Citizen Participation in the United States

1. Citizen Participation in the United States Workshop: How to Make Citizen Participation Relevant in European Regions Stuttgart, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany December 5, 2012

2. The Deliberative Democracy Consortium

3. The context: How have citizens* changed? • More educated • More skeptical – different attitudes toward authority • Have less time to spare • Better able to find resources, allies, information * “citizens” = residents, people

4. Three minutes at the microphone Retrieved from Cincinnati.com, July 27, 2012

5. Successful tactic: Proactive recruitment • Map community networks; • Involve leaders of those networks; • ‘Who is least likely to participate?’ • Use online as well as f2f connections; • Follow up!

6. 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; • Lay out options; • Help people plan for action.

7. Successful tactic: Framing an issue • Give people the information they need, in ways they can use it • Lays out several options or views (including ones you don’t agree with) • Trust them • to make good • decisions

8. Successful tactic: Encouraging citizen action

11. Successful tactic: Online tools • Particularly good for: • Providing background information • Data gathering by citizens • Generating and • ranking ideas • Helping people • visualize options • Maintaining • connections • over time

12. Strengths of public participation Making policy decisions, plans, budgets Catalyzing citizen action Building trust, fostering new leadership Connections = disaster preparedness Attachment = economic vitality

13. Limitations of public participation (as we practice it today) Lots of work for temporary gain Inefficient – every organization on its own Community moves back to ‘politics as usual’ ‘Engagers’ set the agenda, not the ‘engaged’ Limited impact on equity Laws on participation out of step with practices

14. What is civic infrastructure? The regular opportunities, activities, and arenas that allow people to connect with each other, solve problems, make decisions, and be part of a community.

15. New model ordinance on public participation Available at www.deliberative-democracy.net Developed as a collaboration of:

17. “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

18. Jane Addams School for DemocracyWest Side of St. Paul, MN • 50-200 people in “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 change • in INS policy

19. 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

21. Slides available at:www.slideshare.net/mattleighningerGuides:http://bit.ly/M1pvMphttp://bit.ly/iwjgqn

22. Resources • www.participedia.net • www.deliberative-democracy.net • www.soulofthecommunity.org • www.everydaydemocracy.org • www.publicagenda.org • www.kettering.org

23. Questions or comments?

24. Why build stronger civic infrastructure? • Make engagement easier, more efficient • Build trust • Give residents more control of the agenda • Better address inequities • Increase community attachment and economic growth • Increase residents’ sense of legitimacy and “public happiness”