The Equitable Community Engagement Toolkit was created by City of Philadelphia engagement practitioners and community members. To learn more about that collaboration, read the co-creation story.

“Community engagement” refers to a practice that connects City government to the communities we serve. And “practitioners” refer to the people who facilitate community engagement. Words like “our” and “we” refer to practitioners within City government. To learn more about the terms used throughout the Toolkit, reference the Toolkit glossary. inline link to glossary Excel Sheet.

If you have other questions about equitable community engagement, email engagement.toolkit@phila.gov.

Getting started

The Toolkit serves as a compass for equitable community engagement within City government. It provides guidance, stories, tools, and training on how to center equity in your work.

However, equitable engagement practices change depending on the community you’re engaging. Meaning, the Toolkit isn’t a set of step-by-step instructions for your work. Instead, embrace the recommendations that serve your equitable engagement practice and set aside those that don’t.

Review the Equitable Conditions guides to get started.

• Mindsets: Learn how thoughts shape actions. Inline link to Mindsets webpage.
• Power: Learn how power influences engagement. Inline link to Power webpage.
• Resources: Learn how to plan funding, staff, and time. Inline link to Resources webpage.

Those guides are essential to understanding and using the Toolkit. After reviewing them, explore the rest of the guide library. Inline link to Guides webpage.

• PhilaGov

To get started, think about the challenges you experience in your engagements. Find guides to help address common engagement challenges below.

 

Making decision with communities

 

Making engagements accessible.

 

Hosting community meetings. 

Seeking support

The Toolkit sets our shared understanding of equitable community engagement within City government. It’s a collection of guidance, stories, tools, and training to reference throughout your work.

Forthcoming Visual: Ecosystem of the Toolkit, distinguishing between the tool, program, and advocacy workstreams.

The Toolkit comes to life through our relationships with one another and the communities we serve. To truly advance equity, we must practice this work together. Practitioners can do that through a network of resources supporting our equitable engagement practice.

• Training: The Office of Civic Engagement and Volunteer Service trains practitioners across City government and within communities on equitable engagement practices. Training registration is forthcoming.
• Consulting: The Office of Civic Engagement and Volunteer Service consults on equitable engagements across City government. They support agencies and practitioners in applying Toolkit content in their work. To learn more, email engagement.toolkit@phila.gov. Please note that this resource is only available for City of Philadelphia employees.
• Equitable Engagement Collaborative: This internal coalition of agencies and practitioners is our community of practice. It meets twice a month to discuss challenges, examples, and recommendations for equitable engagements within City government. To learn more, email engagement.toolkit@phila.gov. Please note that this resource is only available for City of Philadelphia employees.
• Newsletter: This bimonthly newsletter helps us stay in touch with other equitable engagement practitioners across City government and within communities. Sign up for the mailing list. Inline link to newsletter sign up