Planning for Stronger Local Democracy

Charleston University

Charleston, WV

August 31, 2012

The Deliberative Democracy Consortium

Agenda

Introductions and goals Best practices in engagement – and

why they aren’t enough Lunch Movie Building blocks for local democracy What are your building blocks? Next steps for WV network

Opening questions

What has led you to practice and promote public engagement in your community?

Why is this work important? What do you hope to learn today?

What do you want to learn?

How this fits in democratic system – especially with the feeling that ‘you elected us to decide’

Weed out the weak ones – resources, people, etc. How to get more people involved and active –

overcome apathy How to use carrots, not cattle prods Convince more people that engagement is important –

elected officials in particular Give people who want to make change a voice Overcome divisions and fractures in the community

Slides available at:www.slideshare.net/mattleighninger

Guides:http://bit.ly/M1pvMp

http://bit.ly/iwjgqn

The context:

How have citizens* changed?

More educated More skeptical – different attitudes

toward authority Have less time to spare Use the Internet to learn and connect

* “citizens” = residents, people

The context:

Families with young children

Have the most at stake in community success

Parents have even more motivation to engage, but even less time, than average resident

Want opportunities to engage in community, not just politics

Successful recent public engagement tactics

Proactive about recruitment Bringing diverse perspectives together Sharing experiences Giving people chance to make up their own

minds (deliberative) Different levels of action: volunteers, teams,

organizations, policy decisions Increasing use of online tools

Successful tactic: Proactive recruitment

Map community networks;

Involve leaders of those networks;

Hold a kickoff meeting;

Follow up, follow up, follow up.

Successful tactic: Small-group processes

No more than 12 people per group;

Facilitator who is impartial (doesn’t give opinions);

Start with people describing their experiences, end with action planning.

Successful tactic: Framing an issue

Provide an agenda or guide that:

Begins by asking people to talk about why they care about this issue or question

Gives them the information they need, in ways they can absorb and use it

Lays out several options or views (including ones you don’t agree with)

Ends with questions that get people to plan what they want to do (not just what they want you to do)

Successful tactic: Many levels of action

Successful tactic: Online tools

Complement face-to-face communication, don’t replace it

Particularly good for:o Providing background informationo Data gathering by citizenso Generating and ranking ideaso Helping people visualize optionso Maintaining connections over time

Digital divides (plural)

Overall, Internet access growing “Access” – to Internet, to government – has

never been enough Different people use different hardware Different people go to different places on the

Internet Communities just as complex online as off –

recruitment must be proactive

In other (fewer) words, the key success factors are:

Diverse critical mass Structured Deliberative Action-oriented Online and F2F

“Decatur Next” Decatur, Georgia

Large-scale planning efforts in 2000, 2010

Initial Organizer: city government and a local nonprofit (Common Focus)

Issues: schools, race, growth

450 participants in 2000, 680 in 2010 (city of 17,000)

“Decatur Roundtables” Decatur, Georgia

Outcomes: Decatur Neighborhood Alliance Promotion of tax abatement plan for seniors,

other anti-displacement efforts Less tension between different groups New model for land use decisions Extensive citizen input into city’s strategic plan

“Community Chat” Southwest Delray Beach, FL

Outcomes: Parent support group Youth basketball team Expansion of “Delray Divas” youth group Westside Neighborhood Presidents’ Council Citizen input to street redevelopment plan “Maintaining the Village” effort to rehab

housing New deregulated public

school - the “Village Academy”

“What To Do About the Flu?”Georgia, Nebraska, Massachusetts, Oregon

• Took place in 2005

• Centers for Disease Control, Study Circles Resource Center, Keystone Center

• Issue: pandemic influenza

• 500 participants

“What To Do About the Flu?”Georgia, Nebraska, Massachusetts, Oregon

Outcomes:

• Input used in Bush Administration’s pandemic preparedness plan

• Local planning to prepare for pandemic

“Horizons” Rural communities in seven

Northwestern states

Initiated by Northwest Area Foundation 284 towns, with poverty rates between

10% and 78% Issues: poverty reduction and economic

development 3,000+ participants

“Horizons” Rural communities in seven

Northwestern states

Outcomes listed in recent evaluation: “Community gardens and farmer’s markets, parks, trails (one with a $1.2 million grant), and recreational opportunities, community and community resource centers, scholarships for low income children and families for daycare, after school programming and recreation, including Boys and Girls’ clubs, car repair and home maintenance programs, and in (at least) five communities, the establishment of community foundations.”

Successes, limitations of engagement so far

Successes: Making policy decisions, planningCatalyzing citizen actionBuilding trustFostering new leadership

Challenges: Time-consuming (especially recruitment)Unsustainable (usually not intended to be)Meets goals of ‘engagers,’ not ‘engaged’Doesn’t change the institutionsLimited impact on equityTrust, relationships fade over time

Hmm. What do you think of this?

1. Does this match your experiences with public engagement? Why or why not?

2. What would you add?

What do you need to know about your community?

1. How effective are your engagement efforts – who participates? Are officials happy with how they work? Are citizens happy?

2. How effective are the grassroots groups – do they get things done? Do people participate?

3. Are there segments of the community that have typically not been involved?

1. Sustain the benefits2. Allow the ‘engaged’ to set the agenda3. Better address inequities 4. Increase community attachment and

economic growth5. Increase residents’ sense of legitimacy and

“public happiness”

Why plan for more sustainable kinds of engagement?

Social media is a critical tool for new forms of engagement

More sustained Larger, more diverse numbers of

people Easier for ‘engagers’ – recruitment

doesn’t have to start from scratch More open to ideas from the

‘engaged’

“Sometimes you need a meeting that is also a party. Sometimes you need a party

that is also a meeting.”

─ Gloria Rubio-Cortès, National Civic League

Community engagement planners should

consider some key building blocks::

“Portsmouth Listens” Portsmouth, NH

Ongoing process since 2000 Several hundred participants each time Addressed a number of major policy

decisions: bullying in schools, school redistricting, city’s master plan, balancing city budget, whether to build new middle school

Jane Addams School for Democracy West Side of St. Paul, MN

Community center that has hosted “neighborhood learning circles” every month since 1998

Involves recent Hmong, Latino, Somali immigrants

Young people involved in circles and other activities

Cultural exchanges - food, crafts, storytelling

Has resulted in new projects, initiatives, festivals, and a change in INS policy

Participatory Budgeting in Brazilian cities

Commitment from gov’t to adopt budget;

Wide range of ways to be involved;

A carnival atmosphere;

Started small, now huge – 60,000+ people

“Kuna Alliance for a Cohesive Community Team” Kuna, ID

Recurring input-gathering process, used on all major decisions

Organized by Kuna Alliance for a Cohesive Team (Kuna ACT), in collaboration with local government

Issues include: school funding, downtown development, planning and growth

500 participants annually (city of 6,000)

“Kuna Alliance for a Cohesive Community Team” Kuna, ID

Outcomes: New comprehensive plan Passage of school bond issue

Improvements made to downtown

New strategy to market community as hub for “Birds of Prey” area

“Democracy needs a place to sit down” Communities need places that are:

1. Permanent 2. Not just “open,” but actively

welcoming3. Centered on citizen needs and

priorities4. Powerful 5. Political, social, and cultural

“Democracy is good for your health”

─ Roger Bernier, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Questions for discussion

1. Does your community already have some building blocks in place?

2. Are there other building blocks that might be useful?

3. If you were to begin creating a long-term plan for your community, who would you work with?

4. What do you need to help you get started?

What do you want to learn?

How this fits in democratic system – especially with the feeling that ‘you elected us to decide’

Weed out the weak ones – resources, people, etc. How to get more people involved and active –

overcome apathy How to use carrots, not cattle prods Convince more people that engagement is important –

elected officials in particular Give people who want to make change a voice Overcome divisions and fractures in the community

Resources

• www.participedia.net• www.deliberative-democracy.net• www.soulofthecommunity.org • www.everydaydemocracy.org• www.publicagenda.org• www.kettering.org• On Facebook: “Deliberative Democracy

Consortium” group page• The Next Form of Democracy

Resources (continued)

• On YouTube: the DDC channel

• Using Online Tools to Engage – and Be Engaged by – the Public at http://bit.ly/iwjgqn

• Planning for Stronger Local Democracy at bit.ly/rWeHaU – and other resources at www.nlc.org

Slides available at:www.slideshare.net/mattleighninger

Guides:http://bit.ly/M1pvMp

http://bit.ly/iwjgqn

Next steps in West Virginia

If you could do one thing to strengthen democratic participation in WV, what would it be?Participatory Budgeting on use of CDBG funds in HuntingtonRedo the way we do public comment periodsPB on departmental budgets‘Kids meeting’ as part of commission meetingsRepeat Jamie Oliver project in other counties

Next steps in West Virginia

What do you need help with?Trainings for volunteers on things like how to engage young people in the communitySequel to this workshop, with teams from communities Help dealing with past community conflicts (social, political, racial, etc.) Revitalize committees – how to identify and recruit people who can jump in and help leadSuccess stories from other similar towns Help with grantwriting, fundraisingWebinars

www.wvciviclife.org www.wvhub.org www.participatorybudgeting.orgwww.e-democracy.org