What Does Your Community Need?

*Identify which civic need (agency, belonging, or well-being) is most urgent in your community, and what assets already exist to build on.*

*When to use:* The front door. Run this before choosing a recipe.

1. Listen to Your Community — Go listen: take a walk, visit a community space, scroll local groups, sit in a coffee shop and eavesdrop. Note which signals you hear.
2. Identify Patterns — Which category had the most checks? Which statements resonated most? Which observations felt most acute? What surprised you?
3. Asset Mapping — What does your community already have? (You have more than you think.)
4. Notice What's Already Happening — Which of the eight patterns do you already see in your community? What's working about those efforts, and what's missing?
5. Match Needs to Recipes — Based on your assessment, which recipes might serve your community?

Closing prompts

• Your Starting Point: Which recipe calls to you? What pattern could you build on? What's the smallest test you could run in a week?
• Reality Check: Who else needs to be in this conversation? Who might resist, and why? Who's already doing something similar? What could you try tomorrow with $0 and three people?

Details

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• source note: From the Civic Media Cookbook: 'Producing Civic Media: Recipes to Produce Civic Media Through Participation, Power and Community' — Jihii Jolly and Jennifer Brandel, with the News Futures Working Group (2026).
• when to use: The front door. Run this before choosing a recipe.
• closing prompts: Your Starting Point: Which recipe calls to you? What pattern could you build on? What's the smallest test you could run in a week?, Reality Check: Who else needs to be in this conversation? Who might resist, and why? Who's already doing something similar? What could you try tomorrow with $0 and three people?