Community Engagement
Community engagement is the social dimension of your community – the formal and informal opportunities for residents to interact and contribute. The content for these pages will complement all the other sections. This is also another opportunity to integrate social media applications.
Saratoga, New York has chosen to include volunteer opportunities on their website. Individuals can create an account and then log in and review opportunities within the community.
Many communities are realizing that their young people are an important audience. In addition, the most effective way to reach this population is with well-planned content: websites, blogs, and social networking. Youth development is more than just providing activities for young people in your community; it includes exposing them to new ideas/opportunities, experiences that identify and cultivate leadership, and events for which they can take ownership and connect with the community.
The aim of youth development is to increase the youths’ attachment with the community and produce the next generation(s) of leaders for it. This portion of your community’s website should capture the community’s desire for youth development by providing information about opportunities for youth to participate in the community, and therefore it would include a listing of organizations that youth can join, events they can plan/participate in, and opportunities for them to demonstrate/explore their talents/skills.
In this example, a community chamber of commerce has included a list of programs for youth within their relocation guide.
As part their community engagement efforts, many communities offer Restorative Justice types of programs. If your community has something similar you might choose to include it here.