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Resources > Community Meeting Suggestions
Once you have institutional support and an understanding about your community and you have some ideas of how athletics can assist in connecting with the community, it is time to meet with community leaders.
Steps might include:
- Share the results of your research. The leaders should value that right away and see you are coming to them offering value, not asking for something.
- Share the vision of the community engagement program.
Things to emphasize:
- The key desire is to be a source of community enjoyment and for athletics events to be seen like a town square.
- You want to build it starting with the understanding of what the community sees as needs, desires or opportunities. Your university is not coming with a list of programs you are trying to get the community to attend. Rather, you want, in this meeting and subsequent research, to understand things like:
- Which population group in the community is likely the least community connected? What kinds of community events would be most valued by those groups? Are they activities that the university could facilitate or host?
- What’s most lacking from the overall “feel” of community in your area? Is it community gatherings? Sports activities? Holiday celebrations? Can the university host or facilitate these kinds of activities?
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