Why is Community Engagement so lackluster? (part 2)

I am pleased to bring you part 2 of my blog on Why is Community Engagement so lackluster?

In case you missed it, here is the link to part 1. In a one sentence synopsis, I was describing why, despite our best efforts, the engagement of the community has been disappointing for those of us who provide programs and services. 

Organizations like the YMCA distribute colorful flyers, social media marketing posts and invitations to members of the community to encourage parents to attend an event, but still the participation is very disappointed. In fact, the Y received RSVPs from 50 prospective attendees. Five showed up to the training meeting. So, the adage of “if we build it, they will come” seems flawed. LHCC recently launched our FIT project to get families and their children moving, eating healthy and assessing their vital statistics.

What we have learned, in this health advice context, is that people don’t want to be told what they don’t want to know. If someone believes that they are not eating healthy, the last thing they want to hear is that they need to attend a training on healthy eating.

This past Thursday, we had 22 moms participate in our cooking class in our LHCC Kinship Kitchen. That’s more mom’s than the kitchen has ever hosted. Our instructor Sonya whipped up a wonderful chicken salad, who information sharing on healthy alternatives to something as simple as the kind of oil or salt to be used in preparing healthier dishes at home.

We were obviously thrilled that we had good attendance. In addition to cooking classes, the FIT project includes monthly health assessments, Yoga and Zumba classes and nutrition education. Engagement has been excellent, with new participants and everyone has learned from this experience.

Our lesson learned is that we ought to be appreciative of having been able to serve 22 parents, when the attendees could have been significantly less. Word of mouth is more effective than marketing. Personal invitations by parents to their neighbors has always been more effective.

The bottom line is that LHCC has invested in relationships, that foster trust and advance social capital as parents gain exposure to new partners and agencies who are here to serve the community. We are pretty good at program services, but we are better at building kindness and care into our cross-cultural relationships. We count our blessings for the families that the Lord sends our way, so that we can care for them the best we can, for as long as we can…

Onward and upward!

Brent Morris

ED, LHCC

28 March 2022