CFLeads launched the Cultivating Community Engagement Project to uncover, document and promote practices among community foundations and other community philanthropy that support stronger resident engagement in shaping the community’s future.
A Cultivating Community Engagement (CCE) Panel — made up of 34 philanthropic leaders, researchers, government officials, and people from neighborhood and community groups who have worked closely with residents — deliberated over nearly a year. The result: A Call to Action for more resident engagement by community foundations and recommendations for important changes in community foundation practice found in the updated Framework for Community Leadership by a Community Foundation.
Resident Engagement Network
Immediately following the release of these two documents, eight community foundations came together for a year to better understand resident engagement and learn how to advance their practice.
Participants
- Amarillo Area Foundation
- Baltimore Community Foundation
- Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo
- The Community Foundation Serving Boulder County
- The Denver Foundation
- Foundation for the Mid South
- Fremont Area Community Foundation
- Humboldt Area Foundation
Resources
Ten lessons emerged from this work and are more fully discussed in the report, Powerful Partners: Lessons from Community Foundations about Resident Engagement, and illustrated through real-life examples in Community Foundations and Resident Engagement: Stories from the Field. In addition, the Resident Engagement Guidebook, created in collaboration with The Aspen Institute Community Strategies Group, helps community foundations assess their readiness for this work.