The crossroads of community engagement:

Moving from temporary tools to sustained plans and systems

Community Engagement Leadership Institute

Los Angeles, CA

January 11, 2012

The Deliberative Democracy Consortium

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 community 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 strategies

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: 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

“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”

“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.”

Other research findings about engagement

Having a relationship with a person of a different group = greater empathy and understanding

People get involved because they want to affect an issue, stay involved because (and only when) they enjoy the experience (both process and outcome)

Stronger feelings of belonging to community = increased likelihood that person will stay in that place

Stronger feelings of loyalty to community = greater community economic health

Successes, limitations of engagement so far

Why do it: Make a decision or plan in a reasonable wayGet more people working on the issueBuild trust

Successes: When done well, meets all three goals aboveGives new leaders a chance to step forward

Challenges: Takes lots of time (especially recruitment)Hard to sustain (not designed to be sustained)May meet goals of ‘engagers,’ but not ‘engaged’Doesn’t often change the institutionsTrust, relationships fade over time

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?

Need more sustained, holistic forms of engagement - regular, structured, enjoyable opportunities that enable people to: Connect with other people (particularly people who are different from themselves) Feel like they belong to a community that values their voices and contributions Bring their concerns and priorities to the table (they help shape the agenda) Participate in governance (they have a say/hand in decision-making and problem-solving)

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’

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 regularly hosts “neighborhood learning circles”

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

“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

Resources

• 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