The document discusses getting people involved in community groups and activities. It aims to consider why people get involved, barriers to involvement, consulting different groups, and engagement tools. Some key points are that essential human needs like belonging and purpose motivate involvement. Barriers include apathy, lack of time, and intimidating meetings. The document provides tips for inclusive, participatory consultation and involvement through methods like newsletters, discussions, and hands-on activities.

1. Getting People
Involved

2. Aims of the course
 Consider why people get involved in residents’ &
community groups & activities
 Explore the main barriers to involvement
 Review the current state of involvement here
 Consider different sections of the community and
identify hard-to-reach groups
 Explore a range of tools and techniques for
consulting and engaging people – including
participatory methods

3. Why do people get involved?
What sparked
your
involvement?

4. ...and what sustains it?

5. Essential human needs
 Safety and security
 Feeling ‘in control’
 Attention – giving and receiving it
 Emotional connection with others
 To belong to a community
 Privacy
 Respect and a sense of achievement
 Meaning & purpose

6. The typical process of getting
involved
Apathy

Contemplation

Trial run

Commitment

7. Barriers
What are the main
barriers to
involvement?
And how can we
overcome them?

8. Motivational interviewing
DO
 Get them to talk
 Highlight successes
 What do they enjoy and
what are they good at?
 What are their goals and
aspirations?
 Encourage action – first
steps
DON’T
 Talk much yourself
 Give advice or impose
your own views
 Say what you would do
 Criticize or downplay
their concerns

9. What is ‘community involvement’?
 Neighbourliness – knowing your neighbours,
positive attitudes to area, ad hoc actions…
 Shared activities – engaging in and running
social events, projects, groups, clubs…
 Influencing services that impact on the
locality – joining committees / groups…
 Governance - overseeing public &
community-based services, joining boards,
becoming a councillor…

10. What’s the state of resident
involvement here at the moment?

11. Who is our community?
 Different age groups
 Women & men
 Different ethnic / racial identities & faiths
 Different ‘geographical’ areas
 People who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender
 People with different ‘family’ roles & responsibilities
 People with disabilities or learning difficulties
 Carers
 Others?

12. Mapping exercise
 Place the name of your own organisation in a circle at
the centre of the sheet
 Inside the circle, list the sections of the community who
are currently well represented
 Write on separate post-it’s the sections of the
community who are currently under-represented &
under-involved
 Place each post-it outside the circle (distance from the
circle indicates degree of involvement / detachment)

13. Involving specific groups
 What are the particular barriers to
involvement for this group?
 What issues are important to them?
 How can we make them feel welcome?
 Are there particular gate-keepers (people or
organisations) who can help us reach them?
 What methods might we use to communicate
with them and engage them?

14. Top 10 tips for inclusivity
1. Contact other
community groups
2. Use outreach
3. Keep people informed
4. Get regular feedback
5. Offer introductory
sessions or events
6. Run social events
7. Take care of new
people
8. Offer training & support
9. Make meetings user
friendly
10. Share tasks and
responsibilities

15. Involving young people
 Reaching out – youth workers,
youth clubs, schools
 Youth forums, champions,
campaign teams, conferences
 Sports, arts, music, games
 Volunteering opportunities
 Practical, hands-on projects
 Peer research + ‘fun’
questionnaires
 Incentives and rewards

16. Design

17. Inter-generational events

18. Arts projects – legal graffiti wall

19. Issues for young people
 Personal safety & crime
 Safe spaces to meet
 Education & learning
 Facilities for young
people
 The environment
 Housing
 Transition to work

20. Why meetings aren’t enough
 Depend on verbal skills – favour the literate &
articulate
 Many people find them intimidating or boring
 Need people with time / availability
 Can discourage creative thinking
 Encourage fixed positions rather than options
 Lead to ‘group-think’

21. The ladder of involvement
Control
Participation
Consultation
Information

22. Keeping tenants informed
 Newsletters, info sheets, reports,
leaflets – post or email, display
 Notice-boards
 Stalls / exhibitions
 Social media
 Website
 Texting
 Local press, radio…
 Information for new tenants

23. Consultation methods - individuals
 Questionnaires
 Satisfaction surveys
 Customer feedback
 Complaints & compliments
 One-to-one interviews
 Suggestion boxes / forums
 Open days / surgeries
 Stalls / exhibitions
 Referenda

24. Consultation – in groups
 Block / small area meetings
 ‘Special interest group’ meetings
 Discussions with existing
groups/organisations
 Website / Social media
 Outreach – informal contact
 Large public meetings
 Focus groups
 Neighbourhood walkabouts

25. Involving residents in service
improvement
Mystery customers
Resident inspectors
Service improvement
groups / panels
Participatory
budgeting

26. Case Study – Bushbury Hill EMB,
Wolverhampton
 Bushbury Focus – quarterly sounding-board + groups
 Involvement Register
 2-hour promise
 Informal committee meetings weekly (‘tea & sweeties’)
+ ‘bite-size’ training
 Annual calendar + texting
 Questionnaire compiled with partner agencies – £500
prizes from free draw
 Competitions with family prizes
 Tiddleywinks voting

27. Participatory events & processes
 To consult
 To promote discussion
and understanding
 To agree priorities
 To plan action and agree
responsibilities
 To evaluate progress

28. Participatory methods
 Helping people share and analyse their own,
local knowledge, and to plan and act
 Visual & hands-on – methods don’t rely on
verbal skills & stimulate creativity
 Hands over control to people participating
 Can enable easy group discussion
 Can be used in informal settings - pubs,
shopping centres...

29. Participatory methods
 ‘Open space’
meetings
 Inter-active displays
- visual images /
charts / mapping
 Planning for real
 Arts / Photos / Film
 Design competitions