A Community Engagement Framework for Health Promotion

This post presents a community engagement framework for the Scarborough Centre for Healthy Communities (SCHC), informed by the National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health’s (2013) guidance on community engagement. Using the NCCDH template and example summaries, the framework outlines how SCHC engages communities to inform health promotion practice and advance health equity.

Organization	Scarborough Centre for Healthy Communities (SCHC)
URL	https://schcontario.ca/
Area(s) of Focus	Community-based health promotion, primary care and social support services in Scarborough. Works with individuals, families and community partners to address health needs shaped by social, economic and structural factors.
Relevance to social determinants of health and health equity	Strong SCHC explicitly addresses social determinants such as income, food security, housing, social isolation, immigration status and access to services. Equity is a guiding organizational value and is reflected across programs and partnerships.
Intended Use	Community engagement is used to inform program design, service delivery and organizational priorities. Engagement ensures services are responsive to community-identified needs and support improved access, inclusion and health outcomes.
Principles/Values	Equity, inclusivity, collaboration, accessibility, respect for lived experience and community co-design.
Tools/Guides	Community needs assessments, client experience surveys, feedback mechanisms, community-based research, multilingual engagement supports and advisory and partnership structures.
Strategies	Community consultations, partnerships with local organizations, co-design with clients and community members, community-based research, volunteer and leadership engagement and ongoing feedback through surveys and program interactions.
Barriers/Risks	Engaging diverse communities with varied cultural and language needs, capacity and resource limitations, sustaining long-term engagement and balancing organizational requirements with community expectations.
Success Factors	Strong community partnerships, trust-based relationships, flexibility and responsiveness, organizational commitment to equity and integration of lived experience into decision-making.
Evaluation	Use of client feedback, engagement data, and community-informed evaluation to assess program relevance, access and impact, with findings used to inform continuous improvement.
Other Comments	Community engagement at SCHC is embedded across programs rather than guided by a single standalone framework, allowing engagement approaches to remain flexible and responsive to community context.

References

National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health. (2013). A guide to community engagement frameworks for action on the social determinants of health – NCCDH. https://nccdh.ca/resources/entry/a-guide-to-community-engagement-frameworks/

Scarborough Centre for Healthy Communities. (2026). About us. https://schcontario.ca/