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There are some shared understandings that our task group developed upon which our recommendations rest:
- Eugene is more than one "community." If 4J employees are to engage "the community" they must be prepared to develop a host of strategies to sow and nurture real connections with the many diverse communities which they serve.
- Engagement is a process, not a product. 4J's focus for community engagement should not be on a finish line (i.e., people are "engaged") but instead look for opportunities to continuously nurture relationships and build stronger bonds, even through adversity. This attitude acknowledges that the community will be ever-changing, and strategies and practices will have to be adjusted over time to remain effective and real.
- Because engagement is on-going, commitments need to be made at the beginning of the process and opportunities created throughout it to assess whether or not engagement is producing the hoped-for outcomes for both 4J staff and for the community people who are the focus of the engagement process.
- Engagement rests on relationships. Relationships take time to develop and must be nurtured. Mutual trust and a sense of integrity develop as relationships grow.
- Engagement is two-way. It is not just 4J telling things to its audiences, or receiving certain responses from the public (such as volunteerism, donations or votes). It is listening, conversing, identifying needs the audiences have and then responding how those needs can be addressed. Finally, it is following through and following up, so that the audiences will know they have been heard and so that they know 4J is to be trusted.
- "4J," "4J employees" or "4J staff members" includes all school district employees and members of the governing board of directors; each of them has a role to play in community engagement.
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