements.
Collaborative working with community partners. We pride
ourselves on our partnerships, but this doesnt stop with large
non-profits or municipalities like Audubon, Healthy Schools
Campaign, or a Forest Preserve District. These partnerships are
essential to our work too, but we also need to seek relationships
with groups IN the community, like the local school or a
neighborhood non-profit, to effectively represent the people we
work with.
Connected by landscape or interest: this could be people within
a particular school community or people interested in stormwater
mitigration
The middle three are what I think make Openlands unique: We want
to use our wealth of relationships and information that can
increase a persons access to nature at multiple scales from the
community garden, to the local park, to a larger space like
Hackmatack Wildlife Refuge or Midewin Tall Grass Prairie. Through
community engagement people can tap into this, and learn how they
can make changes in their neighborhood to make it stronger and more
resilient in the face of climate change and other threats.
Lastly, quality community engagement results in amazing
accomplishments by individuals, in the community, and these
individuals should be recognized.5
METHODS OF ASSESMENT
Staff self-assessment
Community interviews
Review of existing data
THREE CATEGORIES OF METRICS
Response to community needs
Shared leadership in the community
Individual/community actions as a result of the engagement.
Openlands seeks to monitor the quality of its community
engagement work. The evaluation will focus on three areas: (1)
response to community needs, (2) shared leadership in the
community, and (3) individual/community actions as a result of the
engagement. Evaluation tools will include staff self-assessment,
compilation of existing data, and interviews with community
members. 7
COMMUNITY NEEDS
Community Assets are mapped
Work is adaptive
Community is affected positively
8
COMMUNITY NEEDS
Community Assets are mapped
Openlands collaboration map- look at opportunities for
trees9
COMMUNITY NEEDS
Work is adaptive
Grant allows for flexibility in planting locations, species,
types and reasons.10
COMMUNITY NEEDS
Community is affected positively
KAM multiple grants11
SHARED LEADERSHIP
Community members
shape work
have a sense of ownership
are recognized for accomplishments
Efforts are productive
12
SHARED LEADERSHIP
Community members shape work
BIG turning a vacant lot into a food forest, selecting species
etc.13
SHARED LEADERSHIP
Community members have a sense of ownership
Family planting a tree in their housing co-op, becomes their
tree. Those who could not plant helped out in other ways.14
SHARED LEADERSHIP
Community members are recognized for their accomplishments
Volunteer appreciation, TK 25th, social media shout outs,
recognized during event15
SHARED LEADERSHIP
Efforts are productive
Block club, TreeKeepers, Bartlett Tree Experts for mulch, local
bakery for food16
INDIVIDUAL AND COMMUNITY ACTIONS
Community members will
be engaged with Openlands
recommend and advocate Openlands opportunities
be connected with other opportunities
demonstrate changes in behavior
implement changes in physical property
gain confidence in their knowledge and skills
17
INDIVIDUAL AND COMMUNITY ACTIONS
Community members will be engaged with Openlands
Tracking TK hours, sending thank you email, adding emails to
constant contact18
INDIVIDUAL AND COMMUNITY ACTIONS
Community members will recommend and advocate Openlands
activities
Grantees sending members to TK course, BAPA grants, other
Openlands workshops19
INDIVIDUAL AND COMMUNITY ACTIONS
Community members will be connected with other opportunities
Grantees sending members to TK course, BAPA grants, natural area
stewards/tree planters, tabling, service fairs20
INDIVIDUAL AND COMMUNITY ACTIONS
Demonstrate changes in behavior
Long term goal? TreeKeeper quotes?21
INDIVIDUAL AND COMMUNITY ACTIONS
Implement changes in physical property
Self explanatory22
INDIVIDUAL AND COMMUNITY ACTIONS
Gain confidence in their knowledge and skills
Residents learn to plant/care for tree. Quote? New grants from
neighborhood?23
