Engage Community
alone, we can do so little;
together, we can do so much.
Helen Keller
The support of your community is essential to build on what is already going well in your community and make meaningful change. Tools to engage residents can include community-wide events, media coverage celebrating success, outreach to groups that have not been included, and more. When you are thinking about community engagement, don't forget the children in your community. They will grow up to the change-makers of tomorrow. All these approaches will help you develop a change process that reflects your community and its values and ensures lasting impact.
Residents need to know what you are doing, to join in celebrations of accomplishments. Developing a good communication plan is as important for community engagement as creating opportunities for people to get involved in your initiative, as volunteer or participants.
Note: Below, and throughout our site, underlined text indicates a live link.
Maine voice
Ardis Brown - Town Manager, Danforth Livable Communities - describes the approach they used to engage the community in age-friendly and the process of gaining the funds necessary to open the Danforth Livable Communities Center. She noted that no town is too small to make change.
Snip from Lifelong Maine Master Class
Ardis Brown, Age-Friendly Danforth
engaging-community-single-pages-120318-lr.pdfKey Resources on engaging the community
The resource to the left, Engaging the Community to Create Community provides innovative and fun ideas for engaging residents of all ages in your lifelong community work.
Are you looking for ideas to promote awareness of lifelong community services, programs, and activities? The first place to look for sample flyers, social media posts, letters to the editor and more is the Lifelong Communities Publicity Toolbox
Additional Resources for Community Engagement
Age-Friendly Master Class. Traditional and Social Media Engagement Examples from Lifelong Communities
Grantmakers in Aging. Intergenerational Strategies
Lifelong Community Leaders Call. Age-Friendly for all Ages: Intergenerational Programs and Activities
Social Media for Lifelong Communities: Workshop. Elizabeth Singer, Marketing and Communication Director for Cary Medical Center and fearless leader of Age-Friendly Caribou, led this engaging and informative workshop for age-friendly, lifelong community leaders.
what community engagement has meant tO
age-friendly Millinocket
Age-Friendly Millinocket got its start in April of 2019, building on strong community engagement and partnerships between the municipality, Thrive Penobscot, Millinocket Regional Hospital, Design Lab, the Millinocket Memorial Library, and more.
This video of Age-Friendly Millinocket's SNOWDOWN winter festival shows how a small amount of funding and strong partnerships can engage the community in a shared vision for an age-inclusive community, with implications for Lifelong Community sustainability that go beyond a single event.