Community Advisory Committees in the Social Service Sector: Challenges and Opportunities for Meaningful Community Engagement

Background & Purpose

Community engagement, or active community participation in programs, services, and decision-making processes, is a crucial aspect of social work. Community advisory committees (CACs) are one mechanism to promote high-level inclusion of community members’ in the social service sector. Despite widespread use of these advisory committees in the field, both their implementation processes and impact remain under examined. This study seeks to answer: 1) What are the necessary processes for implementing CACs in the social services public sector? And 2) How do advisory committees in this sector function as sites of (dis)empowerment for their members?

Methods

This study draws on mixed-method evaluations of two CACs within the Massachusetts Community for Public Counsel Services (CPCS). The first CAC is situated within the CPCS Youth Advocacy Foundation (YAF) and is focused on disrupting the school-to-prison pipeline (n=8). Members are ages 15 and older and have experiences with school discipline as youth or parents. The second CAC is situated within the CPCS Child and Family Law Division (CAFL) and is focused on promoting a more just child welfare system (n=8). Members are ages 15 and older and have experience in the child welfare system as youth or parents. Evaluations of both CACs included baseline interviews and post-meeting surveys for committee members, and open-ended surveys for planning members and facilitators after the pilot year. Program documents (e.g., planning meeting notes, registration forms, attendance sheets) were analysed to detail the implementation process for each group. Quantitative evaluation data were analysed using descriptive and correlational analyses. Qualitative evaluation data were analysed using reflexive thematic analyses. In both evaluations, participants were asked about their goals for their committee, satisfaction with the process, feelings regarding the committee’s ability to have meaningful impact, and recommendations for improvement.

Results

The evaluation identifies the components of the planning process necessary to launch both CACs, such as securing appropriate funding, liaising with organizational leadership for CAC support and sustainability, and defining committee scope and structure motivated on equity. The challenge of supporting both youth and parent engagement and achieving consensus across the diverse membership of each committee was a major theme across both projects. Separately, the YAF group discussed challenges with youth recruitment and strategies to increase attendance across their pilot year. The CAFL group underscored challenges with maintaining youth participation and balancing organization and committee priorities. Most members across the boards reported feeling their ideas were supported within the organization, while acknowledging the long time required to achieve the intended noticeable impact.

Conclusions & Implications
The evaluation underscores the considerable time and resources needed to effectively establish CACs, as well as the challenges related to recruitment, sustained engagement, and achieving tangible impact involved in initiating these committees within CPCS. These insights are crucial for the social work field, shedding light on the complexities of establishing and maintaining community advisory groups. Despite these challenges, the potential benefits of community advisory groups to incorporate community voice and enhance program effectiveness make them a valuable endeavour with careful planning and dedication.