Community Engagement Toolkit 

The Community Engagement Toolkit is designed to help you develop and practice skills to engage with your community for social change. The toolkit will help you to explore how and why you want to engage within the community, to find the tools to make meaningful connections with your communities, and to build your sense of community agency to become a catalyst for change.

Portland State seeks to support all students in developing the skills and motivation to see themselves as active participants in their communities with a strong commitment and responsibility to work with others on the pressing social, economic and ecological challenges we face as a society. Let this toolkit launch you into the community engagement you are seeking, or deepen the skills and awareness you have in the work you are already engaged in.

The Toolkit's Guiding Questions:

• What knowledge will help you build a sense of civic identity and community agency?

• What is important to consider and care about in your community engagement practice?

• What skills do you need to engage effectively with and in the community? 

This toolkit will guide you through five action modules - offering student and community insights in short videos, interactive activities and resources, and essential information about how to engage with communities to avoid harm and support social change. 

If you complete each module in order, it will lead you through a series of community and self-knowledge activities to guide your path towards meaningful and successful community engagement.

However, for those who are already actively engaged with their communities, each module, activity, and resource can stand alone to support deeper knowledge and confidence in your community engagement and leadership.

You can navigate through each module on the side bar or directly from the end of one module to the next. Also keep your eyes out for guiding icons that will alert you to:

📣 Community Voices: Personal perspectives from Portland and Portland State Community Leaders

🔑 Essential Activity:  Make your learning personal to get yourself ready for action

🔍 Useful Resource: Extra readings, videos, and activities to support your engagement

The toolkit begins with Module 1 introducing you to what community engagement is and helping you to explore what it might be for you. Module 2 helps you take that knowledge to understand the skills and steps to get started. Module 3 offers community wisdom to make sure you are engaging with care and awareness, and Module 4 offers you support to make sure all those skills, energy and attention you are bringing to your engagement is actually effective. The toolkit closes with Module 5 offering more resources for how to take your engagement experience and share it with others.

*Faculty & Facilitator Guide*

Looking for help using this with your students? Follow the link to a simple toolkit guide for faculty and facilitators supporting students' use of the Community Engagement Toolkit. The guide includes learning objectives, sections, and sequencing support for the toolkit's five modules. The guide also includes ideas for how to include and assign resources and activities into your course or workshop, as well as additional facilitation and faculty support resources.