Steve Brigham Interview from NCDD Seattle

Posted on November 4, 2013 by Andy Fluke

At the 2012 NCDD national conference in Seattle, NCDD member and filmmaker Jeffrey Abelson sat down with over a dozen leaders in our community to ask them about their work and their hopes and concerns for our field and for democratic governance in our country.

Today we’re featuring the interview with Steve Brigham, President of AmericaSpeaks. An organizational member of NCDD and one of our founding members back in 2002, AmericaSpeaks supported NCDD Seattle by co-sponsoring the conference.

AmericaSpeaks is a Washington, D.C.-based non-partisan, non-profit organization whose mission is to “engage citizens in the public decisions that impact their lives.” AmericaSpeaks’ work is focused on trying to create opportunities for citizens to impact decisions and to encourage public officials to make informed, lasting decisions. AmericaSpeaks has developed and facilitated deliberative methods such as the 21st Century Town Hall Meeting, which enables facilitated discussion for 500 to 5,000 participants. Its partners have included regional planning groups, local, state, and national government bodies, national and international organizations. Issues have ranged from Social Security reform, the redevelopment of ground zero in New York and rebuilding New Orleans.

See the “NCDD 2012” tag for more videos from NCDD Seattle, which brought together 400 leaders and innovators in our field. You can also check out Jeffrey Abelson’s Song of a Citizen YouTube channel and our NCDD 2012 Seattle playlist on YouTube.

Making Public Participation Legal launched at Brookings

Posted on October 25, 2013 by Sandy Heierbacher

Most of the laws that govern public participation in the U.S. are over thirty years old. They do not match the expectations and capacities of citizens today, they pre-date the Internet, and they do not reflect the lessons learned in the last two decades about how citizens and governments can work together. Increasingly, public administrators and public engagement practitioners are hindered by the fact that it’s unclear if many of the best practices in participation are even allowed by the law.

Making Public Participation Legal, a new publication of the National Civic League (with support from the National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation), presents a valuable set of tools, including a model ordinance, set of policy options, and resource list, to help communities improve public participation.

We released the publication at a launch event on Wednesday (October 23rd) at the Brookings Institution in D.C. Download this free — but extremely valuable — publication today at www.tinyurl.com/p2law.

The tools and articles in Making Public Participation Legal were developed over the past year by the Working Group on Legal Frameworks for Public Participation — an impressive team convened and guided by Matt Leighninger of the Deliberative Democracy Consortium (DDC).

In addition to DDC, NCL and NCDD, the Working Group also includes representatives of the American Bar Association, International Municipal Lawyers Association, National League of Cities, Policy Consensus Initiative, International Association for Public Participation, and International City/County Management Association, as well as leading practitioners and scholars of public participation.

Wednesday’s launch event was opened by Darrell West, Brookings’ VP and director of Governance Studies and the director of the Center for Technology Innovation. Members of an expert panel described the overarching problem as the lack of guiding principles to govern civic engagement. The panelists included moderator Matt Leighninger, executive director of the Deliberative Democracy Consortium, Lisa Blomgren Amsler, professor of public service at Indiana University, Mike Huggins, former city manager in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and Kevin Curry, Program Director for the Code for America Brigade.

The main remedy the panelists proposed was the Model Municipal Public Participation Ordinance. Prof. Amsler said it would be a starting point to set the ground for whoever wants to innovate. The way public participation is defined in the ordinance allows for increased freedom of discussion and innovation. She also advocated for local government offices to appoint an individual to learn about public engagement, pass on that knowledge, and bridge the gap between the local government and the people in regards to public participation.

Leighninger described the situation created by the ordinance as “a model which … does not require public participation in any particular format but enables and supports what we hope will be better public participation.”

Huggins also supported the ordinance because it would create a positive definition of public participation as a public good. He saw it as an important way to foster more communication between the government and the public. To Huggins, the ordinance would build a capacity for local elected officials to have support from the community through discussion and innovation.

See the Brookings Institutions’ full overview of the event here, or download the audio archive here.

Download the publication from the National Civic League site at www.tinyurl.com/p2law.

Discussion of stakeholder and citizen roles in public deliberation

Posted on October 25, 2013 by NCDD Community

Here’s a warm invitation from a team of top deliberative democracy scholars and practitioners (David Kahane and Kristjana Loptson from Canada and Max Hardy and Jade Herriman from Australia) to join in an important exploration they’ve embarked on together…

Some public participation exercises bring together people who formally represent different constituencies, other exercises focus on ordinary or unaffiliated citizens, and others combine these.

We’re a team of deliberative democracy researchers and practitioners who wanted to explore the distinction between ‘citizens’ and ‘stakeholder representatives’, and how these groups are brought into public participation exercises. A conversation that began at a workshop in Australia early in 2011 led into a virtual Australia-Canada workshop, and now to a paper in the Journal of Public Deliberation at www.publicdeliberation.net/jpd/vol9/iss2/art2/.

Here’s the abstract for the article:

This paper explores theoretical and practical distinctions between individual citizens (‘citizens’) and organized groups (‘stakeholder representatives’ or ‘stakeholders’ for short) in public participation processes convened by government as part of policy development. Distinctions between ‘citizen’ and ‘stakeholder’ involvement are commonplace in government discourse and practice; public involvement practitioners also sometimes rely on this distinction in designing processes and recruiting for them. Recognizing the complexity of the distinction, we examine both normative and practical reasons why practitioners may lean toward—or away from—recruiting citizens, stakeholders, or both to take part in deliberations, and how citizen and stakeholder roles can be separated or combined within a process. The article draws on a 2012 Canadian- Australian workshop of deliberation researchers and practitioners to identify key challenges and understandings associated with the categories of stakeholder and citizen and their application, and hopes to continue this conversation with the researcher-practitioner community.

We’re hoping that the conversation can continue here on the NCDD blog: we invite you to read the article and chime in with your stories, questions, comments, objections, and qualifications.

Here are a few prompts, to get you thinking:

Do you or others in your practice community distinguish between ‘citizen’ and ‘stakeholder’ processes (perhaps using other terminologies)?
The article explores reasons to involve stakeholder representatives in public deliberation and some cautions (pages 9-14): is there anything you’d want to add, modify, or challenge in this analysis?
The article does the same for citizen involvement in deliberative exercises (pages 15-18): what rings true to you there, or needs to be added or modified?
In the table on pages 18-19 and the text on 19-26, we look at different ways of designing deliberative exercises to include citizens, stakeholders, or both: how does this typology fit with your experience?
Overall, what’s helpful to you in the analysis we’ve offered? How could it be made more useful to practitioners or researchers? Is there something that you can add from your perspective?

David, Kristjana, Jade, and Max, the authors of the article, are very interested in your perspectives. We’ll watch this space and add our voices to the conversation (though there may be a bit of a lag to our responses, as we have lots going on!).

If there’s strong interest in this conversation, we may work with NCDD to find other ways of connecting with you and the broader community (e.g. a webinar, a session at the next NCDD gathering); suggestions welcome here too.

We know that our analysis so far is just the beginning of a conversation and exploration with the much broader D&D community. We’re grateful to Sandy and NCDD for this chance to keep talking.

Civic Health Clubs and… the Revolution?

Posted on October 22, 2013 by Roshan Bliss

I am excited to share with you today an innovative project that I’ve been involved with in my community that is an interesting twist on connecting people through shared conversations. The project is led by Evan Weissman, a local teacher, actor, and civic entrepreneur who has been working for over a year now to found a “civic health club” in Denver, Colorado called Warm Cookies of the Revolution – an effort that hopes to offer “an antidote to the loneliness that comes with Facebook and other online interactions” in today’s world.

I have been involved in various ways with Warm Cookies for a while now and have been able to talk with Weissman about the vision for his civic health club, so I’m happy to be able to share what I’ve learned with the NCDD community.

What is a civic health club, you ask? Weissman answers, “Say you go to the gym for your physical health, and to a house of worship for your spiritual health, and maybe a therapist for mental health. Shouldn’t you have a place where you can go for civic health?” So, as its website says, “Warm Cookies is where you go to exercise your civic health.”

As many of us know from our work, there are always people who want to connect with others who care about their communities, engage in conversations, find out about different points of view, or find organizations that need volunteers. But as we also know, it can often be hard to find a place to go to satisfy those wants and needs. So as a civic health club, Warm Cookies of the Revolution seeks to be that place.

But what’s with the name? It’s a question Weissman gets often. For starters, every event that Warm Cookies of the Revolution hosts offers free cookies and milk to participants. But the name is part of a deeper philosophy that Weissman and Warm Cookies hold about the need for deep, far-reaching change in our democracy. Thinking about what change like that could look like can be daunting and even a bit scary, so that’s why the “warm cookies” are there — Weissman wants these conversations to be accessible and fun:

What are the warm cookies of the revolution? What is comforting, enjoyable, desirable about the revolution? What will make the revolution appeal to regular folks that are scared by that word? Is there room for humor in the revolution? What sustains us as we work toward the revolution?

…People either spend their time on things that are necessary, like work and chores, or things that are fun. And just because something is compelling doesn’t mean that people will pay for a babysitter and come to discuss a civic issue. But if it’s fun, they will come… Most people react with a giggle to the name, and that’s important. For people interested in the fun stuff we do, they know there’s a civic purpose as well. And for the people interested in civic change, it’s important for them to understand that fun definitely is part of it.

So in addition to providing cookies at every event, Warm Cookies events are intentionally made to be part serious civic conversation, part fun social gathering. For one of its first events, Warm Cookies put on an event called “Bring Your Government“, where three different speakers — a Colorado senator, a former candidate for Denver mayor, and a local comedian — shared their thoughts on what their ideal government would look like, and steps for how we might get there. At the same time, participants were invited to collaborate on building a Lego city.

That is the feel of many Warm Cookies events: real conversation, but mixed with something fun to occupy participants’ hands or bring them together around food or a shared activity. It is an attempt to embody the reality that if we are really going to have a dramatic shift in our democracy, we are going to need to know our neighbors.

In addition to the “Bring Your Government” format, Warm Cookies has developed a number of flagship types of events that it hosts on a recurring basis, including:

The Civic Stitch ‘N Bitch initiates conversations on civic subjects are encouraged while participants get together to knit, crochet, sew, or do another hand craft.
Pie, Pie, and Pie Charts in which participants enjoy pizza, pie, and discuss current economic issues.
Sunday School for Atheists is a time for discussing issues of values, morality, and their role in society outside of the normal religious context.
The Huddle encourages participants to take time outs while they watch the Thursday night football game to discuss the social issues that revolve around professional sports.
and the Intergenerational Mixtape Show & Tell, where participants of all ages bring objects and music representative of their generation to discuss what it means to them, as well as the roles of different generations play in our society. (I personally worked on creating the first event of this kind with Weissman and we’re looking forward to doing more soon!)

The civic health club idea has been catching on and attendance at the events has been growing. Weissman and his partners with Warm Cookies of the Revolution are working to open up a brick and mortar location for the club within a year that will house more frequent civic gatherings and events and, of course, offer free warm cookies.

Opening the space is part of the larger vision to make civic health clubs, as an important infrastructure for growing our communities’ capacity to really practice democracy, a more regular part of our cities and towns. As Weissman says,

The truth is, there’s a sports bar on every corner, shopping malls in every town, theaters and comedy clubs. How about one place you know you can go for some fun and to learn how and why you can take part in civic life? Like my friend Stephen Handen says, ‘You don’t learn to swim by reading a book.’ We have to exercise our civic health. There has to be an action component.

I am excited to see Warm Cookies growing in my community, and we at NCDD are quite impressed with the creativity and innovativeness of this new way of getting our communities talking. We will be following the way that Warm Cookies of the Revolution shapes up with great interest, and we encourage you to do the same!

You can find out more about the new Denver civic health club at their website, www.WarmCookiesOfTheRevolution.org. You can contact Weissman and his team at info@warmcookiesoftherevolution.org. You can also learn more by checking out the Colorado publications that have written about Warm Cookies and Evan’s thoughts here, here, and here.

Long live the civic health revolution!

Join us at the Brookings Institution on Wednesday!

Posted on October 21, 2013 by Sandy Heierbacher

Tired of tense, unproductive public meetings? Want to embed better online and face-to-face processes in the way governments work? Making Public Participation Legal, a new publication of the National Civic League, presents a valuable set of tools, including a model ordinance, set of policy options, and resource list, to help communities improve public participation. The publication is being released at a launch event at the Brookings Institution this Wednesday, October 23rd.

RSVP today if you can join us!

Most of the laws that govern public participation in the United States are over thirty years old. They do not match the expectations and capacities of citizens today, they pre-date the Internet, and they do not reflect the lessons learned in the last two decades about how citizens and governments can work together. Increasingly, public officials and staff are wondering whether the best practices in participation are in fact supported – or even allowed – by the law.

Over the past year, the Working Group on Legal Frameworks for Public Participation has produced new tools, including a model local ordinance and model amendment to state legislation, in order to help create a more supportive, productive, and equitable environment for public participation. The Working Group has been coordinated by the Deliberative Democracy Consortium (DDC).

Communities that want to move forward with new public engagement processes and policies can also turn to an array of new resources being offered through ICMA’s Center for Management Strategies. CMS has assembled a team of leading engagement practitioners, research specialists, and subject matter experts who can help local governments develop and implement effective civic engagement programs.

Making Public Participation Legal is a publication of the National Civic League, with support from the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation. The Working Group also includes representatives of the American Bar Association, International Municipal Lawyers Association, National League of Cities, Policy Consensus Initiative, International Association for Public Participation, and International City/County Management Association, as well as leading practitioners and scholars of public participation.

2013 Gathering of Dialogue and Deliberation Practitioners in Virginia

Posted on October 21, 2013 by Lucas Cioffi

Nancy Gansneder at the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia and Lucas Cioffi, board member for the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation, have teamed up to host a 3-hour gathering and knowledge exchange for Virginians working in the fields of dialogue and deliberation, and… you’re invited!!

RSVP here by October 27th: https://www.eventbrite.com/event/8882256067

Purpose: This will be a fun and productive opportunity for us to connect with and share lessons learned with others doing great work in the region.

Agenda: All participants will have a chance to choose which topics we discuss. We will have a mixture of large-group discussions and small-group breakouts to cover the topics that everyone is interested in.

Time: 11am-2pm (lunch provided by the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation, and everyone is welcome to stay after the program to continue their conversations)

Date: November 7, 8, 12, 14, or 19 — you indicate which day you are available when you sign up; we’ll choose the one date that works for the most people, with a minimum of 10 people.

Location: Charlottesville, VA (specific location at the University of Virginia is TBA)

Cost: Free

RSVP here by October 27th: https://www.eventbrite.com/event/8882256067

Important: Please feel free to extend this invitation to others who may not have received it!

The Martin Carcasson Crew at NCDD Seattle

Posted on October 17, 2013 by Andy Fluke

With Candace Karlin, Kacey Bull, Jack Becker, Carina Mullen, Dilan Sutliff, and Mar Parsaye

Today we’re switching gears with an interview featuring a group of past and present Colorado State University students and their advisor Martín Carcasson, founder and director of the CSU Center for Public Deliberation (CPD). The group ran a pre-conference “Deliberation Bootcamp” at NCDD Seattle, offering an introduction to the world of dialogue and deliberation. In the video, the group discusses the work of CPD and the impact it has on both the programs’ participants and the community they engage with.

Watch the blog over the next month or so for more videos from NCDD Seattle, which brought together 400 leaders and innovators in our field. You can also check out Jeffrey Abelson’s Song of a Citizen YouTube channel and in our NCDD 2012 Seattle playlist on YouTube.

Participate in the National Dialogue Network’s inaugural topic!

Posted on October 16, 2013 by Sandy Heierbacher

The National Dialogue Network — winners of the 2012 NCDD Catalyst Award in the civic infrastructure category — launched a few weeks ago with their inaugural topic, ”Poverty & Wealth in America.”

Led by John Spady, the National Dialogue Network (NDN) seeks to coordinate local conversations into mindful national dialogue.

NCDD encourages all of you to get involved so we can learn as much as possible from this project! Here are two things you can do right now:

Download the “conversation kit” to host/facilitate your own gathering of family, friends, neighbors, or community at www.NatDialogue.org/get-involved; or
Participate on your own by reviewing the background materials and answering their national survey directly at www.is.gd/aloxol
Show your support of the project by contributing a modest (or not-so-modest) donation at www.GoFundMe.com/NatDialogue

The NDN network is a nonpartisan, voluntary working group of practitioners, educators and researchers in the fields of public engagement, governance, creative leadership, civic renewal, dialogue, deliberation and participatory decision-making in public issues. They’re building a voluntary civic infrastructure that connects conversations across the U.S. among folks who wish to examine a difficult and complex community issue with others who see the situation or challenges with differing perspectives, disciplines, or ideologies.

The NDN coordinates distinct individual and community conversations giving everyone a “sense of place” and voice within the larger national dialogue. NDN’s dedicated volunteers seek to revitalize and promote civic infrastructures within communities where all who choose to participate will impact the national conversation by:

Focusing intently on an issue over time with others;
Listening to the opinions and ideas being discussed in your community and across the United States; and
Speaking up about your own opinions and ideas in conversations with your family, friends & community.

Good luck to our good friends at the National Dialogue Network as they launch an ambitious project with a modest amount of funds! We welcome all those who get involved to share here what you’re doing, how you found the materials, and what you think can be learned to inform the next round.

Eric Lui’s Plenary Keynote from NCDD Seattle

Posted on October 15, 2013 by Andy Fluke

Today we’re featuring something a little different — one of the live recordings Jeffrey made during the conference. This plenary talk was given by author, educator and civic entrepreneur Eric Lui during our “Framing & Welcoming” plenary. Eric is founder of the Guiding Lights Network, which promotes and teaches the art of creative citizenship. Eric served as a White House speechwriter for President Bill Clinton and later as the President’s deputy domestic policy advisor.

Jeffrey also caught up with Eric a little later and asked him about the impact of dialogue and deliberation on our civic infrastructure…

Amy Lee Interview from NCDD Seattle

Posted on October 11, 2013 by Andy Fluke

Today we’re featuring the interview with Amy Lee, Program Officer at the Kettering Foundation. Amy handles media projects for the foundation, and is involved in foundation research in the areas of civic education and citizens and public choice. Before working at Kettering, Amy worked as a reporter and news director at WYSO, the NPR station serving the Dayton area, and as an associate producer at ThinkTV, Dayton’s PBS station. She has also freelanced for the New York Times.

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