Building Trust First: Community Engagement for Programs People Actually Show Up To
Why Trust Comes Before Outreach, and How to Earn It
Teach outreach and engagement staff how to build the kind of trust that turns a flyer into a full room, especially with communities that have been let down by outside organizations before.
This complete, facilitator-ready training kit teaches outreach and engagement staff how to build the kind of trust that turns a flyer into a full room, especially with communities that have been let down by outside organizations before. It treats trust as something earned through consistency and follow-through, not something assumed because an organization means well, and it gives practical, low-cost ways to meet people where they are. Built on community engagement and community-based participatory research guidance, and written in plain, warm language for adult learners, including peer specialists, outreach workers, and people in recovery or returning from incarceration who are now doing this work.
- Who it is for
- Peer specialists, outreach and engagement workers, community health workers, program coordinators, and people in recovery or returning from incarceration who are now doing this work
- Group size
- 8 to 30 participants, breakout groups of 4 to 6
Trust first
the organizing principle of the whole session: communities act on information from sources they already trust, so outreach that leads with a flyer instead of a relationship keeps drawing empty rooms
Source: CDC and ATSDR Principles of Community Engagement, second edition
90 days
the consistency window participants plan for, one place and one standing time, because trust is built by a pattern people can watch rather than by a single well-meaning event
Source: PAVE CommunityPulse facilitator curriculum
Give back
a full segment on returning findings to the community that provided them, the practice that separates partnership from extraction when data and stories are collected
Source: Community-based participatory research principles (Israel and colleagues)
What's in the kit
Every PAVE Pathways kit ships with the same ten components.
- 1.Training Blueprint and 2-Hour Flow Outline
- 2.10-Question Pre-Knowledge Survey
- 3.28-Slide Core Presentation Deck
- 4.Slide-by-Slide Presenter Notes with full scripts, metaphors, and analogies
- 5.Participant Notes Version (3 slides per page with lined note space, PDF)
- 6.Two Participant Handouts: the Your Trust Map worksheet and a Before You Plan an Event checklist
- 7.Group Breakout Session Kit (45 minutes, with group agreements, discussion prompts, and scribe and reporter templates)
- 8.10-Question Post-Knowledge Survey
- 9.Companion eBook (50 pages)
- 10.Optional Premium Prezi Storyboard, 28 frames (+20 percent)
Preview the materials
Five pieces of the kit to explore: the deck, presenter notes, handouts, the breakout kit, and the companion eBook. Open any one and page through real, watermarked samples.
Open preview, no signup required. Saving and printing are disabled to protect the material.
Open preview, no signup required. Saving, printing, and downloading are disabled to protect the material.
Frequently asked questions
Licensing options
Standard License
$397
Single-organization internal use. Delivered ready to facilitate.
Custom-Fit
$697
Your agency's name on the cover, your state's resources in the script, and a short call with our team before we build it, so the training already sounds like your community instead of being adapted after the fact.
White-Label / Agency License
$1,495
Full redistribution rights across every site in your network, source files your team can keep customizing, and a live orientation session so your trainers launch with confidence instead of a PDF and a login.
Because these are downloadable digital toolkits, all sales are final once a file is delivered. If a refund is approved by our team for an exceptional circumstance, a 25 percent processing fee applies to cover the cost of deactivating the license. Full terms are in our End-User License Agreement.