In 2023, the Bronx Community Foundation (BxCF) partnered with Hester Street to design and implement a Bronx-wide community-driven engagement process to inform the Foundation’s new strategic plan.
In collaboration with 23 community-based organizations (CBOs), HST helped to orchestrate 18 community events throughout the summer of 2023 to engage community leaders, residents, and stakeholders in envisioning a brighter future for all Bronxites. We elicited feedback from over 1,000 Bronxites in order to identify and assess current conditions, needs, and opportunities for CBOs and residents throughout the borough. Bronx residents shared their experiences and created vision boards centered around tackling key issues, including fair and safe housing, quality education, food sovereignty, healthy equity and access, and community-owned open spaces, among others.
Following the community engagement process, our team made recommendations to inform BxCF’s future vision and strategic planning priorities to invest staff and financial resources based on insight from CBO partners and Bronx residents. To support our partners’ understanding of the community engagement findings and analysis, HST created the following materials:
- Bronx Community Foundation Findings & Recommendations Toolkit
- Bronx Community Foundation – What We Heard slide deck
- Bronx Community Foundation – What We Heard summary sheet
In order to meet Bronx residents where they are at, HST designed a train-the-trainer approach to community engagement, recruiting and supporting community-based organizations to co-design engagement activities and then to host their own engagement sessions with community members in their neighborhoods. To support our CBO partners, HST created the following materials: