How to Stay Committed to Ongoing Community Engagement Efforts

We hope this module series has been a catalyst in helping inspire and guide your district’s community engagement work. We also know that “hope is not a strategy”; therefore, this work will require committing again and again to ensuring your district is implementing and improving its community engagement efforts. Let’s look at two key components to staying committed to ongoing community engagement.

Finalizing Your Community Engagement Plans for the Current School Year

The first component to your district’s community engagement commitment is to finalize your plans for this school year. The module work you completed may have helped you build upon and expand your plans, but finalizing those plans is essential to moving the work forward. In addition to the core community engagement team meeting regularly, what else will help your district finalize your plans and goals for the current school year?

**Looking Ahead**
Moving Forward with Community Engagement Aspirations
Besides finalizing the plans your district intends to implement this school year, another key component to staying committed to community engagement efforts is to continually look forward: what are the aspirations your district has which will make the biggest difference in engaging your students and families in authentic, ongoing ways? How will this district work lead to improved family engagement at the school levels? While it is important to have realistic and actionable community engagement plans for the current school year, it can also be energizing to consider the larger vision your district has for better meeting the needs of your focal groups and partnering with your community. Reflecting upon and sharing aspirations for what community engagement can be in your district can be the necessary fuel for your district’s community engagement “fire”.

Reflection Activity

The work you have completed during the Community Engagement module series has prepared you to develop and implement current district plans. Take a moment to “work backwards” and focus on the future vision and outcomes of your district’s community engagement efforts:

What will the results of your current and future plans be at the end of this year? In two years? In five years?
Share your thoughts with your core community engagement team to help stay motivated. How can you create a shared vision (with students, families, and community partners) of what community engagement in your district can be? If you are the whole "team", write up what success would look like and put it somewhere you can access and reflect upon it regularly. Keeping goals visible helps to maintain energy and enthusiasm when the work gets hard.

Thank you for reflecting upon your future community engagement aspirations. Let’s move on to section 4.4 to wrap up this module!

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Go to the Next Section: 4.4