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Tracking tales of civic revival

PACE - Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement - presented preliminary findings from its study of "How Local Governments Are Reinventing Civic Engagement" at a webinar today. "There's a lot going on, and it's coming from many directions," said lead researcher Mike McGrath, who shared these examples:

California is home to a groundswell of activity, ranging from Oakland's Neighborhood Law Corps to the renaming of Ventura's Marketing and Public Affairs Division as the Civic Engagement Division. In Palo Alto, the city council adopted public engagement as one of four priorities for 2008. The 1978 Proposition 13 property tax revolt in California created a climate where local governments faced with hard budgetary choices have had to seek greater citizen consensus on decisions.

In Sarasota County, Florida, several foundations teamed to create a nonprofit called SCOPE (Sarasota Openly Plans for Excellence). As its website says: "The idea for SCOPE emerged following a series of discussions among a broad-based group of Sarasota County residents concerned about the county’s future. After several informal meetings, a diverse group of community leaders came together to discuss the idea of undertaking a visioning or community goal-setting process." Since its founding in 2001, SCOPE has held citizen study groups on a wide array of issues, including affordable housing, family violence, traffic congestion, and  many others. See more about SCOPE's work here.

Dubuque, Iowa, was in sorry shape in the mid-1980s after the John Deere tractor company left town, but a series of visioning processes held since then have helped turn the former industrial town into a community that's pursuing riverfront development, a revitalized downtown, and greater broadband connectivity. A city that actually once had a "Will the last person to leave Dubuque please turn out the lights?" billboard now calls itself "the masterpiece on the Mississippi" and boasts the highest job-growth rate in the state.

Other communities mentioned included Portland, Oregon; Chicago, Illinois; Greeley County, Kansas; Lincoln, Nebraska; and Worcester, Massachusetts, where neighborhood teams use handheld computers and digital cameras to record code-enforcement eyesores and public safety problems. The PACE team also gave props to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, which has worked with Everyday Democracy as it has addressed community growth, sustainability, and education issues via its long-running Portsmouth Listens program.

McGrath noted how it pays to go well beyond the usual suspects (a.k.a. "stakeholders") in engaging the public. Many homeless people in Ventura, California, live in the river bottoms when the weather is dry and aren't keen to move into the indoor shelter during the rainy season. Through a community conversation on the issue, an artist who lives near the river suggested that the homeless people establish a camp. With help from a nonprofit and city resources, "River Haven" is a self-regulating, self-policing community of homeless people.

Today's PACE presentation left participants with a sense that although a robust civic revival in the United States seems to be well under way, there's plenty of work to be done to create a more coherent national movement. Some questions include:

What's better - temporary processes for public engagement, or permanent structures? If the former, should they be run by city employees or outside facilitators? If the latter, how can such structures be sustained? Should more decisions be made and implemented at the neighborhood level? Should citizen participants be selected randomly or by interest level? Can we develop a new language to better describe these new forms of shared governance, as well as minimum standards to guide everyone doing the work?

Kudos to the PACE team for its work. Anyone who wants a copy of the report can request one via email.

Remember: Matt Leighninger's book The Next Form of Democracy: How Expert Rule Is Giving Way to Shared Governance - and Why Politics Will Never Be the Same - cited in today's PACE presentation - is the selection for the Everyday Democracy Book Club, which will be meeting right here at DemocracySpace on Thursday, May 15. Join us at 1 p.m. Eastern that day for an hour of live discussion on the sort of examples and questions raised at today's webinar.

Earth Day, from sea to sea

Tomorrow is Earth Day, and we have examples of communities working to save the environment from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, hundreds of people turned out Saturday for the city's first Sustainability Fair, an idea that grew out of the Portsmouth Listens program, which for years has used study circles (large-scale, action-oriented dialogues) to address important local issues. The fair featured hands-on activities like pond cleanups, a sustainability scavenger hunt, and vendors selling everything from organic food to worms for composting. From the Portsmouth Herald:

Bert Cohen, a UNH professor on sustainability and co-founder of Piscataqua Sustainability Initiative, started the fair with opening remarks on the importance of a "systems approach" to sustainability, where it is infused in everything that the community does.

The phrase "change happens one person at time" might be true, he said, but to address an imminent threat such as global warming will require more than one person at a time.

"That's probably not the way it's going to happen," he said. "It's going to be a network of people who bring everyone together to create change. That's what we're doing this morning."

Read more about the Portsmouth fair here, and see a profile of Bert Cohen here.

Meanwhile, in Port Townsend, Washington, study circles on climate change led to a climate action lab where participants decided to focus on cutting greenhouse gases from motor vehicles, since every gallon of gas adds more than a pound of air pollution to our skies. From the Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader:

The question asked at the first action lab meeting was, "How do we get people out of their vehicles?" recalled Anne Bishop, one of the participants.

"We were bouncing ideas off of each other," she said. "It was a fun evening." They discussed creating street theater, encouraging people to ride the bus, proposing stories to the paper, and even changing parking requirements in the city and county building codes.

Anne's husband, Dan, said that increasing ridership on the buses is "probably the easiest important thing that can be done in the short term."

Read more here, and check out the Seattle-based group 2People.org, which helped Port Townsend organize its dialogues. (Seattle also is home to one of the best transit blogs anywhere, the Seattle Bus Chick. For a transit blog near you, click here.) Watch for more Earth Day news tomorrow, and have a look at Everyday Democracy's resources for holding action-oriented community conversations about growth and sprawl.

Does your town have 'heart & soul'?

The Orton Family Foundation is inviting communities of fewer than 50,000 people in four New England states (New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts,
and Vermont) and four Rocky Mountain states (Colorado, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming) to apply for grants of up to $100,000 to help fund planning initiatives that reflect the town's "heart and soul." Two communities from each region will be chosen.

From the Orton website:

The Orton Family Foundation helps citizens and leaders of small cities and towns identify and express their community’s heart and soul—those attributes citizens hold dear and that connect individuals to one another and to the community as a whole. When they are fully understood, these heart and soul attributes can be used to shape and drive decisions that protect and enhance local character and values even as change occurs.

According to a FAQ that accompanies the foundation's request for proposals, planning projects will include "an open, in-depth listening and visioning process characterized by broad, direct citizen engagement." Find out if your community fits the profile by reading the RFP here and the FAQ here. The application deadline is March 3, 2008.

Friday digest-open thread 1/4/08

The presidential campaign of 2008 has already been under way for a year, but voters are finally having their say. (Or at least some of them: The New York Times had a good article earlier this week on how the Iowa Caucus - often praised as the ultimate in direct democracy - actually excludes many Iowans since there's no provision for absentee voting.) Now it's on to high-profile contests in New Hampshire next Tuesday, South Carolina on January 15, Nevada on January 19, and "Super Tsunami Tuesday," when 21 states vote on February 5. By that point at the latest, we will likely know who is going to be locked in the longest and most expensive general election campaign in U.S. history.

Is this any way to pick a president? The National Association of Secretaries of State is promoting a major reform to the presidential primary system starting in 2012. Under the NASS plan, Iowa and New Hampshire would retain their early status, but every other state would primary or caucus under a system of rotating regional primaries held the first Tuesday of March, April, May, and June. That way, the general election season would be pushed back to its traditional start at the quadrennial party conventions, and a system now drowning in big money and media might return to some semblance of sanity.

Reform aside, the big headline out of the Iowa Caucus was how a record turnout of Democrats - bolstered by Independents and a few Republicans - chose an African-American man, Barack Obama, as their favorite. Many reporters are noting that it's interesting and hopeful to see such a result in a state that is 95 percent white; other commentators - including Christopher Caldwell in The Financial Times and Andrew Sullivan in The Atlantic Monthly - suggest that race is less a factor in Obama's chances than a generational shift. At his blog, Peter Levine writes how the Iowa results may signal a landmark year for youth civic engagement as well as a rise in a civil, deliberative style of campaigning.

In other news, check out the Study Circles Resource Center website for new stories of sustainable government in New Hampshire and sustainable employment in Wisconsin.

Friday digest-open thread 11/30/07

Wow! Where did November go?

Most of our news this week has to do with using dialogue-to-action programs - often called study circles - for youth in schools and other settings. Please add other interesting links or your thoughts on these issues in the comments below.

As seen on our website, Education World is showcasing an in-depth look at how schools use study circles to boost parent involvement and generate greater community participation. Through interviews with Amy Malick, communications director for the Study Circles Resource Center; SCRC associate John Landesman, who has helped study circles become part of the culture at one of the nation's largest school districts; and Jim Noucas of the very successful Portsmouth Listens program, writer Ellen Delisio describes the positive impact study circles are having in school districts across the country. “It’s getting people together on a level playing field,” Noucas told Education World. “At a traditional public hearing, there is no interaction. The school board does not respond to speakers. When you get people together in small groups, they all can contribute and create a marketplace of ideas.” Read more about how communities are using study circles as an inexpensive, inclusive way to address issues ranging from racial equity to redistricting.

Earlier this fall, we wrote about the new Youth+Adults+Dialogue=Action program then just getting under way in Lewiston, Maine. More than 100 people spanning nine decades of age took part in four weeks of discussion, and next Thursday, they'll meet for their action forum. Lewiston Mayor Laurent F. Gilbert Sr. says that they all came up with creative ideas, "and the action forum will no doubt be an exciting kick-off towards making some of those ideas a reality." Read more in this City of Lewiston press release.

A Fort Wayne, Indiana, area school district plans to begin student study circles coordinated through the local United Way in the wake of a recent incident in which students said they'd found racist notes in their lockers. The incident has dominated local headlines over the past week, with a story yesterday reporting that the students had changed their stories - but one noting that he only did so after being threatened with expulsion by the school principal. Whatever the truth, this incident shows yet again how school districts must summon the courage to face racism head on.

P.S. Two weeks ago, we held a water cooler live blogging session to talk about organizing youth-focused study circles. If you missed it, you can click here to read the transcript. Don't forget: Our next water cooler will be at 1 p.m. Eastern on December 13 right here at DemocracySpace. Join us for a lively hour of discussion on how communities nationwide are using dialogue-to-action programs to address poverty.

Friday digest-open thread 11/09/07

This week, we learned of a new report showing that college students are tired of partisan bickering and divisive rhetoric. Many adults beyond college age are tired of it, too; in Michigan, some have decided that compromise isn't a four-letter word and are working to build a bipartisan, citizen-based agenda for their state's future. From the Lansing State Journal:

The Center for Michigan has begun convening "community conversations" around the state as part of its Michigan's Defining Moment campaign. The message: If leaders won't lead, then citizens must....

... (Former Lansing Mayor David Hollister said), "What I see happening here is the elders of the state trying to step forward in a bipartisan and nonpartisan way to say, 'Time out. Let's have a more thoughtful, deliberative, open and civil discussion.' " (Read more here.)

Also in the Midwest, two women who volunteer with Diversity Circles in the Green Bay, Wisconsin, area were honored last week for their leadership. Anna Steinfest, who came to the U.S. from Bulgaria a decade ago, and Jeanne Agneesens of the Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce were recognized at the Women for Diversity luncheon hosted by the Girl Scouts of Lac Baie Council.

Here's another addition to the growing ranks of government officials who blog. Although his posts are infrequent, Dennis Vasquez, superintendent of the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site in Topeka, Kansas, is blogging at the facility's official National Park Service website, in what is apparently a first among NPS superintendents. Vasquez recently called attention to the "Civics and Civility Summit: Voices of the Kansas People” event held last Friday at Kansas State University.

Can community organizing influence elections? In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, a group that formed to support the community's consensus on preserving the local middle school chose to endorse candidates in this week's balloting - and every one of them won. "Friends of the Parrott Avenue Middle School was formed shortly following the Portsmouth Study Circles," organizers wrote to the local newspaper. "Our objective is to promote the renovation of the Parrott Avenue school and the preservation of the Sagamore Creek Conservation Land. Continuing our mission of renovation and preservation, we have endorsed the following candidates in the upcoming election. City Council: M. Christine Dwyer, Thomas G. Ferrini, Esther E. Kennedy, Edward Raynolds, Kenneth E. Smith and Eric Spear. School Board: Rebecca Emerson-Brown."

Speaking of Portsmouth, the impact of dialogue on its civic landscape was the topic of our October 11 water cooler session here at DemocracySpace. Join us again next Thursday, November 15, when youth-focused study circles will be this month's water cooler topic. Youth taking part in civic engagement within and outside school settings are especially invited to take part. The one-hour session starts at 3 p.m. Eastern/2 p.m. Central/1 p.m. Mountain/noon Pacific right here at DemocracySpace. Email organizer Julie Fanselow if you have any questions about how to take part in the live blogging session.

Edwards calls for Citizen Congress

Presidential candidate John Edwards brought national attention to the citizen engagement movement on Saturday with a New Hampshire speech calling for the creation of a Citizen Congress. In a message that also addressed campaign finance reform and voting rights protection, Edwards cited local engagement efforts by Portsmouth Listens, the November Fifth Coalition, and America Speaks in announcing his plan for a biennial Citizens Congress that recognizes the "wisdom of the American people and the power of deliberation."

According to the Edwards campaign website, "Every two years, he will ask 1 million citizens nationwide to participate in Citizen Congresses combining local town halls with the latest technology to create true national discussions, unfiltered by interest groups. Americans will discuss the challenges and trade-offs facing our country and offer advisory opinions to leaders."

We posted coverage of Edwards' plan and its origins at Daily Kos, the nation's busiest Democratic blog. The Saturday-afternoon diary drew more than 230 comments, and although much of the debate represented jockeying among supporters of Edwards and other leading Democratic candidates, some commenters expressed hope that the speech might lead to action. "It's clear our representative democracy is a failing system in need of major reform," one wrote. "Whether we are talking about voter ballot initiative, national referendums, or direct election of presidents, any proposal first needs to enter the political dialogue in order to draw attention to the problem. Great for Edwards. Even better for us." Many commenters wondered how a Citizen Congress would work, suggesting that Edwards now needs to flesh out his proposal with more specifics.

Matt Leighninger echoes that desire in a post today at TomPaine.com: "His proposal should serve as a wake-up call to the other candidates in both parties: They too should be giving specific proposals (not just feel-good language) about how they want to make democracy work better.

"All of these proposals should recognize, and build upon, the new examples of democratic governance that have proliferated all over the country. In hundreds of communities—and on some state and federal issues as well—public officials and other leaders are involving thousands of citizens in addressing some of the key challenges we face. ... There is a legitimate debate to be had here, and an important opportunity for candidates to clarify their own identities and philosophies. Instead of simply telling us what they would do about immigration, education, or Iraq, they should let us know what role they would like citizens to play in addressing these issues."

Also worth reading:

At The Democracy Movement, Joe Goldman offers more insight into how a Citizen Congress could work, and why it's worth doing. A snip: "National deliberations should empower the public and increase the capacity of our governing institutions to address difficult policy issues. Not only can a national deliberation identify clear public priorities, it can mobilize citizens behind those priorities. It should build the political will needed to act by creating a constituency behind a given action."

At his blog, Peter Levine writes, "It's a strong program, but there's room for other candidates to match Edwards or to make forays into other aspects of a 'democracy agenda'-for instance, expanding the opportunities for national and community service, improving civic education, rethinking the federal civil service, and revising No Child Left Behind so that citizens can get more involved with their schools."

Update: Edwards' speech can be viewed on the C-SPAN website. Look under "recent programs" for "Fmr. Sen. John Edwards Campaigns in Keene, N.H." The speech begins 50 minutes into the file, and Edwards talks about the Citizen Congress at 1:06:20. "Like so much of what Washington needs, this idea of grassroots democracy is already working out in the real world, in places like this," Edwards says. "Right here in New Hampshire, the Portsmouth Study Circle has brought hundreds of regular people together for over a decade to work out issues from school redistricting to ending racial profiling ..."

Welcome to the water cooler

Update: A threaded, more easily read version of this discussion is available here.

Welcome to the water cooler, DemocracySpace’s monthly series of virtual roundtables with interesting people who are doing citizen engagement work. I’m Julie Fanselow, online organizer for the Study Circles Resource Center and your moderator for today’s session.

It’s an off-year for national elections, but many local communities are electing leadership this fall. Our topic today is how citizen engagement can change the electoral process by defusing hot-button issues, setting a more inclusive public agenda, and inviting more citizen participation in elections.

Our special guest this month is Jim Noucas, co-chair of Portsmouth Listens, which has been building citizen engagement efforts in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, for many years. Portsmouth Listens has helped a wide range of residents have their say on issues ranging from the city’s master plan to environmental sustainability to whether to renovate or rebuild the local middle school.

Here’s how our water cooler will work: I will ask Jim the first question, which you will see in the comments at 1 p.m. Eastern. He will answer in the comments, too.

If you have a question for Jim, you can ask it in the comments as well. Or if you, too, would like to share a story of how study circles or other citizen engagement methods have affected the local political landscape in your community, please feel free to share that in the comments.

To make a comment or ask a question, click on the word “comments” below. A window will open where you can post your name (real names, please); email address (it will not be visible online); and, if you like, the URL of your organization or program’s website. Write your question or comment, then click “post.”

Please note: You will need to refresh your browser periodically to see the latest comments that have been posted and answered.

Thank you for stopping by for the DemocracySpace water cooler. Enjoy the discussion!

In the news: NH and IL

Check out these new stories posted on the Study Circles Resource Center website:

Citizens in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, have used study circles to address a wide variety of issues, including the city's master plan. Now, residents are getting set to start a new round of circles on sustainable living.

Quincy, Illinois, held its first Quincy Cultural Festival this past weekend to showcase the contributions made by Quincy blacks at the local, state and national level. The festival grew out of Quincy's study circles, which one participant called "a life-changing event."