Effective Community Engagement: A Toolbox for Local Elected Officials
- Chapel Hill, NCSeptember 16, 2025
This class will be held on-site at the School of Government from 9 a.m.–3 p.m and is designed for both the elected officials and local government professionals.
Do you aspire to have more active participation in your local government processes? Do you feel like your citizens are disengaged, or is your concept of community engagement framed solely by what the Open Meetings Law requires or allows? This interactive webinar will teach you how community engagement is vital to democracy. Your citizens judge the value of government based on what they see and experience; they learn how important government is when they can be a part of it. Elected officials can create inviting and accessible avenues for citizen engagement when armed with actionable tools that make it doable for all.
What you’ll learn:
- How to assess the civic ecosystem
- Differences between citizen engagement and public participation
- Strategies for policy-making and service delivery engagement
- Opportunities related to citizen academies, advisory boards and committees, and public agency and elected official engagement
- Electronic tools that can improve community engagement
- Resources that can help even the most under-resourced communities
This webinar is a 201-level LELA course. Participating elected officials will receive three credits toward their master-level recognition.
Members of Civic Federal Credit Union (Civic) and Local Government Federal Credit Union (LGFCU), who are local government employees, are eligible to apply for a scholarship towards tuition for conferences, classes, and seminars offered by the School of Government. There are four deadlines to submit applications:
- March 1 (for courses starting between April 1 and June 30)
- June 1 (for courses starting between July 1 and September 30)
- September 1 (for courses starting between October 1 and December 31)
- December 1 (for courses starting between January 1 and March 31)
The North Carolina Association of County Commissioners provides cost offsets for county elected officials to attend LELA courses. For information on this discount please click the link below.
- Chapel Hill, NCSeptember 16
Chapel Hill, NCView Scholarship InformationMembers of Civic Federal Credit Union (Civic) and Local Government Federal Credit Union (LGFCU), who are local government employees, are eligible to apply for a scholarship towards tuition for conferences, classes, and seminars offered by the School of Government. There are four deadlines to submit applications:
- March 1 (for courses starting between April 1 and June 30)
- June 1 (for courses starting between July 1 and September 30)
- September 1 (for courses starting between October 1 and December 31)
- December 1 (for courses starting between January 1 and March 31)
The North Carolina Association of County Commissioners provides cost offsets for county elected officials to attend LELA courses. For information on this discount please click the link below.
View Cancellation PolicyCourse participants who cancel their registration on or before September 08, 2025 will receive a full refund. No refund will be made for cancellations on or after September 09, 2025, but you will receive a transferrable credit to be used within 12 months. Click here to view the School’s full cancellation and refund policy.$225.00Registration and payment for this course grants access for a single attendee. In order to register a group of attendees, please register each person individually. If you have questions, please contact our registration office at registration@sog.unc.edu or 919.966.4414.
Leslie Rich
