Inclusive community engagement is more than just a strategy—it’s a cornerstone of meaningful connections and shared progress. In saying this, many organisations are implementing innovative and inclusive approaches to ensure diverse voices are heard and valued within the community.
In this article, we’ll explore inspiring examples of inclusive engagement done right, highlighting creative initiatives that overcame barriers, amplified underrepresented voices, and ultimately brought people together for a common purpose. These stories of success demonstrate how fostering inclusivity not only enriches decision-making but also creates lasting bonds within communities. Dive in and discover how inclusivity drives impactful and lasting change.
Four Inclusive Success Stories for Community Engagement
Here are four inspiring success stories of inclusive community engagement that demonstrate how thoughtful planning, innovative approaches, and a commitment to equity can transform participation and foster stronger connections within diverse communities.
- Banyule City Council Connects with the Community Through Art
- Glen Eira Understands Community Priorities for a Better Future
- PAE Promotes Inclusivity Through Hybrid Engagement
- Northern Beaches Unveils Plan to Engage Multicultural Communities
Banyule City Council Connects with the Community Through Art
Banyule City Council exemplifies inclusive community engagement, demonstrating a strong commitment to ensuring that all voices, particularly those from underrepresented groups, are acknowledged, heard, and valued. This dedication is reflective in various initiatives, including active listening, diverse representation, accessible communication, and precinct-based approaches. As a result, Banyule City Council’s ongoing initiatives ongoing efforts are fostering better outcomes, enhancing communication, and strengthening relationships with the community.
A shining example of these efforts is the Council’s recent collaboration with First Nations artist, Merindah-Gunya. This initiative aimed to create new artwork for Shaping Banyule, fostering a more inclusive and welcoming environment for both First Nations people and the wider community to actively participate in and engage with Council projects.
This artwork tells a story of community connection and collaboration, through the rich tradition of Aboriginal storytelling. It portrays the enduring and harmonious relationship between Banyule City Council and the land, reflecting a timeless connection embedded in the cultural fabric of Country.”
– Merindah-Gunya, First Nations Artist
The artwork was unveiled at an in-person event during ‘Reconciliation Week’, a time when Australians reflect on shared histories, cultures, and achievements while considering ways to contribute to reconciliation in Australia. Over 70 people attended the event, including staff, Councillors, community leaders, and members of Banyule’s RAP (Reconciliation Action Plan) Advisory Committee. This artwork was also displayed on banners, merchandise, and printed flyers for attendees to take home.
View Banyule City Council’s full case study here
Glen Eira Understands Community Priorities for a Better Future
Glen Eira City Council actively fosters inclusivity by ensuring that every community member is recognised and heard through a combination of broad and targeted engagement strategies. The Council’s digital platform, ‘Have Your Say Glen Eira,’ plays a central role in promoting inclusiveness, alongside conducting open surveys, employing translation services on social media to engage non-English speakers, and hosting in-person pop-up events to connect with diverse groups.
Stacey emphasised the significance of connecting with the multicultural community, noting that fostering these relationships is essential for creating an inclusive environment where diverse voices are valued and heard.
We have a very diverse community in general. It is a very multicultural community. So making sure that all of those community members are able to participate in the council’s decision-making process is really important to us.”
A key example of Glen Eira’s dedication to inclusive engagement is the Council’s two-month ‘Our Priorities, Our Future‘ initiative, during which the Council actively invited input from all community members on future budgets for shared priorities and services. To ensure that all residents had the opportunity to contribute, Glen Eira tailored various engagement activities to specific age groups.
For example, Glen Eira engaged children through a drawing activity, created a youth-specific survey for younger participants, provided paper-based surveys for older residents and individuals with disabilities, and offered an online survey option with iPads available for those who preferred electronic submissions.
Through Glen Eira’s engagement initiatives, the Council gathered 1,755 responses to their community survey, facilitated 1,773 conversations at pop-up engagements, reached 420 people from four underrepresented groups through targeted activities, and engaged 152 young people at pop-up sessions and through school involvement. Additionally, four Council Advisory Committees were consulted.
View Glen Eira City Council’s full case study here
PAE Promotes Inclusivity Through Hybrid Engagement
The City of Port Adelaide Enfield serves as an excellent example of promoting inclusive engagement for all community members. Acknowledging the diverse needs of its residents, the City has consistently provided multiple engagement methods, including an online platform available in ten languages, hard copy feedback options, and various online tools for easy access.
Melissa Clarke, Community Engagement Officer for Port Adelaide Enfield, emphasised the importance of ensuring that everyone in the community is involved in the City’s initiatives.
For us, it’s really important that we hear from members right across our community, no matter their age, their cultural background, their abilities, their interests. We want to hear from everyone. And everyone in our community has the right to be involved in discussions that affect their everyday lives and that are important to them.”
Port Adelaide Enfield’s ‘Shaping Inclusion‘ initiative is a standout success in fostering inclusive engagement. Over a 12-month period, the City launched a private online space on its Participate PAE platform, specifically designed for community members with lived experience of disability. This initiative aimed to give people with disabilities, or those supporting someone with a disability, a voice in helping to shape the community’s future. Participants were invited to register, providing valuable insights into barriers preventing residents from living an inclusive lifestyle—whether those barriers were physical, like accessible parking and curb ramps, or informational, such as event access.
The City worked with key staff and community members to identify improvements and implement solutions, offering inclusive online and offline engagement methods. Using Social Pinpoint’s tools, residents could interact through the Q&A tool for public project questions, the Forum for dynamic discussions, the Gather tool for sharing community stories, and the Social Map for highlighting infrastructure needs like curb ramps and accessible parking.
The City also held workshops and feedback sessions in a hybrid format, combining in-person and virtual participation to ensure everyone could engage. This collaborative effort resulted in actionable changes that improved access and inclusion across the City, showcasing the power of community-driven initiatives.
View PAE’s full case study here
Northern Beaches Unveils Plan to Engage Multicultural Communities
Northern Beaches Council takes a proactive approach to engagement, focusing on capacity building and fostering lasting partnerships with community groups—particularly those that are often hard to reach or easily overlooked. This inclusive strategy has led to significant, long-term impacts that extend beyond the duration of individual projects. Over time, the Council has seen the cumulative success of its initiatives, with each project strengthening connections and broadening engagement across the community.
Briana Wherry, Team Leader of Social Planning and Strategy at Northern Beaches Council, emphasised the importance of fostering inclusivity in the council’s engagement efforts.
Inclusive engagement is core to what we do. And we believe that it’s critical to successful public policy that can result in transformative change within the community, but also internally. We also always approach engagement as a way for us to deliver capacity building and increase partnerships with our community groups, especially those that are often hard for us to reach or could be easily overlooked. And this usually hopefully, this today has resulted in a far-reaching impact beyond just the life of the engagement project.”
For instance, Northern Beaches Council recently developed a Multicultural Inclusion Plan aimed at strengthening connections with its diverse communities. The goal of this initiative was to ensure that all residents, regardless of their background, feel welcomed and able to participate fully in community life. To achieve this, the Council worked closely with cultural leaders to effectively engage and reach the right people.
By collaborating with cultural leaders, all project materials were thoughtfully translated into six key languages identified from local community needs, using certified translators to ensure accuracy. To empower these leaders, the Council also implemented a “Workshop in a Box” approach. This innovative strategy involved training cultural leaders to facilitate workshops within their own communities, giving them the tools and resources needed to engage people directly.
What truly set this initiative apart was its success in engaging the community. Typically, policy-related projects see limited feedback, but this one received over 130 submissions, with 57% coming from people who identified as from a culturally and linguistically diverse background. This level of engagement reflected the effectiveness of the intentional and personalised strategies used by the team, making it a standout success.
View Northern Beaches Council’s full case study here
These success stories highlight how organisations and communities have embraced innovative and thoughtful approaches to bring people together, overcome barriers, and achieve meaningful outcomes. By prioritising inclusivity, we create opportunities to build stronger relationships, foster trust, and empower all members of the community to play an active role in shaping their shared future. Let these examples serve as inspiration for your own efforts to create impactful and inclusive engagement initiatives.
