Philly Leader

The City of Philadelphia’s Office of Civic Engagement and Volunteer Service and the PHL Service Design Studio launched the beta version of the Equitable Community Engagement Toolkit website on June 30, 2023. A beta launch means that the website still needs some work. And we’ll launch the full site in the fall.

The Engagement Toolkit was created by over 160 community members and City of Philadelphia engagement practitioners across 35 City agencies. It serves as a compass for equitable community engagement within City government. And provides guidance, stories, tools, and training on how to center equity in the City’s engagement work.  

 

What’s in the beta release? 

For this release, people using the site have access to: 

• 29 guides that cover a range of topics including project planning, accessibility, and evaluation. 
• 35 tools and templates that help readers apply learnings immediately. 
• Features that allow readers to submit feedback, suggestions, and stories. 
• Mobile- and desktop-friendly versions of the site. 

 City engagement staff have had access to these guides, templates, and tools since January 2023. They’ve been reading the materials and offering feedback. In addition, the Engagement Toolkit project team has been collaborating with 10 Community Advisory Council members to offer input on the radical inclusion section.

The project team has already incorporated City staff and community member feedback in the guides that are available today. 

 

What are we still working on? 

It’s our core mission to make sure the Engagement Toolkit’s content is available in multiple languages and is fully accessible.

So, we’re still working on: 

• Translating content into Spanish and Simplified Chinese. 
• Testing the site to make sure it passes accessibility standards. 

 

What will we release in fall of 2023?

In fall of 2023, we’ll release: 

• A full version of the website that includes content available in English, Spanish, and Simplified Chinese. 
• An accessible website. 
• Details on the program strategy that will help City engagement staff adopt these practices over time. To learn more about the connection between the Toolkit program and website, review the About webpage.

 The Engagement Toolkit website is a work in progress. We encourage you to read it and share your thoughts using the feedback features.  

Original source can be found here.