How can you build trust with marginalized community members?

Having a grounding is the history, facts and figures is a start; or rather a conversation starter. In my work meaningful engagement means pursing goals that are meaningful to the community, rather than me or even the payer. Know that multigenerational relationships exist; they create barriers and opportunities. Appearance matters as much as substance. This starts with acknowledging my own privilege and yielding the deciding vote to the what the community values.

First off you must understand that unless you have ever walked the walk all the education in the world will never prepare you FULLY to talk the talk. That being said educating oneself about the subject at hand is key (me being a retired disabled veteran) I certainly do not know it all and the more SOLID research I do the more prepared I am to give answers. As the heading for this question implies CONTEXT is everything. you could have for example two soldiers from the same unit same war, the same battle, and the same injuries but different parts of the country who are reacting to their injuries in polar opposite ways. That is why empathy is always the word of the day, not sympathy...

Building trust with marginalized community members is not something easy. Study the background that rates them as marginalized. Get to know their challenges by interacting with them and support them address the challenges by building their capacities for sustainable development. Do not spoon-feed. Guide and mentor them to get out of that level of marginalization.

There is a lot of mistrust of outsiders in the community I work in and for good reasons. Since the days of colonialism people have walked in and decided "what the right thing to do," is. Unfortunately, that also means that when good initiatives are presented, people say no for no good reason. There's a huge mistrust of authority and outsiders. This can lead to children and others losing out on anything from housing to schooling. What's more, it can cause conflict. And from my experience, the best way to avoid this is to ensure that the community is co-creating the project with you. Grass root change. Education is also crucial--for someone to want something, they first have to appreciate why they should want it.

For the past 14 years, I have worked with Inmates and Older veterans as a Chaplain. In both cases many times the initial reaction when introducing myself is 'What do you want I don't need nothin from you' I just let them know I am there for them, I pray for them and if I can be of service in any way please don't hesitate to flag me down. I repeat this process on a regular schedule and it still amazes me that even cycle or trip a few of the meanest, hard-core will after a few days yell out hey chap can you ...? Being consistent in my talking to them, never giving an answer I don't know, a promise I can't keep, and clearly explaining and rule or procedure they may be questioning is the best way to get credibility.

You have to spend time with the community, get to know them, let them know you are there for them and invested. Personal relationships are the most important thing in any field.

Some things in this world are fixed and unchanging others are not. As a prison Chaplain, for example, I could not change the layout of the prison, change the meal schedule, etc. I could however and did have sayso over the Spiritual content the inmates were receiving. After careful evaluation of all the programs gone were the days of "fluff" and in came the days of "stuff". We brought in programs that fed them spiritually as well as helped prepare them for life outside of prison bars. It does not take much effort to get the community at large involved in this as the last thing they want is the same old criminal back on the streets.