Communicating in your local Communiverse
If you are a local public agency, nonprofit or business leader, how do you think about the people who live in your area? Are they voters? Donors? Customers of your product? Of a service? Volunteers? Leaders and staff at agencies routinely use language and practices that regard residents in terms of the function they play in the storyline of the [...]
Learning together in Burlingame for affordable workforce housing
It was a pleasure to reconnect with the City of Burlingame this year, our first partner in San Mateo County’s Home for All Community Engagement Learning Network. Together in 2018 we piloted a redesign of how to convene local communities for broader and deeper mutual learning about options for addressing the region’s most pressing issue: affordable housing. The award-winning collaboration [...]
California libraries support their communities during wildfire response and recovery
As wildfires force evacuations throughout Northern California, libraries are once again providing vital assistance to their communities. For the past three years, Common Knowledge has supported the members of the NorthNet Library System as they provide aid to their counties and each other, with resources we’ve helped them capture at LibraryRecovery.org. In addition to safe spaces, internet and connection to [...]
Constructive engagement about rental housing policies in Redwood City
For communities throughout California, the question of how to meet affordable housing needs is a perennial challenge. And the pandemic has heightened tensions around landlords and tenants. Through our work with Home for All and cities throughout San Mateo County, Common Knowledge has pioneered an approach that invites community members to share their hopes, values, ideas, and concerns before housing [...]
Research highlights need for New Resume resources
How do we make sense of the difficulty employers are having when looking for workers when there are so many people unemployed or underemployed hoping to get a job? One major factor is that the online resume screening that most companies use is deleting all kinds of people who could be strong candidates if the criteria were adjusted. We appreciated [...]
Equity in Action: Engaging the families of English language learners
Public agencies are on the receiving end of a lot of complaints. Some may be due to things that are within their control, but several complaints encompass larger challenges, beyond what an agency can impact with its programs and policies. As agencies grapple with how to address this negative input, often overlooked are the parts of a community that remain [...]