Here's how you can demonstrate strategic thinking and innovation in community outreach for a promotion.

In my experience, it’s been helpful to begin any type of strategy building with a thorough and honest stakeholder analysis - include stakeholders in your organization and members of the community in this case. Try and be as specific as possible, even including names if possible. And then ask what are these people’s needs… to see where they overlap. The goals will organically grow out of this process. And then… build a check-in to the project plan to see if stakeholders’ needs are still being met as they sometimes change. Allow for the dynamic. Goals rooted in need will always trump the best SMART goals. :)

Covid regularized remote work. This allowed more people to go back to almost places that are still affordable and livable. That brings life and vitality back based on relationships and not deadly, time-sucking commutes. However, these communities are generally ill equipped to deal with developments more focused on bottom-lines than the interests of residents and the character of the places they are invading. Therefore, the way to deal with 'Land Sharks' is to create networks of 'Shark Nets' composed of highly experienced professional practitioners who no longer want to be tied down to a cubicle or a public or private bureaucracy. It would be like using FEMA's approach of enlisting expertise after a disaster - but before one - for everyone!

I’ve found it helpful to look at the numbers and get my hands dirty. Certainly hearing the many unique voices from various demographics in the community is key but build a bank of questions that help you get as empirical as possible while listening. Also if possible get your hands dirty and step into the needs directly. It’ll open your mind and produce game changing ideas that prime the pump for growth.

Adopting a community development/community empowerment approach is key to success. By demonstrating that we have identified the “perceived needs” of the community vs the “actual, epidemiological needs” we can really champion community voices and identify built in change agents that we can refer to as Community Experts in a projects. I recommend looking into a Photo Voice project approach to show that you really know how to center community and use it as an example of sustainable and community focused outreach.

Traditional goal-setting methods can feel outdated in today's fast-paced world. To effectively engage the current generation, we need a more flexible and dynamic approach. By embracing a fluid, adaptive strategy that aligns with shorter attention spans, we can make meaningful progress and achieve mastery in our projects. This new method should be responsive, allowing for quick adjustments and ongoing evolution, ensuring sustained momentum and success.

“SMART” goals are suuuuper helpful in framing a goal. Set Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-Oriented goals. For example, “By June 2024, I will recruit at least 2 community experts to help me conduct 1 walking audit of design changes that can be made in x neighborhood to promote physical activity opportunities.”

Build strategic partnerships with local businesses, non-profits, schools, and government agencies. Highlight how these partnerships have expanded reach and resources. Develop and lead collaborative projects that pool resources and expertise from multiple organizations, demonstrating your ability to lead and innovate within a team context.

Save time & engage the community by not “re-inventing the wheel.” Partner with people and organizations already doing the work you’re doing. Join a coalition of people that are also subject matters experts in your field.

Pre-existing simple grant charts in Excel can help you set discrete, clear, concise evaluation tasks to keep you moving in the right direction. I recently typed in “simple Gantt chart” into the templates search bar of excel when starting a new projects and my external consultant evaluation team absolutely adored the presentation of expected deliverables for data quality and insurance.

“Pivot” was the word of the year when the Pandemic hit. Learn to pivot throughout your professional career when one way or one collaboration isn’t working. Don’t forget the power of resource libraries in CDC websites and general search engines to inspire you to adapt ideas from other projects.

Involvement of community members in the planning and decision-making process is a proven strategy. This ensures that programs are relevant and impactful. Established Systems for collecting and acting on community feedback with surveys, focus groups, and feedback forms to continually improve your initiatives have shown great promise. Staying updated with the latest trends and best practices in community outreach helps. This could be through conferences, webinars, and training sessions. A culture of innovation within teams has to be fostered. Promote brainstorming sessions and reward creative ideas and solutions.

One thing I’ve found helpful is understanding the language of the community. No outreach is successful if you don’t communicate clearly for community members to understand fully.

Effective Communication and Storytelling becomes paramount here. Compelling impact stories that highlight the positive impact of your outreach programs could be shared. Case studies, testimonials, and multimedia content could be used to illustrate successes. A very clear and crisp reporting mechanism helps. Regular reports on progress and outcomes to stakeholders with infographics, dashboards, and presentations to clearly communicate results and future plans goes a long way.

Start with an ethnographic methodology if you are not a part of that community. This involves sustained observation and participation. Make yourself a part of the community by leading with humility.