Listening, engagement, and co-design
Engaging communities while a decision can still change, being honest about how much influence people have, and closing the loop on what happened with their input.
Areas of workCommunity engagementEliminate disparities
Plan engagement that shares influence
An engagement plan with a clear influence level, access supports, compensation, trusted messengers, and a named owner for the relationship.
Program and policy staff · Communications and language access · Equity Directors and Specialists
Report back on what was heard and what changed
A short, accessible record of what people said, what changed, what could not change, why, and what happens next.
Program and policy staff · Communications and language access
Background and questions for this area
DSD's own engagement review found work that was fragmented, event-based, and repeated without coordination, and found that people rarely heard what changed. Trust is built by fixing those patterns.
- What decision can this engagement still influence, and by when?
- Are we informing, consulting, involving, collaborating, or co-designing? Have we said so?
- Who is affected and who is missing? Who has already been asked, and what were they told?
- How are people compensated, supported to participate, and told what changed?
Download this area of work
- Tool card: GARE Racial Equity Toolkit
The Government Alliance on Race and Equity describes racial equity tools as structured ways to integrate explicit consideration of racial equity into decisions, policies, practices, programs, and budgets. Public. Permitted use: cite, link, adapt the method with attribution.
Government Alliance on Race and Equity
- Tool card: National CLAS Standards
The National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services, published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health. Public. Permitted use: cite, link, follow as a frame for language and cultural access planning.
HHS Office of Minority Health