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Community Playbooks

This folder turns “community engagement” into a small, repeatable practice.

Goal: reduce the monthly squeeze and lower the odds we get split by fear + scapegoats.

We do that by running a loop:

Squeeze -> bottleneck -> one measurable ask -> follow-up -> scoreboard -> repeat

What this playbook is for

This is for people who want to be useful without becoming a full-time policy person. The job is not to solve everything. The job is to pick one pressure point, ask for one real change, and stay on it long enough to learn something.

The newer case-study work sharpened the kinds of asks that tend to matter most:

• price clarity people can understand before they commit
• fair terms when people are stuck or have low exit options
• throughput so forms, permits, approvals, and handoffs do not drag forever
• real access to the things people need to work and live

What’s inside

• Community OS (E4E)
  The operating system: the repeatable loop, roles, and rhythm.

• Community Modules (Topic Menus) Topic menus with concrete asks you can lift into a one-pager or meeting.

• Places (E4E) Place wrappers that keep the target, bottleneck, scoreboard, and next decision date in one place.

• One-Pager Template (Community)
  The one-page handout: problem -> mechanism -> options -> recommendation -> ask -> success.

• Meeting Agenda Template (30 minutes)
  A simple agenda for a small group (or you + one ally) to stay action-oriented.

• Scoreboard Template (Owner + Metric + Follow-Up)
  A lightweight way to track the ask, the owner, the metric, and the follow-up.

• Place Playbook Template (Belief Tests + Scoreboard)
  A place-specific belief-test template (3-5 tests, falsifiable, updated quarterly).

Current topic modules

• Housing
• Healthcare
• Childcare
• Education
• Transportation
• Energy

These are menus, not manifestos. Pick one bottleneck and one ask.

How to use (the 10-minute version)

1. Pick one place and one squeeze target for the quarter
2. Pick one module and steal a usable ask
3. Write a one-pager with one measurable ask
4. Put it on a scoreboard with an owner and date
5. Show up (meeting / email / comment) and follow up once
6. Repeat monthly; update belief tests quarterly

What a strong ask looks like

A strong ask usually names:

• the rule
• the owner
• the metric
• the deadline

If it cannot answer those four questions yet, it is probably still a complaint, not an ask.

Definition of done

A community sprint is done when it produces:

1. one measurable ask
2. one owner and one channel
3. one follow-up date
4. one updated scoreboard or log entry

Success criteria

This is working if:

• you can name the bottleneck in one sentence
• you can ask for one measurable change
• you have a follow-up date
• you are building shared reality without contempt
• the group can keep going without needing a hero every week

Weekly default

Pick one:

• one ask drafted or sent
• one meeting attended or watched
• one follow-up completed
• one scoreboard updated

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