Center for Elimination of Disproportionality and Disparities

Texas Community Engagement Model

A component of the Texas Model for Addressing Disproportionality and Disparities, the Texas Community Engagement Model is a four-stage process that helped to reduce disproportionality in child welfare and ensure equity in child welfare services.

Stage 1: Community awareness and engagement

Stage 1 involves three discrete, but interdependent processes: making the process visible by sharing data, allowing constituency participation, and engaging community leaders.

Stage 2: Community Leadership

Stage 2 involves building and sharing leadership in communities for systems improvement. In the Texas child welfare system, community advisory committees provide leadership in partnership with systems and organizations.

Stage 3: Community Organization

Stage 3 involves a process that elevates the importance of collaborative efforts where community and systems leaders guide the work. The role of community members in this process must be legitimized and the value of their contributions applied in the selection and analysis of strategies for sustainable change.

Stage 4: Community Accountability

Stage 4 involves mutual and reciprocal accountability and a full investment by community and systems leaders in identifying, developing, and achieving desired and measurable outcomes.

Community engagement initiated through child welfare can be leveraged to help lead to improvements in other areas. The Community Engagement Model helps engage and empower affected communities in innovative ways to support individual and community efforts.

Regional Disproportionality and Disparities Advisory Committees established through child welfare provide a foundation for statewide, cross-systems work.