Students can develop a more comprehensive understanding of the issues and become more effective participants in their community. This knowledge can help them effectively advocate for solutions that align with their values and goals.
FREMONT, CA: The health sector has adopted public policy engagement as a high-yield strategy to advance its missions over the past two decades. Public policy domains, including health care, housing, education, employment, criminal justice, environmental protection, and economic development, require meaningful reforms to achieve just, equitable, and healthy societies. Health funders believe systemic change is necessary for a just, equitable, and healthy society.
By allowing students to participate in decision-making, they can gain a greater understanding of how policy works, how it affects their lives, and how to play an active role in influencing policy outcomes.
Let the community lead: As civic engagement involves community members setting priorities and determining intervention strategies, it requires a bottom-up approach. Funders need to listen to and respond to directions given by the community. Engagement with community partners requires time and staff capacity.
Adopt a long-term time horizon: Citizenship engagement investments are unlikely to yield immediate results. Funders should consider civic engagement a long-term investment and expectations should be defined accordingly. The majority of respondents recommended investing in organizations instead of projects. A short-term, transactional funding strategy that mobilizes grassroots support for a particular policy objective might result in a policy win, but it won't help build community power over time. Unless long-term vision and goals are necessary, focusing on achieving a policy objective may lead to community fractures and undermine democratic norms and values.
Support: Funders traditionally look for strong, trusted relationships with grantees from grassroots organizations with relationships within their communities. According to several respondents, trusting relationships are more difficult to establish than technical or financial capabilities, and these relationships should be appropriately valued and prioritized when choosing potential partners. Investments in multiple partners are likely necessary to build deep relationships with various constituencies within a community. According to survey respondents, civic engagement funding needs to be diversified, and a network of organizations supporting diverse communities needs to be supported.
Rethink your perceptions of risk: It is fundamental to community power-building to disrupt the status quo. Funders should expect some controversy to arise from civic engagement efforts. Participants urged health funders to keep these risks in perspective and, more importantly, to consider the greater risks associated with disempowered communities and dysfunctional democratic systems. Engaging citizens helps elected officials to respond to community health needs and priorities. It is possible to alter the nature of policy debates by elevating the voices of historically marginalized communities, but these initiatives are not necessarily divisive. Developing unlikely alliances, contributing to social cohesion, and minimizing risks are all possible with foundation support.
