DemocracySpace.org

Stronger democracy: now's the time

The following post is by Martha McCoy, executive director of Everyday Democracy.

This week, an extraordinary group of people will convene in Washington, D.C., for an event that Everyday Democracy is pleased to be co-sponsoring with AmericaSpeaks and Demos.

“Strengthening Democracy: Taking Advantage of a Unique Time in U.S. Political History” will bring together about 40 leaders from the fields of deliberative democracy, electoral reform, and community development and organizing. We will meet over two days to talk about the current state of our democracy and the kind of democracy we aspire to. Together, we will define priorities based on the values we all share and identify the most important things that we and the next administration can do in the immediate future to strengthen our democracy.   

People are coming from such diverse organizations as the Kirwan Institute, FairVote, the IBM Center for the Business of Government, the Advancement Project, Mobilize.org, Rock the Vote, National Council of La Raza, New America Foundation, the Public Agenda Foundation, and dozens more. Though we come from a variety of disciplines and kinds of civic work, we hold in common a passion: We all want to advance the movement for strengthening democracy at this critical moment of history. The energy for getting involved and making our democracy work better for everyone is all around us, manifesting itself in people from all backgrounds and walks of life. We see this as a critical time to cross boundaries, share lessons with each other, expand our visions, and work toward a better future.

No matter who wins the election in November, no one leader or party can strengthen our democracy alone. That is why we will be finding ways to talk about our OWN responsibilities, not just create a “wish list” for the next administration. Where we think leadership and reforms are necessary, we will call for that. And we will hold ourselves accountable.

Over the next two days, we will identify the common goals that we share across the democracy movement, prioritize a set of cross-cutting reforms and actions. But we won’t stop with this meeting; we know this is just a start. With our individual organizations’ limited time and resources, we know that, even together, we’ve only reached a portion of the democracy movement in this country. We will make this a starting point of a wider conversation. We will work to broaden the coalition of organizations who can bring their own voices, recommendations, and commitments to the task ahead.

With this post, we’re inviting the participants at this event to use DemocracySpace as a sounding board to share their thoughts before, during, or after this week’s meeting. (You can click on "comments" below to have your say.) If you’re not part of this event, you can join us virtually by reading what meeting participants are saying, and by adding your own comments to the mix. 

Everyday Democracy is eager to use this turning point in America’s history as a time when we can stand together to help make every voice matter.

The Obama opportunity

Feeling dismayed about the way race remains a persistent theme in the presidential campaign, months after the Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy? You shouldn’t be. With the selection of Barack Obama as the 2008 Democratic presidential nominee, we’ve begun the next chapter of the civil rights movement. We shouldn't expect this to be any easier than the historic battles in Selma and Montgomery, Alabama, but we should also realize the possible gains in our country’s race relations could be just as great.

How can we best use this moment in time to make a big step forward for racial understanding and racial justice? In particular, how does the racial aspect of this year’s presidential campaign relate to the types of things that the many organizations, communities, and individuals who are working on racial equity in this country are addressing?

A few months ago, I heard Melissa Harris-Lacewell, from Princeton University, a Barack supporter, say on the “Democracy Now” radio show that the state of race relations in the U.S. at this point in history is such that we shouldn't expect to elect a black president without having a wrenching debate about race. She added that we'll have to go through it to get to the other side -- we can't go around it, or over it, or under it.

You know, that really fired me up. I had gotten depressed watching the TV pundits recycle the Wright thing, and had just stopped watching, horrified at the place the national conversation had gone. There didn't seem to be anything I could do. But then I realized that we have an opportunity every bit as historic as that of Obama’s nomination, and that is to use this moment as a chance to move to greater progress and understanding on race.

The really important thing is that this is the first time since the Black Power movement that large numbers of black people and white people are working together. That's part of Barack's miracle. The other part is that it's multicultural as well as multiracial, and that's completely new.

We have a new opportunity to explore the meaning of “race” (it doesn’t have a biological basis) and the meaning of “racism” (it’s more than personal prejudice or bigotry—it’s social). This time of our country becoming more diverse, of ethnic categories blurring, could be the turning point. We can create a large-scale, multi-ethnic movement to close racial disparities and create racial justice.

What hasn't changed is that there's resistance from those who benefit by keeping us all divided. What also hasn't changed is that a fight like this can't be won just over the airwaves or even on the Internet. If people want to see greater equity among all people and a stronger democracy, they'll have to get out and fight for it. To do that they'll have to be mobilized and trained, not just to get out the vote but to carry on a conversation in our communities that competes with and eventually replaces the one on TV. Then, we must also work to take those conversations to the next step, to create communities that include and work for everyone, of every color.   

I personally support Barack Obama and will work to help him become our next president, but that’s not my point. What’s important now is that we have an opportunity to use Obama’s nomination to turn off the TV -- and yes, talk about race - but also to work together to make big gains toward greater racial equity, no matter who wins the election.

Harold McDougall is a professor of law at Howard University and a board member of the Paul J. Aicher Foundation, a non-partisan organization that oversees the work of Everyday Democracy.

Hard times can inspire creativity

Writing at her "Smart Communities" blog yesterday, Suzanne Morse of the Pew Partnership for Civic Change says pinched economic times like these might inspire local governments to seek more citizen input:

This is a time like no other to get citizens involved in the reality of local politics. I am not talking about a focus group to set priorities for local spending. I am talking about ways to inform and involve the public on the issues at hand. If there will be less for social services--say so--and ask for help. If parks and recreation are to be affected--say so--and ask for help. People are not stupid. They know that gas prices are affecting everything from food delivery to municipal services. This is an opportunity to change business as usual.

Suzanne goes on to say that the economy will eventually rebound, as it always does, and that if local governments take this opportunity to boost citizen participation in public life, "we will be better prepared, have closed the gaps, and will engage the community in ways not seen before." Read her whole post here - and if you know of any ways local governments near you are thinking creatively in these tough times, please note them in the comments.

The greatest challenges

Before the national meeting, Everyday Democracy did a survey asking those who planned to rank the greatest challenges their communities face. Those original survey results are here. But participants in Friday's afternoon plenary got to add to the "greatest challenges" list, then re-vote. Here were the results (on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest; new items suggested Friday are in italics):

Poverty    7.6
Cost of energy 7.4
Health care    7.4
Crisis in the public schools    7.3
Economic downturn    7.3
Lack of affordable housing 7.2
Growing gap between rich and poor    7.0
Role of race    6.7
Lack of infrastructure for real civic engagement    6.7
Moving from polarization to common ground    6.7
Failure of government to provide resources    6.4

Also on Friday afternoon, participants drew up a list focused on the question "What do we most need to work on?" See the results at our wiki.

Colorado Springs book talk

We've just seen a notice that Matt Leighninger will be visiting the Penrose Branch Library, 20  N. Cascade Ave., in Colorado Springs to talk about his book The Next Form of Democracy: How Expert Rule Is Giving Way to Shared Governance - and Why Politics Will Never Be the Same. The event is set from 4 to 5:30 Wednesday, June 11,in the library's Carnegie Room. Get more information here. Matt was a recent guest at the Everyday Democracy Book Club here at DemocracySpace. Read the transcript here.

Denver preview, Part I

Everyday Democracy's 2008 national conference, Making Every Voice Matter, gets started this Thursday evening in Denver, Colorado. From Thursday through Saturday, we'll have live blogging and photos from the conference right here at DemocracySpace. Today and Wednesday, we're offering previews of the meeting. This post highlights some of the key events that are planned. All sessions are at the Renaissance Denver Hotel.

Colorado, the site of the conference, has been a hotbed of civic experimentation for the past decade. John Parr, president of the National Civic League from 1985 to 1995, was at the forefront of this movement. On Thursday from 4 to 6 p.m., we will celebrate the legacy of Parr - who died late last year - through a symposium titled "What Have We Learned About Democratic Governance in Colorado?" A panel of civic innovators will talk about how Colorado communities are developing new ways for citizens to take part in deliberation, decision-making, and problem-solving.

Racial equity, the heart of Everyday Democracy's work, will be a central theme throughout the conference as more than 150 community leaders from across the country will share their experiences of addressing race and racism. Workshops focused on these topics will include "Why Addressing Racism is Key to Making Progress on Other Issues" (10:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Friday), "Making Progress on Democracy and Race: A Two-Way Street" (10:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Friday), "Dismantling Racism: An Essential Element in Creating Community Change" (10:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Friday and 9 to 10:30 a.m. Saturday), and three screenings plus discussions of the documentary Mirrors of Privilege: Making Whiteness Visible (10:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. and 3:30 to 5 p.m. Friday, 9 to 10:30 a.m. Saturday).

The Friday evening Civic Fair is certain to be another highlight. This social and networking event will feature displays, great Colorado food and drink, and some of Denver's finest entertainers offering Taiko drumming, hip-hop stylings, Mexican folkloric dance, Chinese pipa music, Native American magic, traditional storytelling, and more.

For those of you who live in or near Denver, it's not too late to join us at the conference. Onsite registrations will be accepted; the cost is $230 per person (or $195 each for teams of two or more) and $130 for youth and young adults up to age 25. Single-day registrations also are available at $130 for Friday or $100 for Saturday. These prices include meals.We hope you'll be able to join us in Denver. If not, please plan to follow the action here at DemocracySpace.

Wednesday: We'll look at the results of a survey in which meeting participants were asked to identify the key challenges in their communities.

Program provides skills boost

If you're reading DemocracySpace, you know that "business as usual" no longer applies when it comes to doing the public's business. You may also be the sort of person who'd be interested in Fielding Graduate University's graduate-level certificate program in Dialogue, Deliberation, and Public Engagement. The 19-week program will run mid-August 2008 through mid-January 2009, and an informational teleconference on the curriculum will happen at 5 p.m. Eastern next Wednesday, June 4. (To register for that teleconference, contact Nathan Lewin.)

The program - now in its fifth year - is designed and delivered in collaboration with The International Institute for Sustained Dialogue, the Kettering Foundation, and the Public Dialogue Consortium. By focusing on recent innovations and by working with faculty and guest speakers who are pioneers in the field, the program helps professionals achieve mastery in the practice of dialogue and deliberation. Online and telephone coursework will be complemented by two face-to-face workshops, set for October 5-8 in Austin, Texas, and January 10-13 in Santa Barbara, California.

Tuition is $3,490 for students who register by July 15. National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation members get a discounted rate of $3,140 before that date. After July 15, tuition rises to $3,740 (or $3,390 for NCDD members). Click here to read testimonials from past students, and here to register.

Introducing "webstorming"

You've heard of brainstorming, of course. Here at DemocracySpace, we'd like to start a wave of webstorming - and we need your help.

Do you have a vexing question about organizing large-scale, action-oriented dialogues in your community, or taking them to the next level? Would you like to ask others who've "been there, done that" how to recruit and train facilitators, attract more (and more varied) participants, publicize your programs to a wider range of people, involve elected and appointed officials, or implement action ideas from the beginning? We invite you to post your question here at DemocracySpace, where we can put the collective energy, knowledge, and insights of Everyday Democracy's staff, associates, and colleagues to work on it.

The webstorming sessions will be a variation on the water coolers we've held most months, which - although useful and full of information - require that you be online at a certain time and that you continually refresh your browser to keep up with the discussions. Webstorming sessions will be more relaxed: We'll feature a question in a post here at DemSpace, then ask people to add their ideas and input in the comments for a week or so. That way, people can check in at their convenience and yet still contribute information in a timely and focused way.

So send your burning questions to blog manager Julie Fanselow. Please include your contact information in your email. We look forward to webstorming with you in the very near future!

The Friday digest will return next week. Enjoy your holiday weekend ...

Welcome to the book club (5/08)

Update ... click here for the easier-to-read, threaded version of this discussion.

Welcome to this month's water cooler, which is also the spring meeting of the Everyday Democracy Book Club. For the next hour, from 1 to 2 p.m. Eastern, we'll be discussing The Next Form of Democracy: How Expert Rule Is Giving Way to Shared Governance - and Why Politics Will Never Be the Same with its author, Matt Leighninger.

Matt is the executive director of the Deliberative Democracy Consortium as well as a senior associate with Everyday Democracy. His book, published by the Vanderbilt University Press, draws from his years of working with communities to better engage citizens in decision making, problem solving, and the daily work of democracy. As the jacket copy says:

Beneath the national radar, the relationship between citizens and government is undergoing a dramatic shift. More than ever before, citizens are educated, skeptical, and capable of bringing the decision-making process to a sudden halt. Public officials and other leaders are tired of confrontation and desperate for resources. In order to address persistent challenges like education, race relations, crime prevention, land use planning, and economic development, communities have been forced to find new ways for people and public servants to work together.

During the next hour, we'l learn from Matt and each other how innovative public officials and committed activists are forging new ways to run our neighborhoods, cities, counties, and beyond. Here's how the water cooler will work:

I'll ask Matt the first question at 1 p.m. Eastern. To follow the Q&A discussion, click on the word "comments" below this post. If you'd like to pose a question or add a comment, look for the phrase "POST A COMMENT" at the end of the existing comments. Below it, insert 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 in the box, then click “post.”

Please note: You will need to refresh your browser periodically to see the latest questions and comments that have been posted and answered. If traffic gets heavy, you may be asked to verify your comment with a "captcha check," or typing in a string of letters.

Also, if you see that several questions have already been asked, please be kind and give Matt a chance to catch up before posting your question.
We'll post a rethreaded, easier-to-read version of this live blog at our wiki within 24 hours. (You can read past water cooler discussions there, too.)

Thank you for joining us for today's meeting of the Everyday Democracy Book Club! And now, let the discussion begin ...

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.