Community Engagement & Outreach

In what ways does your organization excel in connecting with communities? Where would you like to see your organization grow? Explore these questions and more below.

Ways to Get Started:

• Review Focus Area #6 in the toolkit beginning on page 71. Download Advancing Organizational Health Literacy (English | Spanish | screen-reader-friendly version).
• Take the self-assessment for Focus Area #6 beginning on page 9. Download Organizational Health Literacy Assessment (English | Spanish).
• Continue exploring the themes and resources below.

Activities and Worksheets

Explore these activities related to community engagement and outreach:

• Creating Helpful Community Presentations (English | Spanish)
• Creative Ideas for Seeking Feedback (English | Spanish)

Additional Resources

On September 18, 2026, we held the webinar Valuing the Lived Experience of Your Workforce with CCDPH’s Dr. Darcie Moeller, Literacy Works’ Tiara Whitlock, and special guests:

• Sierra Allen, MSOL, EdD(c), Community Mobilization Coordinator, CCDPH
• Dr. Lena Hatchett, PhD, Director, Community and University Partnerships at Loyola University Chicago & Co-Founder of Proviso Partners for Health (PP4H)

The webinar explored the importance of valuing community engagement, lived experience, and trust in community-based work.

Check out the webinar and its related resources on community engagement & outreach below.

Webinar

Review the presentation slides (PDF) or watch the recording below.

Planning and Reflecting on Events

Check out this guide on Planning and Reflecting on Events (PDF) for a refresh on resources on this site and to help you create your own reflection tool.

Making the Most of Every Medium

Watch the Communications Corner short video below to learn some quick tips for different types of communication methods such as flyers, social media, and e-newsletters – or check out this quick overview (PDF).

Centering Lived Experience

• CDC Museum: The Lived Experience as Data – Examples from different areas of health showcasing the importance of lived experience related to critical health issues
• Community Commons: Engaging People with Lived Experience – Toolkit exploring why engaging with community members with lived experience is important and questions to guide the process 

Designing for Justice, Liberation, and Belonging

• Design Justice Network: Design Justice Principles – Principles for any type of design (including program design!) that centers those most affected by systems
• Designing for Belonging – Framework emphasizes belonging and reducing othering
• Liberatory Design: Mindsets and Modes to Design for Equity  – Framework and resources aimed at design with an equity lens

Media Literacy

• Clemson University Media Forensics Hub: Spot the Trolls – Tutorial aimed at helping social media users identify internet “trolls” sharing disinformation
• Office of the U.S. Surgeon General: A Community Toolkit for Addressing Health Misinformation – 2021 toolkit on health misinformation and strategies to combat it

Trust in Institutions

• American Association of Medical Colleges Health Justice Center: The Principles of Trustworthiness – Toolkit and additional resources on building trustworthiness as a community institution
• Urban Institute: Understanding the Crisis in Institutional Trust (PDF ) – 2024 article analyzing trust in systems