Strengthen Community Partnership

In today’s climate, there tends to be a distrust and disconnect between organizations and the community. Whether it is the lack of transparency or organizations not upholding community values, the work of organizations can become disingenuous. In order to build that bridge, more engagement and communication needs to occur between organizations and the community. Empathy 4 Equity facilitates community engagement processes to help organizations develop and maintain equity-based accountability to the communities they serve. Through Empathy 4 Equity, we will help organizations facilitate community engagement through cultural competency, the ability to interact effectively with people of various backgrounds, and cultural humility, the ability to maintain an interpersonal stance that is other-oriented (or open to the other). Community engagement includes strategies to organize individuals for collective action, as well as strategies to make as well as strategies to make sure that all voices in a community are heard as part of inclusive decision-making. It is important to consider whether the community engagement strategies being utilized are coming from the community and those who are most affected.

Organizations need to additionally decide whether the engagement in the community is to contribute to the fixing of a systemic issue or used as a tool to amplify the voices of those who are doing the work. Lastly, Empathy 4 Equity will ensure that the marketing and communication is uplifting and relevant to the needs of the community. Empathy can shape your client’s experiences. For instance, being able to feel for others can fuel our efforts to ensure we are offering respectful and culturally relevant supports and services.