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Prevention through Appreciative Community Engagement

Michael A. Emmart, Ed.D.�Executive Director, IJOC�michael.emmart@case.edu

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“centering lived experience”

Prevention through Appreciative Community Engagement

Community Engagement Continuum

STANCE toward COMMUNITY	IGNORE	INFORM	CONSULT	INVOLVE	COLLABORATE	DEFER TO
SYSTEM BEHAVIORS	No efforts to remove barriers.	One-way flow of information.	Input is sought after the fact.	Seeks input but keeps decision making power.	Seeks chances to return power to community.	Activates the strengths of community.
MESSAGE to COMMUNITY	Your needs and interests don’t matter & won’t be considered.	We will decide what you need to know & keep you informed.	We care about what you think, but not enough for it to impact how we think.	You’re making us think about the issues in different ways.	Your leadership and expertise are critical to how we address these issues.	It’s time to unlock your power & capacity for transformative solutions.
IMPACT on COMMUNITY	Marginalization	Placation	Tokenization	Voice	Power	Ownership

Engagement Indicators: power & control, decision making, influence, mutual benefit, responsibility, resource sharing, ownership

Contextual Factors: history, trust, respect, relationship, transparency.

Community Engagement Continuum

STANCE toward COMMUNITY	IGNORE	INFORM	CONSULT	INVOLVE	COLLABORATE	DEFER TO
SYSTEM BEHAVIORS	No efforts to remove barriers.	One-way flow of information.	Input is sought after the fact.	Seeks input but keeps decision making power.	Seeks chances to return power to community.	Activates the strengths of community.
MESSAGE to COMMUNITY	Your needs and interests don’t matter & won’t be considered.	We will decide what you need to know & keep you informed.	We care about what you think, but not enough for it to impact how we think.	You’re making us think about the issues in different ways.	Your leadership and expertise are critical to how we address these issues.	It’s time to unlock your power & capacity for transformative solutions.
IMPACT on COMMUNITY	Marginalization	Placation	Tokenization	Voice	Power	Ownership

Engagement Indicators: power & control, decision making, influence, mutual benefit, responsibility, resource sharing, ownership

Contextual Factors: history, trust, respect, relationship, transparency.

Community Engagement Continuum

STANCE toward COMMUNITY	IGNORE	INFORM	CONSULT	INVOLVE	COLLABORATE	DEFER TO
SYSTEM BEHAVIORS	No efforts to remove barriers.	One-way flow of information.	Input is sought after the fact.	Seeks input but keeps decision making power.	Seeks chances to return power to community.	Activates the strengths of community.
MESSAGE to COMMUNITY	Your needs and interests don’t matter & won’t be considered.	We will decide what you need to know & keep you informed.	We care about what you think, but not enough for it to impact how we think.	You’re making us think about the issues in different ways.	Your leadership and expertise are critical to how we address these issues.	It’s time to unlock your power & capacity for transformative solutions.
IMPACT on COMMUNITY	Marginalization	Placation	Tokenization	Voice	Power	Ownership

Engagement Indicators: power & control, decision making, influence, mutual benefit, responsibility, resource sharing, ownership

Contextual Factors: history, trust, respect, relationship, transparency.

Applying the 5-D Cycle

Define: Crafting a statement of purpose
Discover: PACE Assessment, Community Asset Mapping, & Empathy Mapping
Dream: Explore Social Determinants of Health, evaluate local programs, and use Positive Framing to identify responses to the needs that community identifies
Design: Workgroups foster collaboration among groups toward the co-creation of plans to meet community-identified needs
Deliver: informal supports, program expansions, new organizations

PACE Project Sites

Wave 1 Counties

(Spring 2024)

Wave 2 Counties

(Fall 2024 and Winter 2025)

What We’ve Learned

Time with systems partners during the Define stage is invaluable.

Communicating a “why” to impacted communities makes logistics a LOT easier.

Every communities has incredible assets, but most of these strengths are not being activated.

Relationship is among the most important outcomes at our PACE sites.

Outcomes to date

The beginning of shared decision making.

Informal supports, program expansions, & new nonprofits.

Improved engagement with fathers.

Quicker responses to community crisis.

Please feel welcome to reach out: michael.emmart@case.edu