In collaboration with the Annie E. Casey Foundation, BECOME has designed a community engagement rubric to support communities, agencies, and partners as they move from limited to no community collaboration to communities leading transformation. Building trusting functional relationships among people with very different lived experiences is the key to successful community development. Through culturally responsive practice, BECOME has developed an approach to engage communities in productive and sustaining relationships to improve the lives of residents according to their needs and visions for a better future. This rubric brings together voices and perspectives from residents, community leaders, and staff from nonprofits and agencies. True community engagement is a complex and ongoing process that will look different across communities. This rubric is not intended to be a checklist and the levels are not mutually exclusive. It is meant to cultivate genuine relationships and collaborations in hopes of maximizing project outcomes, impact and achieving communities’ dreams. Our hope is that this rubric can be used by various groups –from nonprofits and foundations to community residents and elected officials at all levels of government to help create real, sustainable community transformation towards an equitable, liberated, and actualized society.