Strong communities are vital for not only creating a sense of connection and belonging, but also for people’s wellbeing and welfare, and can serve to build resilience in the face of crises. Community action proved especially prominent during the Covid-19 pandemic as people mobilised to help those most vulnerable in society.

As head of innovation and growth at Community360, a charity based in Colchester dedicated to working in partnership with the public and voluntary organisations to create a more equal society, I want to share some lessons that charity leaders can take forward about successful community engagement. This is inspired by Community360’s community-based response to the pandemic – which included delivering food parcels, prescriptions, conducting welfare calls and supporting the vaccination rollout – as well as the charity’s implementation of engagement programmes post-pandemic.

Build strong partnerships to map and bring together the assets within your community

Charities cannot serve their communities in isolation, which is why leaders in the sector should invest in building strong partnerships with organisations in the areas in which they operate – from other charities to community groups and local authorities. By working in collaboration with others, charities should look to identify the full range of assets that are available within their community. While funding is essential to a well-run charity sector, community assets go beyond this and encapsulate all resources that enhance people’s wellbeing, such as informal networks like Facebook groups and friendship circles, faith groups, local businesses with social responsibilities, activities, support groups, social networks, and community spaces.

While everyone agrees about the importance of different groups to the day-to-day functioning of local communities, charity leaders should seek to look at them in a holistic manner and assess how all these resources can be brought together in a comprehensive network that combines all skills to achieve shared community goals.

The pandemic exposed and further deepened stark inequalities in our society. While no single charity can ever fulfil all needs, being able to leverage these existing support networks within the community, and link people to a whole range of services that are available to them, can be highly effective in supporting those most vulnerable in our society. Therefore, charity leaders should think about how they can effectively ‘map’ existing assets within their communities, and act as a catalyst for social action in what continue to be challenging times.

To this end, Community360 has invested in producing asset maps which showcase how the collective knowledge and resources of various groups can be integrated to help achieve community goals and improve people’s quality of life.

Champion diverse voices

To ensure that the approach established above is successful and truly inclusive, charity leaders must take the initiative to reach out to diverse community representatives in order to learn about their needs and identify priorities. Only by championing diverse voices can charities suitably respond to the differential needs across their communities, and leaders in the sector should act as a catalyst for bringing these together and listening to the specific concerns of their groups.

During the pandemic, Community360 worked with community leaders and representatives to organise online ‘Listening to Action’ events which allowed people to learn more about the particular health inequalities experienced by ethnically diverse groups in the Colchester area, and take action to redress these by helping secure funding to respond to the unmet need that was identified. The resulting actions increased representation on health networks from ethnically diverse communities, adapted service delivery to increase take up, and helped to facilitate more than £160,000 additional funding into local groups.

Show how you value the people who participate

Volunteers and those who participate in engagement projects are the lynchpin of community cohesion. As such, they should be shown how their input facilitates change, both on an everyday basis as well as at a strategic level. While volunteering particularly gained prominence in the public mind during the pandemic, the challenge in the post-pandemic world remains how to retain volunteers and further boost involvement in our communities.

The pandemic showed that peoples’ time and energy are truly indispensable resources for community organisations and to society as a whole. Charity leaders should think about how they can ensure that the third sector is seen as a constant in communities, and not only as a crisis response to be relied upon in extraordinary times. To this end, leaders should regularly communicate about the positive impact of their volunteers’ activity within the community – whether this be online, in media, or through public campaigns.

The pandemic shifted the landscape of charitable activity. However, it also showed the power and efficacy of charitable action in supporting those our communities, and there are many lessons to be learnt from the sector’s response. At Community360, we found that identifying the full range of assets available in our surrounding areas, seeking input from diverse voices and community groups, and celebrating participation all enabled us to support our residents and help them to thrive.

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