Community Circles: Definitions and Job Descriptions
Community Coach
 Oversees and supports the community effort,
from start to finish
 Assembles and organizes the Core Planning Team
 Serves as an ambassador for the program
 Trains volunteer Community Circle facilitators
 Assembles and organizes the Action Oversight
Committee
 Assists Action Oversight Committee in supporting
the Action Teams
Core
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Planning Team
Sets goals for the community effort
Defines the geographic scope of the program
Develops a plan for achieving diversity in the circles
Identifies resources to support the program
Establishes a plan for communicating with the team, community leaders, and
the greater community
Determines a timeline for the process
Recruits volunteer facilitators
Recruits participants for the Community circles
Plans the Kick-Off
Manages logistics (finding sites and times for Community Circles to meet,
ensuring that facilitators have needed materials, etc.)
Kick-Off Event – This public event marks the beginning of the Community Circles.
Its purpose is to help people understand the process, raise awareness of the
program in the community, build enthusiasm, and recruit more participants.
Community Circles
 Are usually made up of about 8-12 people from different backgrounds.
 Meet together once a week for about 5 weeks in two-hour sessions.
 Are led by a neutral facilitator whose job is to help the group stay on the
topic and work toward shared understandings.
 Look at an issue from different directions and explore common concerns.
 Come up with practical ways to address the issue.
 Work with other Community Circles in the community to make plans for
action and change.
Community Circles Facilitator – The facilitator’s job is to serve the group and
help people have a productive conversation in a respectful manner.
His or
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her role is to:
Act neutral. Never share personal views or stories, or push an agenda.
Understand the goals of the Community Circle.
Study the discussion materials and prepare for each session ahead of time.
Help the group establish and maintain ground rules.
Help the group stay focused on the subject.
Make sure everyone gets a fair hearing. Keep track of who has spoken, who
has not spoken, and who needs more time to make a point.
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Only interfere with the discussion if necessary to keep the group on task.
Always be thinking about how to move the discussion forward.
Once in a while, ask participants to sum up the most important points that
have come out in the discussion.
Keep track of time!
Action Forum – The Action Forum is a community event that takes place at the
end of a series of Community Circles. It is designed to tie together the work of the
individual circles, and help participants move to individual and collective action.
Action Ideas from all the Community Circles are presented at the Action Forum,
Together, people prioritize the action ideas. To do this, they consider things like
what is doable and what will help reach the goals. They also consider short-term
“easy” wins and long-term projects (those that will require more effort and
resources). There are usually several Action Ideas that many people agree to
support.
To move these ideas forward, people form Action Teams that make plans to meet
to carry out their work. In Community Circle programs that continue over time,
more and more people get involved, and many good things happen in the
community.
Action Team – This is a group of people that have joined together to carry out an
idea for action. Sometimes an Action Team may work on more than one Action
Idea that falls into one category.
Some key steps for Action Teams are to:
 Decide how the group will work together, including
o How will decisions get made?
o What ground rules will be used?
o How often and when will they meet?
 Clarify task(s). Prioritize action ideas by thinking about:
o What is doable and realistic
o What will help us reach the overall community goal(s)
o What are short-term “easy” wins and what are long-term projects
(those that will require more effort and resources)
 Research the task(s) to:
o See who else is interested in helping
o Identify resources
o Think about possible barriers that need to be addressed
 Develop a plan to accomplish the task(s)
o Set goals for the plan
o Identify all tasks that need to be accomplished
o Identify needed resources
o Assign responsibilities
o Establish a timeline
 Implement the plan—make it happen!
 Document progress and success.
 Tell your story: Share your successes and challenges with other action
groups and the broader community.
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Look ahead. What's next? Where do we go from here?
Action Team Chair – Helps facilitate the work of the Action Team and reports back
to the Action Oversight Committee.
Action Oversight Committee – This group serves as a “guiding hub” for the
Action Teams.
Members of the Action Oversight Committee include:
 Members of the Core Planning Team with special interest or skills in action
planning.
 Other community members deemed important to the action efforts.
 Chairs of each Action Team will join this Oversight Committee after the
Action Forum.
 The Community Coach
Roles of the Action Oversight Committee:
The Action Oversight Committee forms and begins its work when the Community
Circles begin. The role of this committee is to oversee and coordinate action
activities stemming from the Community Circles effort. This committee is also
responsible for maintaining communication among Action Teams.
During regularly scheduled meetings, the Action Oversight Committee should:
 First determine how they will function
o Are the right people included?
o What ground rules will we use?
o Who will provide leadership?
o What timelines will we have for action implementation?
 Collect Action Ideas from each Community Circle and sort into themes
 Plan for the Action Forum
 Conduct the Action Forum
 Meet regularly (monthly) to:
o Share information and assess the progress of the Action Teams.
o Review the roadmaps produced by each action team and help them
stay on course.
o Support Action Teams. If necessary, help them refocus their energies
and set realistic goals, based on local needs and resources.
o Help the Action Teams connect their goals to the larger goals of the
program and with the larger community.
o Help the Action Teams identify and obtain needed resources (e.g.,
funding, meeting space, etc);
o Communicate the impact of the Action Teams to the community (“tell
the story”)
o Manage conflict within and between the Action Teams.
o Track success