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Category Archives: civic engagement

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The Civic Imagination: Making a Difference in American Political Life

Posted on April 10, 2014 by NCDD Community
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Non-partisan, interdisciplinary, and written for the educated lay reader, “The Civic Imagination: Making a Difference in American Political Life,” was released by Paradigm Publishers in 2014. Written by scholars Gianpaolo Baiocchi, Elizabeth A. Bennett, Alissa Cordner, Peter Taylor Klein, and Stephanie Savell, this book is an excellent way to further a conversation about what it means to be a U.S. citizen, a skeptic, an activist, and a dreamer of a better tomorrow.

161205305X_cf150The Civic Imagination is an ethnographic study of seven civic organizations in Providence, Rhode Island. For one year, the five researchers participated in each groups’ meetings and events, volunteering alongside activists, and interviewing leaders about their lives and work. All these people wanted to make Providence a better place to live, but their ideas about how political change is made, and the actions they took, were radically different. This book introduces the concept of a “civic imagination”– a cognitive roadmap that guides civic engagement, helps to diagnose social problems, and directs actions that affect political change.

In a time of unprecedented skepticism of governments, disdain for politics, and distrust of politicians, The Civic Imagination offers two key insights. First, cynicism and apathy do not go hand in hand! People who “are not political” actively create ways to make change. Second, how we think about politics shapes how we do politics. By sharing colorful stories and surprising accounts of how Providence activists go about making change, the book provides examples of possible forms of engagement and critical commentary about these approaches, paying particular attention to how engagement strategies can often be blind to or inadvertently deepen social inequalities.

Resource Link: www.paradigmpublishers.com/books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=356908

This resource was submitted by co-author Stephanie Savell of Brown University via the Add-a-Resource form.

Posted in All Resources, Books & Booklets, civic engagement, research | Leave a reply

Playing for the Public Good: The Arts in Planning and Government

Posted on January 3, 2014 by Sandy Heierbacher
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Arts and culture play a crucial role in increasing, diversifying, and sustaining public participation, navigating contentious issues, and fostering productive public dialogue and decision making. In 2013, Animating Democracy, a program of Americans for the Arts, published Playing for the Public Good: The Arts in Planning and Government – a trend paper that highlights a wide range of arts and culture-based projects or programs that broaden participation and deepen meaning beyond typical planning processes and/or governmental systems and structures.

When governmental and civic entities employ the arts to engage people in public processes, they often find new and effective ways to motivate participation, make decisions, and solve problems. In communities of all sizes, coast-to-coast, the arts are enhancing grassroots community planning activities and initiatives in participatory democracy. Artists and their creative practices are enlivening the workings of civic committees, town hall meetings, and action plans, at the same time they are engaging community members in education, advocacy, and policy efforts related to local and regional issues vital to the public well-being.

The paper, by Jon Catherwood-Ginn and Robert Leonard at Virginia Tech University, offers a brief history of and context for the roles of arts and culture in public planning and governmental processes and characterizes the various drivers, intents and outcomes, and orientations in arts infused planning and civic processes in these projects. While investing in the arts has proven effective in producing jobs and capital, economic prosperity is but one benefit of activating the arts in community.

Resource Link: http://impact.animatingdemocracy.org/sites/default/files/BLeonard%26JC-G%20TrendPaper.pdf

Posted in All Resources, arts-based civic dialogue, civic engagement, community building, gems, highly recommended, planning, public engagement, Reports & Articles | Leave a reply

Civic Studies Field Continues to Grow

Posted on November 15, 2013 by Roshan Bliss
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This post comes via Dr. Peter Levine, a civics scholar, philosopher, and NCDD supporting member. Peter recently announced on his blog that he will be helping convene a “civics studies mini-conference” this January in New Orleans as part of the Southern Political Science Association meeting. 

Civic studies is an emerging discipline that holds a great deal of value and potential for deepening the work of our field. I personally participated in Peter’s Summer Institute of Civic Studies last year in Boston, which helped me see first hand that the work Peter and his academic peers are doing to advance the discipline has a great deal to offer in terms of expanding and refining our own work in engagement. 

We will definitely be keeping an eye on the gathering and the progress of the civic studies movement, and we encourage NCDD members, especially our academic friends, to do the same.


Civic Studies Mini-Conference

Soon after the volume entitled Civic Studies is published, a daylong discussion of the same topic will take place at the Southern Political Science Association meeting (January 10th, 2014, in New Orleans).

As Karol Soltan and I write in the volume, the phrase “civic studies” is quite new. A group of scholars coined it in 2007 in a collaborative statement entitled “The New Civic Politics: Civic Theory and Practice for the Future.” Civic Studies does not mean civic education, although it should ultimately improve civic education. Instead, in the words of original framework, Civic Studies is an “emerging intellectual community, a field, and a discipline. Its work is to understand and strengthen civic politics, civic initiatives, civic capacity, civic society, and civic culture.”

The framework cites two definitive ideals for the emerging discipline of civic studies “public spiritedness” (or “commitment to the public good”) and “the idea of the citizen as a creative agent.” Civic studies is an intellectual community that takes these two ideals seriously. Although new, it draws from several important strands of ongoing research: the Nobel-Prize-winning scholarship of Elinor and Vincent Ostrom on managing common assets; deliberative democracy; public work; the study of public participation in development; the idea of social science as practical wisdom or phronesis; and community-based research in fields like sociology.

Here is the agenda for the mini-conference:

Civic Studies “Conference Within a Conference” 

Friday, January 10, 2014, New Orleans, LA

9:45 to 11:15am – Author Meets Critics for Peter Levine’s We Are The Ones We Have Been Waiting For

  • Author: Peter Levine (Tufts University)
  • Critic: Olivia Newman (Harvard University)
  • Critic: Ryan McBride (Tulane University)
  • Critic: Thad Williamson (University of Richmond)
  • Critic: Rumman Chowdhury (University of California, San Diego)
  • Chair: Susan Orr (College at Brockport, SUNY)
  • * Albert Dzur participating remotely via skype

1:15 to 2:45pm – Roundtable “What is Civic Studies?”

  • Participant: Karol Soltan (University of Maryland)
  • Participant: Peter Levine (Tufts University)
  • Participant: Tina Nabatchi (Maxwell School Syracuse University)
  • Participant: Thad Williamson (University of Richmond)
  • Chair: Peter Levine (Tufts University)

3:00 to 4:30pm – Teaching Civic Studies

  • Participant: Katherine Kravetz (American University)
  • Participant: Timothy J. Shaffer (Wagner College)
  • Participant: Alison Staudinger (University of Wisconsin, Green Bay)
  • Participant: Donald Harward (Bates College)
  • Participant: Susan Orr (College at Brockport, SUNY)

4:45 to 6:15pm – Author Meets Critics for Paul Aligica, Institutional Diversity and Political Economy: The Ostroms and Beyond

  • Author: Paul Aligica (George Mason University)
  • Critic: James Bohman (Saint Louis University)
  • Critic: James Johnson (University of Rochester)
  • Chair: Karol Soltan (University of Maryland)
  • Critic: Samuel Ely Bagg (Duke University)

You can find the original post on Peter’s blog here: http://peterlevine.ws/?p=12782.

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Posted in civic engagement, educational opportunities, field news, From the Community, higher ed, research, upcoming events | Leave a reply

Integrating News Media, Citizen Engagement, and Digital Platforms Towards Democratic Ends

Posted on October 18, 2013 by Sandy Heierbacher
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This 5-page AmericaSpeaks report examines how we might use new forms of media, digital platforms, and citizen engagement principles to reengage the center and those who have turned out due to apathy and disgust.

The report discusses some of the issues that need to be considered to bring the power of new technology and the digital world to the complexity of media, citizen engagement, and politics.  What needs to happen in today’s new news space to prevent many of the same structures of inequity, exclusion, and power from being recreated?

The authors note that the deliberative democracy field “is historically linked to in-person, face-to-face engagement and has been challenged to successfully translate to online and digital engagement,” but lists and describes several principles of civic engagement that need to be met whether engagement happens face-to-face or online: linked to decision making, diverse representation, informed participation and facilitation.

A segment of the report looks at four functions that news media might support as part of an effort to bring greater citizen engagement and connection to decision making and governance:  education, citizen decision-making, action building, and accountability.

This July 2013, authored by  Daniel Clark, Elana Goldstein, and Chris Berendes, was produced by AmericaSpeaks with support from a grant from the Democracy Fund.

Resource Link: http://americaspeaks.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/IntegratingTowardsDemocraticEnds.pdf

Posted in All Resources, civic engagement, decision making, media, public engagement, Reports & Articles | Leave a reply

We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For: The Promise of Civic Renewal in America

Posted on October 3, 2013 by Sandy Heierbacher
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Chronic unemployment, deindustrialized cities, and mass incarceration are among the grievous social problems that will not yield unless American citizens address them.

WeAreTheOnes-CoverPeter Levine’s We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For (2013) is a primer for anyone motivated to help revive our fragile civic life and restore citizens’ public role. After offering a novel theory of active citizenship, a diagnosis of its decline, and a searing critique of our political institutions, Levine — one of America’s most influential civic engagement theorists — argues that American citizens must address our most challenging issues. People can change the norms and structures of their own communities through deliberative civic action. He illustrates rich and effective civic work by drawing lessons from YouthBuild USA, Everyday Democracy, the Industrial Areas Foundation, and many other civic groups. Their organizers invite all citizens — including traditionally marginalized people, such as low-income teenagers — to address community problems.

Levine explores successful efforts from communities across America as well as from democracies overseas. He shows how cities like Bridgeport, CT and Allentown, PA have bounced back from the devastating loss of manufacturing jobs by drawing on robust civic networks. The next step is for the participants in these local efforts to change policies that frustrate civic engagement nationally.

Filled with trenchant analysis and strategies for reform, We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For analyzes and advocates a new citizen-centered politics capable of tackling problems that cannot be fixed in any other way.

Peter Levine is Lincoln Filene Professor of Citizenship and Public Affairs in the Jonathan Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University and Director of The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE). He is the author of Reforming the Humanities: Literature and Ethics from Dante through Modern Times and The Future of Democracy: Developing the Next Generation of American Citizens.

From the Back Cover

“As America has wallowed through an unprecedented decline in civic engagement, Peter Levine has been a lighthouse warning of the dangers of civic alienation. Now, he makes the encouraging case that although we will live for a while with the consequences of past mistakes, the worst of the storm is over.  Professor Levine concludes with ten common sense strategies that can energize the people and their governmental institutions while preparing a new generation of Americans with the values and competencies to sustain our reinvigorated democracy.”
–Bob Graham, United States Senator (1986-2004)”

Peter Levine is a remarkable asset–a scholar whose research is rigorous and unflinching but whose passion for democracy brims with optimism and engagement.  In We Are the Ones We’ve Been Waiting For, Levine catalogues all the ways our institutional systems discourage engagement among citizens.  But he finds and lifts up a million people doing civic work for a better world, and asks us to join and harness that energy for real change.  It’s clear-eyed and a clarion call–and a must read whether you’re a full time advocate or ‘just’ a citizen hoping to make a difference.”
–Miles Rapoport, President, Demos

“We know what it means to get better leaders.  But how are we supposed to produce better citizens?  That’s the question Peter Levine brings into focus. If the examples he describes can spur the one million most active citizens into a movement for civic renewal, we will all benefit from communities that are more deliberative, more collaborative, and more engaged.”
–Alberto Ibargüen, President and CEO, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

“In an America now rife with inequality, institutionalized corruption, a jobless recovery and more prisoners than any other country, many sense that we stand at a nadir of democracy. With inspiring erudition, Levine points to an unlikely solution: the people themselves. Drawing from experiences in schools from Washington, D.C. to neighborhoods in San Antonio, he develops a pragmatic approach to civic revitalization that builds upon developments in organizing, deliberation, civic education, and public service, but goes far beyond any of these to reach for an ambitious vision of participatory democracy. He asks us to join the emerging civic movement he describes, and we all should.”
–Archon Fung, Ford Foundation Professor of Citizenship and Democracy, Harvard Kennedy School

Resource Link: www.amazon.com/Are-Ones-Have-Been-Waiting/dp/019993942X/ (on Amazon, you can peek into a large portion of the book!)

Posted in All Resources, Books & Booklets, civic engagement, D&D field, decision making, deliberation, democratic renewal, highly recommended, must-have books, public engagement | Leave a reply

Tackling Wicked Problems Takes Resident Engagement

Posted on August 19, 2013 by Courtney Breese
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This August 2013 article addresses the increasing need for local governments to utilize public engagement and collaboration in order to address local, national and global issues despite the trend of citizen detachment from public problem solving, and the challenge of may government officials not having the resources or knowledge to do so.

It was written by NCDD Supporting Member Mike Huggins and Cheryl Hilvert for the International City/County Management Association’s  (ICMA) magazine, Public Management. ICMA’s mission is to create excellence in local governance by developing and fostering professional management to build better communities.

From the article:

In dealing with the local impacts of national and global issues and the myriad other problems confronting local governments, managers must do so in a public policy context more frequently characterized by widely dispersed expertise in the community, rapidly expanding social media platforms and venues for sharing information and opinions, more organized and active advocacy groups, more incivility in public discourse, and a declining public trust in government.

The difficult issues and challenging environments confronting local governments result in managers operating more and more in the realm of what may be called wicked problems: complex, interdependent issues that lack a clear problem definition and involve the conflicting perspectives of multiple stakeholders.

While collaboration and engagement are suggested as an appropriate approach to wicked problems, to many this represents a challenge that is wicked in and of itself. Many managers simply don’t know where to begin, how to plan effective programs for engagement, how to measure their efforts, or where to turn for resources and assistance.

Strategies:

The article outlines several emerging strategies coming from a variety of sources, including Carolyn Lukensmeyer and the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2). Following a review of the research findings, the author’s provide a list of 10 suggestions that managers should consider in building an effective engagement strategy for their communities:

  1. Take stock of what you are already doing, distinguishing between exchange and engagement efforts.
  2. Assess how receptive your organization is to initiatives from community groups and to what extent your organizational culture supports civic engagement.
  3. Work with your elected officials to convene a community conversation on engagement to hear from residents how they wish to be involved in shaping community life and how local government could contribute to meeting their aspirations.
  4. Identify potential issues that need resident engagement and involvement, including new ways staff could interact with residents in the day-to-day delivery of services.
  5. Plan an engagement event by matching the purpose and intended outcomes with the appropriate technique and activity.
  6. Actively recruit diverse stakeholder groups beyond the “usual suspects” who always participate.
  7. Provide participants multiple opportunities to compare values and interests and articulate self-interests, and include opportunities in both large forums and small-group discussions.
  8. Seek to combine both online and face-to-face engagement opportunities and venues.
  9. Design engagement initiatives to move from talk to action by identifying tangible goals and desired outcomes; then, measure your success.
  10. Develop an ongoing program in partnership with residents and community organizations to build meaningful engagement and facilitate resident problem solving in the work of local government.

Article conclusions:

At the end of the day, effective civic action and problem solving depends on ordinary individuals thinking of themselves as productive people who hold themselves accountable—people who can build things, do things, come up with ideas and resources, and be bold in their approach. Communities need places and spaces where people can develop their civic capacities and their public lives.

Local governments need to recognize the importance of engagement work as well as the need for effective plans for engagement and ways to measure the results of their efforts. The local government manager will play a key leadership role in achieving these goals.

Resource Link: http://webapps.icma.org/pm/9507/public/cover.cfm?title=Tackling+Wicked+Problems+Takes+Resident+Engagement++&subtitle&author=Mike+Huggins+and+Cheryl+Hilvert 

Posted in All Resources, civic engagement, collaborative action, great for public managers, highly recommended, public engagement, Reports & Articles | Leave a reply

Video: Building a Culture of Participation with Dave Meslin

Posted on July 2, 2013 by NCDD Community
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Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Dialogue commissioned this short video of the well-known Toronto-based community organizer Dave Meslin in May 2013. The video showcases Meslin’s ideas to increase civic engagement and makes the case for why involving citizens in decision-making is critical in improving our cities.

SFU-logoThe video also marks the 2013 Bruce and Lis Welch Community Dialogue, titled Building a Culture of Participation. This event brought together City of Vancouver employees, members of the City’s Engaged City Task Force and community members to explore opportunities for increased citizen political empowerment in official City decision-making. Activities included an interactive public lecture and an invitational workshop that was jointly presented by Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Dialogue, SFU Public Square and the City of Vancouver.

At the invitational workshop, Meslin presented examples of active citizen engagement from his projects in the Greater Toronto Area. Meslin proposed four pre-conditions for citizens to engage with their cities: confidence; knowledge of the political system; an expectation of malleability or responsiveness; and a sense of ownership over their city.

Next, participants engaged in a breakout exercise, with the goal of designing a model engagement process that would achieve citizen political empowerment in deciding the future of Vancouver’s False Creek South community. For the purpose of this workshop, Citizen Political Empowerment was defined as a citizen engagement process where the City and citizens work collaboratively to frame issues, develop options and identify preferred solutions, or processes where the decision-making power rests primarily in the hands of citizens.

A full description of the workshop design, presentations and breakout group ideas is available in the final report, available at: http://www.sfu.ca/dialogue/programs/welch-dialogue/building-participation.html.

Funding for Building a Culture of Participation was provided through the Centre for Dialogue’s Bruce and Lis Welch Community Dialogue, a yearly event designed to encourage transformative social change through dialogue.

For more information, contact Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Dialogue at dial@sfu.ca or www.sfu.ca/dialogue.

Submitted by Robin Prest of Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Dialogue via NCDD’s Add-a-Resource form.

Posted in All Resources, civic engagement, civility, collaborative action, dialogue, gems, great for beginners, highly recommended, public engagement, Videos About D&D | Leave a reply

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