Resources in this toolkit are organized around four major areas of activity in regional engagement:

Define: activities to make explicit the characteristics, assets, and needs of both the region and your university.

Align: aimed at identifying potential connections and synergies between and among people, resources, and opportunities in the region and the university.

Connect: building or strengthening the associations and relationships needed for your engagement initiative.

Plan: laying the groundwork for an effective engagement initiative, and getting ready to implement.

This toolkit is designed to help you wherever you are in developing your regional engagement efforts. Generally, the Define and Align phases can be completed at any time, and in fact ought to be revisited regularly. The Connect and Plan phases will likely be undertaken for a specific engagement initiative. But, as is often the case, the process depends on a number of factors unique to your institution and region.