Giving Compass' Take:

• Community engagement is critical for disaster resilience planning and can make more sustainable change happen.

• How can donors support and fund community engagement strategies for disaster resilience planning? 

• Read about the practice of creative placemaking. 

With tumultuous, divisive election cycles driving so many conversations, how can local-government leaders make progress on such long-term challenges as infrastructure investment, disaster resilience, shifting demographics, immigration and workforce development?

As a starting point, we know that people need confidence that they will have a voice in decisions that affect them. Communities that have meaningful engagement with their residents are better able to address long-term challenges. That takes planning, patience, communicating clearly and often, and sharing results. It also requires leaders to adapt their communications to reach a more diverse population that accesses information in different ways.

Leaders who have the best results put people and service first, openly share information, and engage the broader community before major decisions are made. These practices lead to greater trust, the essential ingredient for dealing effectively with long-term community needs and challenges.

Beyond the immediate needs of disaster recovery, community engagement is a key ingredient for success in any significant change strategy. In a project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, in 2015 ICMA and its partners helped four jurisdictions in the Dominican Republic develop land-use plans that included climate change adaptation strategies. Participatory planning had not previously been the practice in these communities.

The recent Midwest floods are the latest disaster to capture our attention and to demonstrate the need for a more resilient approach to mitigation, preparedness, and recovery. As levees proved inadequate to the rush of ice and flooding and water infrastructure was overwhelmed, engineers are asking if designs need to be changed to be able to withstand these kinds of events. That's one of many decisions that will need to be informed and shaped by community engagement.

Read the full article about community engagement is vital to disaster resilience by Elizabeth K. Kellar at Governing Magazine.