Five levels of engagement

The five levels of the Public Engagement Spectrum define how much influence the public can realistically have.

Updated August 28, 2026 at 1:59 PM PDT

The public engagement spectrum

The five levels — Inform, Consult, Involve, Collaborate, Empower — define how much influence the public can realistically have, in order of increasing impact on the decision.

	Inform	Consult	Involve	Collaborate	Empower
Public participation goal	Provide balanced, objective information	Obtain public feedback on analysis, alternatives, or decisions	Work directly with the public to ensure concerns and aspirations are understood and considered	Partner with the public in developing alternatives and identifying the preferred solution	Place final decision-making in the hands of the public
Promise to the public	We will keep you informed.	We will keep you informed, listen to and acknowledge concerns, and provide feedback on how input influenced the decision.	We will work with you to ensure your concerns are reflected in the alternatives and provide feedback on how input influenced the decision.	We will work together to formulate solutions and incorporate your advice to the maximum extent possible.	We will implement what you decide.

Choosing the right level

Is the decision legally or financially constrained? If so, your ceiling may be lower than you'd like. Be honest about that upfront.
What stage is the project in? The earlier you engage, the more influence the community can genuinely have.
Who's most affected? Particularly communities with the least historical access. The level should reflect the real influence available to them.

Inform

You're sharing something the public needs to know. The decision is made. The outcome isn't changing. Your job is to communicate clearly and honestly.

Your promise to the community: “We'll keep you informed.”

Required at minimum

Publish an Influence Statement before anything goes public. Put it in plain language.
Translate all materials into the primary languages of your community before distribution.
Run at least three channels simultaneously.
Put a phone number or email address on every piece of material.
Close the loop. Once the decision is implemented, tell people what happened, when, and what comes next.

What it looks like

A county road project launches in three weeks. Staff send bilingual direct mailers to every address in the impact zone, post bilingual signage at the site, publish a dedicated webpage with a timeline and FAQ in English and Spanish, and distribute a press release to local and Spanish-language outlets. Nobody was asked for input because there was none to give. That's honest. That's Inform done right.

Biggest mistake: Calling it engagement when it isn't. If the decision is made, say so.

Consult

You have a proposal, a draft, or a defined set of options. You're asking for feedback before the decision is finalized. Input can shape aspects of the outcome, but the county makes the final call.

Your promise to the community: “We'll listen and tell you how your input shaped the decision.”

Required at minimum

Publish an Influence Statement before outreach launches and keep it visible at every touchpoint, not just at launch.
Open at least three input channels: a survey, a comment form, and at least one in-person or phone option.
Translate the survey and all materials into the primary languages of your community before they go out.
Assign a note-taker to every touchpoint. Document input as it's collected.
At the midpoint of your input window, check who's responded. If the communities most affected aren't represented, extend outreach before closing input.
Publish a What We Heard summary through the same channels used for outreach within 30 days of closing engagement.
Name what changed because of community input and what didn't. Explain why.

What it looks like

A department is drafting eligibility criteria for a community health program. Staff publish a bilingual survey, hold two listening sessions in affected neighborhoods at different times of day, and partner with two CBOs to extend reach. Three hundred responses come in. Staff revise two eligibility criteria based on consistent feedback and publish a bilingual What We Heard summary naming the specific changes and explaining why two other requested changes weren't feasible.

Biggest mistake: Collecting input with no plan to report back. If people don't hear what happened with what they shared, they won't show up next time — and they'll tell others not to bother either.

Involve

Community concerns and priorities actively shape the direction of the work. You're not collecting input at a single moment — you're working with communities throughout the process.

Your promise to the community: “Your input will directly shape this. We'll work with you throughout and show you how your contributions changed the outcome.”

Required at minimum

Complete the Engagement Assessment and Plan before anything goes public. Communications must review it before outreach launches.
Publish an Influence Statement at the start and keep it visible at every touchpoint.
Start pre-engagement conversations with trusted partners and community leaders before options are defined.
Hold at least three sessions at different times, days, and locations.
Book interpretation services the moment your Engagement Assessment and Plan is approved.
At the midpoint, check who's in the room. If the communities most affected aren't represented, extend outreach before closing engagement.
Produce a What We Heard summary after each major touchpoint, not just at the end.
Show specifically how community input changed the direction of the work in the final recommendation. "Input was considered" isn't specific enough.

What it looks like

A department is designing a housing stability program for low-income residents in a specific corridor. Staff spend six weeks in pre-engagement conversations with CBOs, neighborhood leaders, and service providers before anything goes public. Four listening sessions run across different locations and times, with food and childcare provided. Input changes eligibility criteria, the application format, and two proposed service locations.

Biggest mistake: Running Involve-level activities with a Consult-level mindset. If community input isn't visibly changing the direction of the work, you're collecting input, not involving people.

Collaborate

You're partnering with the community to develop solutions together. Participants have meaningful influence over the direction and outcome. Collaborate requires sustained commitment, significant resources, and a genuine willingness to let community input shape the final recommendation.

Your promise to the community: “We'll build this together. Your recommendations will be incorporated to the maximum extent possible.”

Required at minimum

Confirm executive and leadership support in writing before announcing anything publicly.
Contact the Clerk of the Board before forming any advisory committee, commission, or standing working group.
Define decision-making authority before the first meeting and put it in writing. Share it with participants at the start.
Compensate participants for their time. Build stipends, childcare reimbursement, and food into the budget from day one.
Recruit intentionally from the communities most affected.
Hold enough sessions for genuine relationship development before moving to recommendations.
Document specifically how each community recommendation was incorporated into the final product, and why any weren't.

What it looks like

A county department is developing a long-term service delivery plan for a specific geography. Staff spend ten weeks in pre-engagement conversations before forming a Community Advisory Group, recruited from across the affected area with stipends and childcare at every session. The final Board report names each CAG recommendation, identifies which were incorporated, and explains the constraints that prevented two others.

Biggest mistake: Forming an advisory body without resourcing it. A working group that isn't compensated, doesn't receive materials in advance, and has no clear line to county decisions isn't collaboration — it's the appearance of collaboration.

Empower

The community makes the decision within a defined scope and budget. The county implements what the community decides. Used in limited circumstances and requires months of preparation before any decision-making begins.

Your promise to the community: “We'll implement what you decide.”

Required at minimum

Confirm executive support and a clearly defined scope and budget in writing before announcing anything publicly.
Define the scope precisely before community education begins. Put it in every piece of public-facing material.
Build a community education phase of at least four months before decision-making opens.
Partner with CBOs and trusted community organizations from the start of the education phase, not when voting opens.
Offer multiple ways to participate: in-person, online, and phone.
Lower the participation age where the scope and subject matter allow.
When the community decides, implement it. Then communicate publicly what was decided and when implementation is complete.

What it looks like

A county health department sets aside $150,000 for community wellness grants in an underserved geography. A community review panel recruited from the affected geography, compensated, and trained in their primary languages sets the criteria, reviews applications, and votes on awards. The county funds what the panel decides. Final awards and reasoning are published within 30 days.

Biggest mistake: Changing the scope or declining to implement the outcome after the process closes. If the community decides within the stated parameters and the county doesn't follow through, the damage to trust is severe and not recoverable within that community's memory.