Community Building Tips: Think it Through
At this Stage
This post is the fourth part of a toolkit series on community building and social change.
Read this if you feel well researched and ready to begin planning your actions.
Skip this if you already have a clear understanding of your group’s focus and activities or your group has already started publicly organizing.
The NGM Circle Community Building Journey Map: You are at the “Think it Through” stage.
You’ve done the research, you’ve challenged your own assumptions and beliefs, you’ve made new connections; it’s time to process what you’ve gone through so far and put it into words. You now have the knowledge and need to plan how to apply it.
Basically, you need to be able to answer the questions:
“What activities will your group organize or participate in?”
“Why are you doing that?”
Some ways of getting a solid grip on the answers to those questions might involve coming up with a concise mission statement, strategy, and/or value proposition (I’ll return to this). Don’t worry, you don’t need to have all the answers, but you need to get to the point of having an “elevator pitch” or way of clearly naming and explaining what you’ll be doing and the logic behind it.
You should have uncovered some valuable clues about how to move forward from your previous conversations and research in the “Know your Stuff” stage. You got to know the issue you want to address in a deeper way. In other words, you now have a solid grasp of the “what”, but being able to clearly connect the “why”, and “how” of what you’re doing in a few short sentences will force you to synthesize all of that information.
If you’ve found potential allies or partners, make a point to invite and include them in this process, remember that social change is social and not something done alone. Co-creating with others will increase your impact and ensure collaboration is built into the culture of what you’re doing. You’ll also be glad others are invested and cheering each other on when things get tough.
Why does this matter?
You’re at a critical point on the road to community change, in the coming stages you will need to be more public facing. You will need to succinctly tell others what you’re about and what you’re trying to do.
I get it, words are a flawed and limited means of expressing the nuances of complex social issues. This is an imperfect process, but necessary for inviting people in and sharing what you’re doing with those who might care but not have the same depth of understanding as you about the issue.
Another point is that you need to be able to describe a problem to solve it. If you aren’t able to name and describe what’s happening and what you intend to do about it, you have little chance of leading or creating change. The words you choose at this point matter, they move your thoughts from abstraction to reality as you put them out in the world, they’re the tools we use to build movements and interact with others.
How do I do this?
I mentioned a few ways you could approach getting this conversation started like coming up with a mission statement, a strategy, and/or a value proposition for what you’re working on. The following activities are just suggestions to help you synthesize the information you’ve gathered so far and share it with the world. If you have another way to get the conversation started with your group, that’s great! The point is to decide on activities and how you will explain yourself to others before moving on. If you don’t have consensus in your group about your vision, mission, and activities, you risk frustrating the people working with you and sending mixed messages to potential supporters.
Take some time to brainstorm on one or all of the following topics with your team or by yourself (if you haven’t yet found a crew):
Come up with a mission statement
At the “Getting Started” checkpoint, you came up with a compelling vision to guide you. Return to that and think about what you’ve learned since then. Ask yourself how, knowing what you know now, you can work toward that vision. Think of your mission statement as the general path forward that will help people to easily understand what you’re proposing.
For example:
"We fight family violence by creating peer groups and educational opportunities for families that have experienced violence at home”.
“We improve mental health by building connections and trust among neighbors through regular events and informal social gatherings.”
Think about your strategy
Your strategy is a more specific version of your mission statement. Supporters will have questions about the work you’re planning on doing, even though they might already agree with you. Being able to state exactly what you will be doing and clearly explain your thought process behind the actions you’re taking will help get others on board.
For example:
“We have honest and open meetups every two weeks at the University.”
“We invite speakers from marginalized communities to share their stories every month and each invite a new person.”
Create a value proposition
A value proposition is just a statement about what makes something (an organization, product, or service) “valuable”. This is usually a business term, but the concept can apply here. In this context, think of a brief statement about how your group uniquely addresses an issue and how the community will benefit from what you’ll be doing.
For example:
“We’re fighting racism with honest and open workshops that build the capacity of allies and invite more everyday anti-racism practice into the community.”
“We connect newcomer families to supportive neighbors, reducing the stress and uncertainty of migration while fostering a sense of belonging for the whole community.”
If you’ve gone through all of these thought exercises, you’ve hopefully gained some clarity on how to describe the connections between your cause and the community building work you want to do. If you’re still feeling like things are unclear or haven’t reached consensus with your group about how to move forward, spend more time in this stage before going ahead.
Summary
Actions to take before moving on to the next checkpoint
Brainstorm and decide your groups main activities
Brainstorm and decide how you will describe your activities
Thanks for reading! This is the fourth part of a series on community building. Stay tuned for the next installment!
-Ryan