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Community engagement projects often rely on quizzing people about their needs or news habits, and then delivering on those findings. But this may be an outdated approach, says Anita Li, founder of The Green Line, a hyperlocal solutions journalism outlet based in Toronto, Canada.

"This idea of consulting communities on their information needs isn't quite enough to continue engaging people in news and therefore help them advocate for themselves in a democracy, she explains on the Journalism.co.uk podcast.

In what she calls community engagement 2.0, the end goal is not more page views or subscribers. It is about improving the lives of people within that community and being able to take more meaningful action. There are too many barriers between the reader and the product, so news must take a more direct approach. Help them engage with the world around them instead.

Every month, The Green Line tackles one systemic issue facing the city. There is a four-step, four-week newsgathering process:

Resources are also provided to solve any immediate problems. On the back of discussions about the urgent housing crisis in Toronto, for instance, Li produced practical tools like a cost-of-living calculator and various guides from fighting eviction notices to catching up with unpaid rent.

Communities are complex and the reality is that many people associate with communities for different reasons. They consist of different stakeholders and so the needs can vary greatly. It is not so simple to serve a community in a single broad-stroke way. There are also different types of communities.

Li provides three useful categories:

Look a little closer, and it is easy to imagine how many of these can blur together. A racial community within a town. As journalists, our jobs can be a core part of our identity. Sexuality can be as much of an experience as an identity for some.

We have explored different communities with specific needs and how news products target those needs.

Ed Jennings and Steven Keevil set up the community Substack newsletter Local Authority, covering the area of Medway in Kent, and a county-wide title Kent Current. Medway, a borough of five towns, is home to some of the most deprived places in the UK, as well as very affluent areas.

Given this wide range of circumstances, it can be hard to hone in on exactly what the community needs. But Keevil narrowed it down to two key........

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