Community Engagement

In later Latin, collaborare gave us the meaning we still use: to labor together, to work jointly with others, or to cooperate. For urban forestry to be accepted and embraced, collaboration and community engagement are as important as the trees themselves. They are the foundation for action and sustainability. 

Conversely, when the glue of collaboration is absent from any project, the result is loss of valuable insights, financial support, and helping hands. It may even bring forth the fruits of resentment and hostility. Perhaps even more importantly, the opportunity to build ownership and pride in the community’s green landscape is lost. 

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines community engagement as the process of “working collaboratively with and through groups of people affiliated by geographic proximity, special interest, or similar situations to address issues affecting the well-being of those people.” The urban forestry community can learn much about this process from the older field of public health. Some of this experience is presented on the next pages of the bulletin. Then, too, there is the observation of the CDC that engaging the community can be “difficult and labor-intensive.” In the examples of collaboration and engagement that follow, colleagues in urban forestry attest to the truth of this statement. At the same time, all agree that the extra effort is worthwhile.