Recently I was talking to an elderly woman in my church who lived in a historic part of town with her family for a while. Reminiscing about her early days in the neighborhood, she told me how she got to know several of her neighbors who were actively involved in the town of Waco. . . they had been so involved in the city that they had streets and fountains named after them!
We have both observed how this participative spirit towards the city seems to have been lost or at least faded quickly. As millennials, I suspect most of us weren’t taught from an early age to think about civic habits or make participating in our cities part of our way of life.
But the citizens of previous generations have understood that the city, the municipality, their neighborhood was an important sphere of responsibility. Even though that culture is gone, I think many of us share that belief and want to contribute to our neighborhood in a meaningful and lasting way.
But how do we do this? Figuring out how to participate more in our communities can feel overwhelming and it’s easy to feel paralyzed. Here are five steps to get you started.
Step One: Cultivating Curiosity
Take the time to learn about your city’s history, leaders, strengths and weaknesses. Having this kind of context will help you speak more with more empathy and humility, two essential elements for advocating for resilience, above all if you are new to a city.
It is also worth observing your city through your senses. When it’s safe to do so, put away your car keys and take an errand or two on foot, bike, or public transit. These modes of transportation are slower and may not be the most convenient, so you’ll need to do some extra planning, but they’ll provide you with an invaluable new perspective on the layout and design of your city and inspire new sights that may blossom. in the routes of meaningful action.
Second rung: Follow your strengths/interests/frustrations
Today, city leaders and residents face a variety of pressing issues from filling pension funds to fixing streets and tackling food deserts, or neighborhoods that don’t have a good access to nutritious and affordable food options. The challenges are endless and under no circumstances will you be able to participate in everything. Your next step will be to carefully discern which issues are most relevant to you.
Take the time to identify your strengths, values and interests. As a car-free resident of Waco, improving Waco’s velocity and walkability has become an issue of deep interest to me. It’s a personal issue when I can’t safely cross a street, when sidewalks disappear haphazardly, and when streets are too dark to ride my bike at night.
It is also important to think about your capacity in terms of the time and resources available to contribute. Let them guide you as you seek to identify opportunities for meaningful engagement.
Third rung: Finding alignment
Exploring and observing your city should help you discover a few issues that appeal to you the most. Reconcile this list with your strengths list and a realistic idea of your ability, and you should be able to narrow your list down to one main problem. It’s okay if it takes time: the goal isn’t to jump into the issue that seems most urgent or trending, the goal is to take a few small steps into a problem that lines up good with you.
You might find that you’re more interested in gardening than tutoring students, or more passionate about public transit than affordable housing. That’s okay: action rooted in your strengths and interests is likely to be much more enduring and lasting when the going gets tough. (Also try not to spend time feeling bad about all the problems you’re having. not work on.)
Step Four: Conduct Contextual Research
Once you have found your main problem, now is the time to collect as much background research as possible. Spend a few minutes each week researching the topic that interests you, especially as it takes place in your city. Search for articles, blogs, historical accounts. You can even do your own interviews with people who have worked on this issue before. Here are some questions you should try to answer during this phase:
- What is the historical context around this question?
- Who are the important people related to this issue?
- What is the political/financial context around this issue?
The goal is not to emerge with an academic level understanding of the problem, just enough to feel confident as you take the next steps.
Fifth rung: Find and/or build a tribe
Once you’ve chosen a topic that excites you and realistically assessed how much you’re capable of investing, the next step is to find other people who share your interest. Advocating for change in our cities is no small feat. You’re much more likely to stay motivated if you have at least one other person who shares your concerns and is also willing to take action on your side.
This can take many forms: working with a friend, volunteering with a nonprofit, or finding a local advocate and going with them. Even if you don’t completely agree with their approach, you have every chance to learn something, meet new people and acquire important skills. Of course, you may find yourself in a wasteland of action. If so, look for opportunities to learn from people working on the same issue in other cities.
The exact form may vary, but the goal is the same: to stand alongside other like-minded people. Don’t go alone.
Bonus Tip: Expect Resistance
I will not beat around the bush: get involved in your city will be means enduring all kinds of negative experiences. Some meetings will be long and boring. The processes will be confusing. Response times can be long. Your good ideas will be resisted, misunderstood, changed and perhaps ignored altogether.
In short, your resolve will quickly be tested. You should expect that. In some ways, you can expect community involvement to be a long, boring, and frustrating endeavor. You may not expect to see the results of your work, or at least not immediately. If you expect resistance ahead, it won’t be such a shock then. Plus, adopting this type of purposeful “long-term” mindset will help you identify truly sustainable actions, prepare for challenges, and prevent burnout.
Another Bonus Tip: Know Your “Why”
Your why is your philosophical reason why you are taking the time to engage with your city. Perhaps you draw from a certain body of political philosophy, your faith, environmental concerns or a deep commitment to the future generation. Whatever your Why, take the time to think about it and write it down. Come back to it often and refine it as you learn more about this work. The why will keep you guessing.
Maybe this rung should be the first, but I found that the Why often comes after you’ve started taking action, so don’t wait for a deep philosophical epiphany before you jump in. If you’re reading this, chances are you already know that being involved in your city is good for you and enough to get started. More philosophical motivations will reveal themselves over time.
You can find all of these steps and worksheets in the Engagement Kit, a free resource I created earlier this year. I’m not promising that following these steps will get your name etched on a street sign or fountain, but hopefully it will help you connect a little closer to your community and share your unique gifts in greater civic engagement.
