Engaging Communities Through Issues Forums

As the Kettering Foundation (2011) has found “who gets to name a problem— and how they name it — are critical factors that go a long way in determining how effective the response will be.” Thus, public engagement in naming and framing is vital. It cannot be left to “experts”. Local context and words are needed to convince members of the community to participate in a forum addressing a local issue. For our forums in 2018-2019 and 2021, we involved knowledgeable planning committee members, “in tune” with those affected by issues. We also engaged others through key informant interviews and focus groups. Appendix 10 and 11 provide the questions used. The differences and similarities are shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5

Naming and Framing Issues - Differences and Similarities

From: Braun, B., Pippidis, M., Ketterman, J., Wolinski, L., & Volk, J. (2021, July 12). Engaging Strategically to Build Farm and Farm Family Resilience. Extension Foundation NTAE Professional Development Workshop https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLI-ZR4Jwy4gKxyFUXQfRxvzkactoHFXqJ

To assist you in naming and framing your issue we have provided you with Tool 1: Situation Analysis and Naming and Framing Worksheet in the tools section of this how-to-guide.

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