Building a community vision takes time and it’s something that just keeps growing. It will be renewed, refreshed and re-inspired over time, as issues and opportunities are addressed and new dreams grow.

1. Design a few powerful questions for getting community conversations started

Powerful questions: How to get community conversations started

How to craft powerful questions

2. Reach out to lots of different people in fun creative ways

All communities are different, so community engagement approaches need to be tailored for each context and culture – the why and the who strongly influences your how. Your why should determine both who you are engaging with and what/how things are set up.  

Take a look at these ideas for community engagement.

3. Make the most of community conversation feedback

Learn how to make the most of your community feedback. Even though your community conversations might be informal, people want to know something is going to happen as a result. This resource will provide you with a systematic approach to determine whether the essential conditions for change are present and how to support and enhance those conditions for the better.

4. Run a community gathering

Once you have some initial feedback from community conversations it’s likely time to plan a community party or gathering to further shape your vision and grow wider connections. Check out our tips of organising a community planning hui .

Or on a smaller scale, getting together with your neighbours is one of the many things you might do to help build a sense of community in your street. Check out our Tips for organising a street BBQ.

See Our Reach Out resource for more ideas.

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