Community Engagement

• Community: a unified body of individuals sharing a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, goals and social, economic, and political interests
• Engagement: participate or become involved in.

When considering the attributes that contribute to making a desirable community – community engagement typically ranks as high in priority as a safe environment and quality streets. 

Community engagement is the process of working collaboratively with individuals and/or groups to address issues that impact the well-being of the collective entity. Activities that help encourage community involvement include credible and transparent reporting, town hall meetings and collaborative decision making.

Opportunities for involvement range from individuals investing mere minutes to alert city representatives about issues upward to making multi-year commitments in an effort to improve the quality of life and livability conditions within their community. The following opportunities are available for citizen involvement:

OUTREACH	CONSULT	INVOLVE	COLLABORATE	LEAD
Short term, Limited Participation Communication flows from one to the other to inform.	Spontaneous Community Engagement Greater community participation on issues	Devoted Community Engagement Engaging neighbor participation in resolving issues	Dedicated Community Engagement Communication flow is bidirectional. Partner with each aspect of projects from concept, through development to solution.	Long Term Investment in Community Community leader, decision maker
Outcome: Optimally, establishes communication channels.	Outcome: Visibility of partnership established with increased cooperation.	Outcome: Visibility of partnership established with increased cooperation.	Outcome: Partnership building, trust building.	Outcome: Decisions that affect the broader community. Strong bidirectional trust.
Opportunity ·  Community Leadership Academy ·  Community Police Academy	Opportunity ·    SeeClickFix ·    Public Comment	Opportunity ·  Block Watch ·  Citizens Emergency Response Team (CERT)	Opportunity ·  Citizen Advisory Committee Member	Opportunity · City Council Elected Official

Please consider increasing your involvement within your community.

If you have questions about how you may increase your participation, please contact Councilmember Clyde ‘Fuzz’ Hill at chill@seatacwa.gov to discuss opportunities available.