Community-Driven Policy Development: Facilitating Powerful Listening Sessions and Gathering Authentic Input

Effective policy development requires a holistic understanding of individuals’ lived experiences to fully understand central issues and how they manifest. This webinar will review multifaceted strategies to better understand the unique concerns, needs, and challenges communities face and to translate shared wisdom into actionable policy priorities.

Participants will discuss strategies for planning and facilitating a range of engagement methods, including listening sessions, interviews, surveys, peer-led conversations, and embedded feedback loops. The session will emphasize pathways to centralize informed consent, guide evolving discussions, and collaboratively develop sustainable policies.

The webinar will also introduce tools for capturing community insights in structured, analyzable formats. Participants will discuss pathways to identify themes across stories, map structural barriers, minimize facilitator bias, and translate qualitative input into clear policy recommendations.

The session will also address critical challenges, including reaching underrepresented voices, building trust, and closing the feedback loop so communities see their influence reflected in policy.

Takeaways

• Guidance to plan and facilitate accessible, trauma-informed listening sessions
• Practices to continue building trust and fortifying community partnerships, including through peer-led approaches
• Tools for identifying policy themes and maintaining data integrity
• Approaches to integrate community input into formal advocacy agendas, legislative priorities, and systems-change strategies

Who Should Attend

• Members of the Social Current Grassroots Advocacy Network: Join online
• Executive Directors and Senior Management: Leaders responsible for setting organizational strategy and engaging with policymakers and stakeholders
• Advocacy and Policy Directors: Individuals who develop and implement advocacy strategies and engage in policy analysis and outreach
• Communications and Public Relations Managers: Professionals focused on crafting and disseminating the organization’s message to the public and media
• Program Managers and Coordinators: Staff who oversee program implementation and need to align program goals with advocacy efforts