The first Global Community Engagement Day was celebrated on January 28th, 2018. It is a day for individuals, businesses, and organizations to broadcast how they practice community engagement and encourage others to find ways to do so in their communities and connect with others who want to do the same. It aims to highlight the value and benefits of community engagement. By engaging with different groups within the community, relationships are both built and strengthened, and the outcome is intended to benefit all.
Global Community Engagement Day began as an idea started by Engage 2 Act, an organization that aims to progress community engagement practice by bringing people together to talk about important issues in their community. Engage 2 Act started as a small group in Southern Australia that wanted to reach out to people all over the world about what they do for community engagement. In an effort to put the holiday on the global map, they began a poll where they asked their social media followers what pioneer of community engagement stands out to them most. The top voted person’s birth date would be used as the date to commemorate Global Community Engagement Day. The poll resulted in Dr. Wendy Sarkissian as the top choice, and thus her birthday, January 28th, was chosen as the international day to celebrate and encourage community engagement.
Community Engagement is critical for decision making, as well as for meeting the needs of the community and its people. Businesses and organizations can better address specific issues by putting the people and their needs first. This helps those making decisions gain perspective so that decisions are not being made one-sided. This process also empowers people within the community by allowing their voices to be heard, which builds trust and increases commitment between community members.
There are simple ways you can take part in #GlobalCommunityEngagementDay. You can begin by learning how you can become more involved in your community. You can donate to a cause in your community. You can discuss with your coworkers or give ideas to your employer of how your company can be more involved in the community. You can think of a list of things on your own that could help better your community and find ways to begin addressing them. Be sure to learn ways in which you can involve diverse and hard-to-reach communities. You can also help spread awareness for this day on your socials using the hashtags #GlobalCommunityEngagementDay and #CommEngageDay.
We are constantly practicing community engagement here at LtN and working on new ways to do so. We engage with our communities by building and strengthening relationships with schools and organizations on the ground to be our eyes, ears, and trusted advisors. These local leaders help provide us with the necessary infrastructure to bring lacrosse to new communities. No two LtN programs look alike because of the unique circumstances of each community. We collaborate with local leaders to identify how LtN can best help our student-athletes and community members, and then adapt our programs to address their specific challenges.
Now that you’ve learned the story behind this day, the importance of community engagement, how we do so at LtN, and different ways that you can engage with your own community, help celebrate the day with us by taking action in your community today!
#GlobalCommunityEngagementDay #CommEngageDay