Community Engagement 101: The Art of Building Community Partnerships

For more information or to schedule this course, please contact Deborah Charbonneau <dcharbon@wayne.edu>

Community engagement and building community-based partnerships are essential to effective health information outreach and various library programs and services. The overall goal of this face-to-face course is to offer concrete skills and several perspectives useful for engaging stakeholders and establishing relationships with a range of community-based organizations and potential partners. Participants will take part in group discussions to explore new models and tools for engaging and retaining community partnerships. A number of examples and a case study will be used to promote a problem-solving approach for in-class interactions. Participants will have opportunities to learn practical and strategic approaches for achieving optimal community cooperation and collaboration adaptable to their own environments.

Learning Objectives

1. Learn characteristics of successful community-based partnerships.

2. Explore the benefits and challenges of community-based partnerships.

3. Identify chief obstacles and explore methods for overcoming them.

4. Become cognizant of continuous evaluation methods that assist the library in being responsive to community members and organizations.

5. Gain awareness of potential funding resources for community-based partnerships.

Agenda

Welcome and Introductions


Part 1: How Do We Begin?
•	What is Community Engagement?
•	Defining Community Engagement and Partnerships
•	Benefits and Challenges (including benefits for communities)



Part 2: How Do We Engage and Mobilize?
•	Preparing for Partnerships
•	Criteria for Partnership Selection
•	Partnership Readiness and Assessment
•	Partnership Checklist


Small Group Activity: Experiencing a Partnership (case study approach, work in small groups, four scenarios)



Wrap-Up and Evaluation

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Workshop Agenda (4 hours)

Welcome and Introductions


Part 1: How Do We Begin?
•	Defining Community Engagement and Partnerships
•	Activity #1: Thinking About Community Partnerships
•	Advantages and Challenges (including benefits for communities)



Part 2: How Do We Engage and Mobilize?
•	Preparing for Partnerships
•	Criteria for Partnership Selection
•	Partnership Readiness and Assessment
•	Activity #2: Stakeholder Analysis


Part 3: How Do We Journey Together?
•	The Partnership Process
•	Partnership Checklist
•	Activity #3: Experiencing a Partnership (case study approach, work in small groups, four scenarios)
•	Knowledge, Attitudes, and Skills

BREAK (15 minutes)



Part 4: Partnership Troubleshooting
•	Five Key Factors that Make or Break a Partnership
•	Activity #4: Personal Reflection (how one would apply knowledge and skills for the workshop, action steps one can take as a result).


Wrap-Up and Evaluation

Facility Requirements:

Computer, laptop, and flip charts for small group activities.

MLA CE Credits: 2 or 4

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