On January 28th of each year, we celebrate Global Community Engagement Day.

Community Engagement is the process of working collaboratively with community groups to address issues that impact the well-being of those groups. While the term seems obscure, community engagement is a concept that is part of every person’s life. Every job that you have had does something for your community and working with people to solve problems within the community is a daily activity for those who work for high-end companies and government organizations. Global Community Engagement Day is all about giving appreciation for those people. Let’s learn about what community engagement is all about and how the holiday came to be.

Global Community Engagement Day began as an idea started by Engage 2 Act, an organization that aims to progress community engagement practice by bringing people together to talk about important issues in their community. Engage 2 Act started as a small group in Southern Australia who wanted to reach out to people all over the world about what they do for community engagement. Because they wanted to put the holiday on the global map, they began a poll, asking their social media followers what pioneer of community engagement stands out to them. Whoever answered the question the best will have their birthday used as their official holiday date.

Once the polls were taken, they chose the answer from Dr. Wendy Sarkissian and chose her birthday as the official holiday for global community engagement. Engage 2 Act has since been celebrating the holiday since its foundation, hosting a blog competition. By submitting their blogs and broadcasting what each individual does for their blog, and winners with the best blogs would get Engage 2 Act merchandise. People on social media are also encouraged to celebrate this holiday by broadcasting what they do for their communities and connecting with others who do the same.