The document discusses strategies for effective public engagement and civic participation. It outlines how citizens have changed and have less time to participate. New technologies and tactics like participatory budgeting, text-enabled dialogue, and online tools can help engage more citizens. Successful tactics discussed include proactive recruitment, small group processes, framing issues clearly, encouraging action, and making events fun. Ongoing engagement programs in various cities are highlighted that have addressed local issues through continual civic participation. The document cautions against mistakes like one-way online communication and gathering ideas without implementation.
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Beyond three minutes at the microphone - ICMA civic engagement workshop
1. 1
Beyond 3 Minutes at the Microphone
Participatory Budgeting, Text-Enabled
Dialogue, and other cutting-edge
practices for public engagement
Frontiers of Democracy conference
Boston, Massachusetts
July 17th, 2014
3. 3
The context for engagement:
How have citizens* changed?
• More educated
• More skeptical – different
attitudes toward authority
• Have less time to spare
• Better able to find resources,
allies, information (Internet)
* citizens = residents, people
4. 4
The context:
Families with young children
Have the most at stake in community success
More motivation to engage, but even less time
Want to engage in community, not just politics
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Three minutes at the microphone
Retrieved from Cincinnati.com, July 27, 2012
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“What drove me to try planned, structured
public engagement was my awful
experience with unplanned, unstructured
public engagement.”
─ John Nalbandian,
Former Mayor, Lawrence, Kansas
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Treating citizens like adults
Give them:
Information
Chance to tell their
story
Choices
Legitimacy
Chances to
take action
Good process
Food and fun!
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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!
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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.
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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
15. 15
SUCCESSFUL TACTIC: ONLINE TOOLS
Texting, Twitter, Facebook, Hootsuite, and beyond…
Particularly good for:
Providing background information
Data gathering by citizens
Generating and
ranking ideas
Helping people
visualize options
Maintaining
connections
over time
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“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
SUCCESSFUL TACTIC: FUN
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STRENGTHS OF OCCASIONAL ENGAGEMENT
Making policy decisions, plans, budgets
Catalyzing
• citizen action
Rebuilding
• trust, fostering
• new leadership
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LIMITATIONS OF OCCASIONAL ENGAGEMENT
Lots of work for temporary gain
Inefficient – every organization on its own
Community moves back to ‘politics as
usual’
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“PORTSMOUTH LISTENS” PORTSMOUTH, NH
Ongoing since 2000
Several hundred
participants/year
Addressed bullying in
schools, school
redistricting, city’s
master plan, balancing
city budget, whether to
build new middle
school, etc.
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JANE ADDAMS SCHOOL FOR DEMOCRACY
WEST 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
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“CREATE BUCKHANNON” BUCKHANNON, WV
Ongoing process since 2009
Weekly lunch, using open space process, called
“Meet and Eat”
Have created a park, a weekly summer music
festival and market, a city plan, downtown
improvements, and safe biking and walking
routes
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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
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DIGITAL DIVIDES (PLURAL)
Overall, Internet access growing
Different people use different hardware
Different people
go to different
places on the
Internet
Communities just
as complex online
as off
31. Text, Talk, and Act
part of the National Dialogue on Mental Health
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National Dialogue on Mental Health
• "Only 40% of people with mental illness
receive treatment. We would not
accept that for any other disease....“
- President Obama
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What is Creating Community
Solutions?
• Effort to organize hundreds of
community conversations and action
plans
• Ten lead sites
• Wide variety of other events: small
discussions, online dialogues, large
planning processes
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Developing “Text, Talk, and Act”
• HS pilot: Rex Putnam High School, Milwaukie,
Oregon
• College pilot: Roger Williams University, Bristol,
Rhode Island
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How does it work?
• Get together with 4-5 other
people
• Text “START” to 89800
• Follow the prompts
• If you get stuck, text “NEXT” to
89800
• Allow about an hour for the
discussion
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COMMON MISTAKES
Treating Internet as a one-way medium
Not enough recruitment
Transparency without proactive engagement
Gathering ideas and not implementing them
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Definition of public
participation
No mandates – model is
ADR
Principles for successful
public participation
Possible use of commission
or other agency at local
government level
Best use: to start a
discussion about how you
want participation to work
in your municipality
Local public participation ordinance