How to identify an issue that will mobilize your community

It takes lots of time and energy to pull together a dialogue to change effort so you need to be sure that you’ve identified the right topic at the beginning of your program. It has to be something that all kinds of people in your community care so much about that they will give up some of their time to address the issue and work together to find solutions.

The challenge is that your topic needs to be focused enough so that people know exactly what issue they’ll be addressing, but broad enough so that people from many parts of the community feel that they have a stake in the issue.

For example, people often call us and say, “We need to talk about education in our town.” This may be true but, if you put up signs around town saying, “Let’s talk about education,” would anybody come?

You need to find out what it is—specifically—about education that is the core issue. Maybe people are worried about a gap in achievement between whites and children of color, or they’re concerned that budget cuts will force some schools to close or consolidate. The schools may be having trouble getting parents to play an active role in their children’s education. Perhaps the high school is in danger of losing accreditation, or bullying or gang activity is becoming a problem.

With the coalition members (or a sub-committee), discuss these questions:

• What is it about this issue that worries people?
• Is this a long-standing problem?
• Are these concerns are shared by many people?
• Is it possible to do something about this?
• Is there potential for making long-term, institutional and/or policy change?

Challenge your team to see a broad array of viewpoints and approaches to change that exist in your community. Also, find out who is working to address the issue, and look beyond your typical networks in your community.

Start with your own network - talk to friends, family members, coworkers, and other people you may know, about the issue. Then, broaden your scope to people you may not know very well. Visit gathering places you’re familiar with, and those you may not have visited before.  Read community blogs and newspapers, and pay attention to how they frame the issue. Make sure you’re getting information from very diverse sources, including those that are different from yours.

To take it one step further, compile the findings and list the top five topics that came up most frequently. Turn the list into a survey and circulate it in every part of town. Ask people to rank the topics on a scale of 1 to 5 and see if they’d be willing to join other community members to try to address the issue.