Join the Launch of Harwood’s New Book – Stepping Forward

Posted on September 26, 2019 by Keiva Hummel

NCDD member Rich Harwood of The Harwood Institute has an upcoming book coming out that you won’t want to miss the launch of on Tuesday, October 1st! From The Harwood Institute announcement…

In Stepping Forward, Rich Harwood provides a new and inspiring blueprint for how we can rediscover what we share in common and build upon it in a way that engenders authentic hope.

Register below to join Rich on October 1 at 1 PM ET to celebrate the official launch of Stepping Forward! In a special online event, Rich will be discussing how you can begin to put the principles outlined in this book into action.

The launch of his new book will also kick off the Stepping Forward Campaign! We encourage you to read more about the book and the campaign in the post below, and explore even more on The Harwood Institute site here.

A New Path Forward

Many of us are frustrated by the divisive nature of our public discourse, mistrust and broken promises. We lack hope that we can bridge our divides, come together and get things done.

Rich Harwood offers a new path forward. He argues that we don’t have to accept the divisions, gridlock and negativity happening in our country. He knows, from working in communities for more than 30 years, that we can rediscover what we share in common and actively build upon it.

Stepping Forward shows us how to channel our frustrations, energies, and aspirations to get on a more hopeful path. This book shows us how we can step forward to —

Turn Outward to see and hear each other again and afford every person human dignity
Rediscover what we share in common by focusing on our shared aspirations, even amid our real difference
Recognize we must tap into our innate capabilities to produce meaningful change
Forge a new shared responsibility to marshal community resources to solve problems and harness people’s yearning for genuine engagement
Create a new can-do narrative by focusing on civic parables that remind us that we can be actors, shapers and builders of our shared lives

To get the country moving in a better direction, these efforts must start in our local communities. Then we can restore our can-do spirit and faith in ourselves. You don’t need to wait. STEP FORWARD.

Stepping Forward Campaign Launches October 1!

A book tour asks you to listen. We’re asking you to step forward.

The Stepping Forward Campaign is a national call to action. Rich Harwood is embarking on a two-year campaign to speak about how we can put our communities and our country on a more hopeful path.

This campaign can help you:

Take a leading role in improving people’s lives and doing that work in a way that builds the community
Mobilize community leaders and others to take action and improve your community
Stop feeling stuck and provide a clear path to move forward
Build momentum towards positive, lasting change

The Stepping Forward Campaign launches on October 1, 2019. Be one of the first to host a campaign event and bring this important message to your community.

You can learn more about the Stepping Forward book and campaign on The Harwood Institute site at www.steppingforwardbook.org/#about-the-book-section.

National Issue Forums Institute Reports on Climate Forums

Posted on September 10, 2019 by Keiva Hummel

Over the last three years, deliberations have been occurring across the country on the 2016-released issue guide, Climate Choices, both at in-person forums in several states and online via Common Ground for Action deliberative forums. The guide was a collaborative effort between NCDD member organization, the National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI), and the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE), and the article below reports on some of the takeaways from the forums. You can read the report below and find the original on NIFI’s site here.

Report on NIF Forum Activity: Climate Choices

When people gather with friends, neighbors, and fellow community members to deliberate on shared problems, they often report that they are exposed to ideas and perspectives they hadn’t previously entertained. They also often say that they leave the deliberative forums, not with completely changed minds, but “thinking differently” nonetheless.

Recent forums using the Climate Choices issue guide were no exception. In questionnaires returned after the forums, just under half of participants responded that they were “thinking differently about the issue.” For example, one participant from an Ohio forum said, “I now realize that everything we do to address climate change has other effects.” The questionnaires also show that slightly more than half of participants noted that they “talked about aspects of the issue they hadn’t considered before.” From a forum participant in Connecticut: “I hadn’t considered the possibility of rushing into poorly researched energy sources and possibly causing more harm than good.”

The Climate Choices issue guide was a joint effort of the National Issues Forums (NIF) and the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE). NAAEE’s interest in producing the issue guide relates to their Environmental Issues Forums (EIF) initiative, in which they hope to encourage a nationwide network to hold forums on issues that affect the environment. Since its publication in 2016, people have held forums using the Climate Choicesguide in Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Missouri, Ohio, and New Mexico, among other locales. More than 25 climate choices forums have also taken place online using the Common Ground for Action platform.

Some of the more interesting forum reports we hear about occur when multiple organizations work to coconvene forums. This was the case for a late 2017 forum that took place in Wichita, Kansas. Representatives from three different organizations partnered to put on a forum to deliberate about the environmental challenges facing Kansas and the world at large: the Kansas Association for Conservation and Environmental Engagement, the Kansas Alliance for Wetlands and Streams, and Kansas State University’s Institute for Civic Discourse and Democracy. Included in the group of 15 were representatives from county and municipal government and professionals from the energy and agriculture sectors, as well as local retirees and students. In this group we see people wrestling with trade-offs in a number of the options. According to the convenors, the group was enthusiastic about option 2 (Prepare and Protect Communities) but worried that possible actions would do little to address underlying environmental issues. In talking about Option 3 (Accelerate Innovation), the group was concerned about the number of unknowns and uncertain prospects for success associated with trying to innovate our way out of the problem.

Another interesting area of activity was Columbia, Missouri, where there were another six climate choices forums. Led by Christine Jie Li of the University of Missouri’s School of Natural Resources, three of these forums were at the Columbia Public Library, two at a local Episcopal church, and one with local students on the University of Missouri campus. The convenors of the Missouri forums report that participants felt anxious about environmental threats but were eager to take action. One participant said, “When I hear about climate change, I often feel overwhelmed and hopeless. It is such a huge overarching issue that it feels impossible to solve.” Another said, “I am curious to know my fellow citizens’ ideas and to work toward a community-supported decision.” Convenors from Missouri reported an increase in hope among participants after the forums with one participant saying, “I feel better and more optimistic that people are thinking about this.”

This article is based on analysis by Kettering Foundation staff of reports made available by the National Issues Forums Institute.

Participatory Budgeting Project Launches Global PB Hub

Posted on August 12, 2019 by Keiva Hummel

We want to make sure folks in our network heard that NCDD member organization the Participatory Budgeting Project recently launched a new global PB hub! We’re excited for this effort which will connect PB practitioners and provide space to share resources, and further expand participatory budgeting across the world. You can read the announcement in the post below and find the original on the Participatory Budgeting Project’s blog here.

PBP is launching a new Global PB Hub!

We’re thrilled to announce that PBP is launching a new global hub for PB practitioners and advocates, thanks to a $560,000 grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. The Global PB Hub will coordinate knowledge sharing, research, learning, and resource development for PB practitioners and advocates around the globe.

The PB Hub will build on the knowledge and expertise of implementers and supporters around the world. We will work with the PB community to map existing knowledge and to identify priorities for new PB research and resources. To start, we’re inviting PB implementers, advocates, and researchers to apply for the Hub’s Governance Board and Research Board.

Why do we need a Global PB Hub?

Over the past 30 years, PB has expanded to more than 7,000 cities across the globe, becoming the most widespread model of participatory democracy. PB leaders have generated a wealth of knowledge and expertise, but these resources are often inaccessible to local implementers and advocates. And despite PB’s global growth, local PB processes still face common challenges: limited guidance for implementers, labor-intensive coordination, empty top-down mandates, and slow implementation of winning projects.

These were the main findings of the PB Exchange, a co-design workshop held in November 2018 that gathered experts and implementers from 21 countries to assess the challenges and opportunities of PB implementation. Based on the recommendations of the PB Exchange participants, the Hewlett Foundation dedicated a two year grant to pilot a global hub to coordinate PB knowledge and peer exchange around the world.

What will the Global PB Hub do?

PBP is honored to receive this grant and to host the PB Hub. This global effort aims to improve and expand PB around the world by addressing the common challenges and opportunities identified by PB implementers and advocates. Over the next two years, the PB Hub will:

Establish new communications and governance systems for the global PB community, including a global PB governance board.
Create an online library of PB research and resources, to consolidate, organize, and disseminate the most useful PB research, data, tools, and resources in an accessible format.
Convene a global PB research board to identify PB research priorities and kickoff new research addressing these priorities.
Identify PB implementers’ priorities for new resources and tools, and develop and disseminate new tools and resources that address these priorities.

Call for Applications

The PB Hub is calling PB implementers, advocates, and researchers around the globe to apply for its new Governance Board and Research Board. We’re looking for candidates eager to improve the quality and impacts of PB, by addressing key challenges and opportunities faced by PB implementers and supporters around the world.

The Governance Board is the high-level governance and decision-making body for the PB Hub. It is responsible for setting PB Hub strategy and policy, planning for its financial sustainability, and ensuring that it is carrying out its goals effectively. The board is also responsible for identifying priorities for new PB research and resources, with the broader PB community and the research board.

The Research Board coordinates global research on PB and its impacts. It is responsible for developing a global PB research agenda and supporting researchers in launching new studies that address research priorities.

The boards will meet up to six times a year, with most meetings via video but at least one multi-day in-person meeting. Board service is a volunteer position, but we will pay for travel costs for in-person meetings.

Please help grow PB around the world by applying to serve on a board or sharing with others who might be interested in serving on a board. Deadline: August 9, 2019.

We’re also hiring a paid intern to work on the PB Hub – apply here and indicate Hub interest in your letter.

We look forward to working with you to build stronger and more equitable democracy around the world!

You can read the original version of this announcement on the PBP site at www.participatorybudgeting.org/global_pb_hub_launch/.

NCDD Sponsor Shares Housing Engagement Best Practices

Posted on August 6, 2019 by Keiva Hummel

The issue of housing is complex and personal, and during community engagement efforts it’s vital to be able to inform participants about key points of an issue in order to best people to make decisions and engage fully. Knowing what information to share can be a daunting challenge, which is why we encourage folks to check out this piece from NCDD sponsor organization, Common Knowledge, with some best practices on developing housing issue guides. You can read the article below and find the original on CK’s site here.

What do community members want to know about housing?

When it comes to providing information on complex issues, such as housing, it can be hard to know where to begin. Some people seem to know a lot, some not very much and confusion feels prevalent.

For the past four years, Common Knowledge has been engaged in ongoing research about how people from different life stages and life experiences learn about the issue of housing. We support communities in developing some baseline reference points that are then accompanied by constructive dialogue about options for moving forward. An initial pilot in Marin County supported by the Kettering Foundation led to an extensive project with seven cities, so far, in San Mateo County, sponsored by Home for All.

Our approach is anchored in interactive outreach to a broad cross section of each community, including those who have not been involved in past discussions about housing, as well as those who have been highly engaged. Throughout, we use open-ended questions and are attentive to people’s starting points on the issue. We also listen closely for the prevailing narratives and the stories people tell about the issue. What types of information or perspectives might be missing from their working model of the situation?

We have conducted trainings on this topic for Home for All and other organizations. You can see some of the training materials on this topic at our sample presentations page. The following are some highlights of our findings.

Community Information Needs

Before engaging people around any of the policy aspects of the housing issue, we’ve found that first it helps to assess what members of a given neighborhood or community need to know about housing at the personal, community and system levels. Attending to information across these levels is an important way to address diverse community needs and to meet people where they are.

For example, the Redwood City housing department provides lots of information about housing resources, several of which were funded by the city. Yet, during interactive outreach and dialogues last spring, they heard that many in the community were not aware of these resources. In response, they developed a bilingual, community-friendly Resource Guide, which is also available in print.

Housing Policies or Projects

Once people’s personal and neighborhood information needs are satisfied, they are better prepared to focus on what is happening in the civic arena. Based on our research in two Bay Area counties, we’ve found that information about housing policies or projects should address four central objectives:

Where are we now?
How did we get here?
What can we do together?
How can I learn more?

This type of introductory background information helps community members deepen their understanding of the current housing context and enables them to talk more freely from a common set of facts. Background information can include basic demographic data, information about who lives and works in the community and current housing costs.

To see an example of the range of information presented, see the presentation and background handout from Half Moon Bay’s first community conversation. Meeting materials from each of the seven participating cities in San Mateo County can be viewed on the Home for All website.

In addition to facts about the current housing situation, sharing qualitative information gathered through prior outreach, such as commonly held hopes for the future and shared concerns, also helps to reinforce that past input was considered and valued. Acknowledging broadly values and interests in the language used by community members helps develop a cumulative sense of shared understanding, while also creating space for concerns that residents may bring into the room during a community meeting.

This type of background information is purposefully not exhaustive, but instead a pen and ink sketch that community members then color in through dialogue with one another. We have learned how most adults make sense of complex issues like housing by talking with each other, rather than through statistics or opinion pieces. In fact, it is the intentional combination of baseline facts and dialogue, guided by thoughtful questions, that draws out people’s lived experiences and helps people grow into a richer understanding of the multidimensional issue of housing. We’ve observed repeatedly that the most progress in learning happens when people sit and talk side by side with those they do not know well – e.g., longtime residents next to new arrivals, renters next to landlords, people from different occupations and income levels. Together, they make sense of what is happening, making them more likely to trust the broader, shared narrative that they help shape.

Community Curiosity & Energy

Over the past few years, we have designed, helped facilitate and analyzed informal outreach, surveys and over twenty large dialogues about housing. In these contacts with about 3,000 diverse community members, some patterns have emerged. People most frequently express interest in learning more about:

Current Actions on Housing: What are local governments, nonprofits, businesses and other community members already doing right now to address the community’s housing needs?
Innovative Solutions: How are cities thinking creatively about housing? What new approaches are being considered?
Community Partnerships: How are public agencies, employers, organizations and local groups working together to address the community’s housing needs? How have other cities formed creative partnerships to address land use or funding needs?
Related & Overlapping Issues: How is housing being addressed alongside related complex challenges, such as traffic, transportation or climate resilience? What is being done to ensure new developments address the community’s shared challenges?
Ways to Get Involved: In addition to staying involved with the civic process, people appreciate knowing about concrete actions they can take to enhance housing options, such as home sharing, helping to refurbish housing stock and other volunteer opportunities. People want to be able to share information about resources with others.

Accessible & Responsive Information Design

In addition to addressing the topics listed above, we’re also helping cities to be more inclusive, engaging new community members, particularly those who may have been less likely to participate in formal “civic process.” At Common Knowledge, one of our guiding principles is that information should be accessible and responsive, meaning we design for the broadest audience possible and iterate based on community member feedback.

Through interviews, surveys and feedback forms, we continually assess how well information is meeting community member needs. We ask people to identify the things they want to know more about and to reflect on what the broader community needs to know. We ask them to think about what might be missing or what can be simplified. This process of testing information with community members and refining content based on their feedback are essential parts of the community-based design process.

Ultimately, each interaction with the public is an opportunity to learn more about their information needs. By listening first, designing information with community input and iterating based on community feedback, we’re able to more effectively build shared understanding and encourage healthy, productive dialogue – even when it comes to a multidimensional issue, such as housing.

You can find the original version of this on Common Knowledge’s blog at www.ckgroup.org/what-do-community-members-want-to-know-about-housing/.

Listen to Confab Recording on Using Slack for Democratic Movement Building

Posted on June 11, 2019 by Keiva Hummel

We had a wonderfully engaging call last Thursday to learn more about the capabilities of using the collaborative platform, Slack, to further connect the D&D field and growing Democracy Movement. The call was co-hosted with our friends at the Bridge Alliance who discussed a new effort launched recently on the platform called the Democracy Movement Slack Forum and gave us a preview of the new space. If you weren’t able to join the call, we encourage you to listen to it now!

We were joined by Walt Roberts who gave the 45 participants on the call a quick tour of Slack and how the platform streamlines communication by bringing text, email, and direct messaging altogether. The way the platform is designed lends itself well to the growing Democracy Movement Slack Forum (DMFS), in how it offers space for participants to self-organize and create action together. Walt shared with us how this space was developed; growing from the Unrig the Summit 2018 conference and catalyzed by the desire to fix our broken and rigged political system. He discussed the evolution of the working title, the Democracy Movement, and how it is really a movement of many movements, across the spectrum of ideologies.

Phase two is currently in progress, in which the organizers of the Slack space are looking to bring in those groups and leaders who are doing Democracy building work. It’s meant to be a collaborative space for people to work together in nonpartisan ways and co-develop this growing Democracy Movement. If you are interested in participating in the DMFS, please reach out to keiva[at]ncdd[dot]org for the information on how to join! We’ve set up a channel on the DMFS called #group_ncdd_forum that we encourage you to join if you’re already onboard the Slack space!

Here are some of our favorite takeaways from the Confab call:

Slack brings an “open space” like way of self-organizing conversations and helps bring order to the chaos of multiple streams, threads, and branches of conversation.
The Democracy Movement is a broad term that encompasses all efforts to get our country back on track and spans the ideological spectrum.
The Democracy Movement Slack Forum is a collaborative work, conversation, & community space for those who seek to work together in nonpartisan ways to co-develop a big democracy movement, reduce silos & build a shared infrastructure.

We had an engaging conversation in the chat discussion and you can view saved the transcript of it here. We recorded the whole presentation in case you weren’t able to join us, which you can access by clicking here. While access to the Confab recordings is usually a benefit of being an NCDD member, we have made an exception with this one in order for more folks to join the DMSF and co-create this movement. If you like what you experience, we’d love for you to join as an NCDD member (if you haven’t already!) and learn more about the sweet benefits of being part of the NCDD Coalition here!

Confab bubble image

We want to thank Walt, Jeremy and the Bridge Alliance team, for making this call happen! And an equally large thank you to all the Confab participants for contributing to this conversation! To learn more about NCDD’s Confab Calls and hear recordings of others, visit www.ncdd.org/events/confabs.

Finally, we love holding these events and we want to continue to elevate the work of our field with Confab Calls and Tech Tuesdays. It is through your generous contributions to NCDD that we can keep doing this work! That’s why we want to encourage you to support NCDD by making a donation or becoming an NCDD member today (you can also renew your membership by clicking here). Thank you!

See you on Slack!

Participedia.net Launches New Website – Contribute Now!

Posted on June 6, 2019 by Keiva Hummel

The good folks at Participedia shared with us an exciting announcement – the launch of their newly revamped open collaboration website! The new Participedia.net site operates in a similar way as Wikipedia and is open for anyone to add resources related to civic engagement and democratic innovation. We encourage you to peruse the fresh site and contribute to it! You can read the announcement below and find the original version on Participedia’s Medium site here. And since we’re on the subject of collaborative efforts, we want to offer a final reminder to join for today’s free Confab call on using Slack for connecting and building a democratic movement – register here!

Crowdsourcing Participatory Democracy

Starting today, the @ParticipediaProject will use Medium as our primary news channel. We will share relevant content about participatory democracy around the world, generated by and for our community of academics, practitioners, and engaged citizens, and we invite you join us.

As our premiere Medium post we’re excited to announce the launch of our newly redesigned, open source, open edit website: Participedia.net! We’ll give you a sense of what the Participedia Project is all about and what makes it relevant in today’s global context, and how our open source and participatory approach to website design created new opportunities for collaboration and impact.

Known as ‘the Wikipedia of public participation’, Participedia content is created, edited, and accessed by anyone on the internet as part of the Creative Commons. Our new website is designed to inform and inspire policymakers, community organizers, and citizens. We are a resource for anyone interested in the new forms of civic engagement and democratic innovation being developed around the world.

The content published by our community of users reflects important global issues. The Citizens Assembly on Brexit case entry highlights the use of deliberative public engagement on a complex and polarizing issue, and Girls at Dhabas highlights a grassroots initiative that leverages social media to empower women and non-binary individuals in Pakistan. You too can help to collaboratively document the global phenomenon of public participation by joining the community at Participedia.net, where nearly 2000 entries have already been published and edited by close to 3000 users.

Our new website is being developed using open source, transparent, and participatory methods, and has created new opportunities for collaboration and experimentation that span political and geographic boundaries. For example, the Privy Council Office of Canada discovered and engaged with Participedia on Github, a platform for open source development where our new code and ongoing design process is available publicly. The resulting collaboration will use Participedia to document case studies of public engagement conducted by the Canadian Government. As well, student computer scientists in the UK connected with our developers while prototyping new tools for the platform using our open source API. In addition to other new features for the website that will soon be released, a tech-driven engagement plan for localization is in place that will connect and empower our community to translate site content into multiple languages, and share knowledge and resources in a more accessible and inclusive way.

Participedia is made possible by a Partnership Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). The project was founded by principal investigator Dr Mark Warren of the University of British Columbia and co-investigator Dr Archon Fung of Harvard University’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. The new Participedia website was designed by the project’s Design & Technology Team, led by Amber Frid-Jimenez, Canada Research Chair in art and design technology and director of the Studio for Extensive Aesthetics at Emily Carr University of Art + Design.

Join Us!

Website: Participedia.net

Facebook: Facebook.com/Participedia

Twitter: @Participedia

Linkedin: Linkedin.com/company/Participedia

Github: Github.com/participedia

Medium: medium.com/@participediaproject

You can find the original version of this announcement on the Participedia Medium site at https://medium.com/@participediaproject/crowdsourcing-participatory-democracy-4ffe11116e84.

Don’t Miss Confab Call on Using Slack for D&D Movement Building

Posted on June 4, 2019 by Keiva Hummel

Friendly reminder about our upcoming Confab Call happening this Thursday with our friends at the Bridge Alliance to explore the use of the collaboration tool, Slack! We learn more about the development of the Bridge Alliance’s new joint project, the Democracy Movement Slack Forum, and discuss some best practices of the platform for movement building around civic action.

This free call will be on Thursday, June 6th from 2-3 pm Eastern, 11 am-12 pm Pacific. Register today so you don’t miss out on this engaging call!

For this Confab, we hope to explore how can Slack be used to further reduce silos amongst people doing dialogue and deliberation work and better cultivate connections to facilitate change. Our hope is that all of us who drive civic change can learn from other’s experiences with the platform to help our collective efforts thrive.

We will be joined by the Bridge Alliance and their partners, who will share more about the new Democracy Movement Slack being developed and how the experience has been so far. We’ll also ask others on the call to share their experiences or questions. The Confab will be an opportunity for those on the call who are also Bridge Alliance members to learn more about how to join the Slack group.

We’d love for folks who have used Slack or are still currently using it to join the call and share their experience. What are some of the benefits of using it and are there any challenges? This conversation will offer insight for a new effort underway on Slack by the Bridge Alliance, called the Democracy Movement Slack Forum; a co-creation with the National Association of Nonpartisan Reformers, RepresentUS, and Unite America. This new project is in its developing stages now and is intended to be a transpartisan space for those in the Democracy Movement to communicate and collaborate.

Make sure you register today to secure your spot!

About Our Confab Co-Hosts

Bridge Alliance is a coalition of over 90 organizations dedicated to rejuvenating America. With each organization focusing on a different sector of the movement, our members represent a combined three million supporters in the burgeoning field of civic reform and civil discourse.

About NCDD’s Confab Calls

NCDD’s Confab Calls are opportunities for members (and potential members) of NCDD to talk with and hear from innovators in our field about the work they’re doing and to connect with fellow members around shared interests. Membership in NCDD is encouraged but not required for participation. Confabs are free and open to all. Register today if you’d like to join us!

June Confab on Using Slack for D&D Movement Building

Posted on May 21, 2019 by Keiva Hummel

We are excited to co-host another Confab Call at the beginning of June, this time with our friends at the Bridge Alliance to explore the use of the collaboration tool, Slack. We will discuss the capabilities of the platform for movement building around civic action and learn more about the development of Bridge Alliance’s new joint project, the Democracy Movement Slack Forum.

This free call will be on Thursday, June 6th from 2-3 pm Eastern, 11 am-12 pm Pacific. Register today so you don’t miss out on this engaging call!

Slack is a collaboration platform that streamlines communication amongst members by consolidating text, email, group and instant messaging into one app. For the last few years, the platform has quickly grown in popularity as a great tool for connecting individuals and driving action. For this Confab, we hope to explore how can Slack be used to further reduce silos amongst people doing dialogue and deliberation work and better cultivate connections to facilitate change. Our hope is that all of us who drive civic change can learn from other’s experiences with the platform to help our collective efforts thrive.

Make sure you register today to secure your spot!

About Our Confab Co-Hosts

About NCDD’s Confab Calls

Two New Civic Awakening Works Released from Eric Liu

Posted on May 17, 2019 by Keiva Hummel

If you are looking for some fantastic D&D content to enjoy this weekend, we encourage you to check out the new works from Eric Liu on awakening our civic power. He released his new TED talk, “How to revive your belief in democracy”, in which he offers a framework for democratic participation. As well as, his new book, “Become America: Civic Sermons on Love, Responsibility, and Democracy” which compiles the civic sermons he gave at the first 19 Civic Saturday events, hosted throughout the country last year by Citizen University. You can read the announcement in the Citizen University newsletter shared below, sign up for the CU newsletter here, and please share these two exciting resources with your networks!

Citizen University Updates: New TED talk and new book!

I’m excited to be bringing two works into the world this week! Both flow from our mission at Citizen University to spark a great civic awakening in our country. And I’m writing to ask for your help getting both these works into wide circulation.

The first is my brand-new TED Talk on what I call “civic religion” — a framework of belief and practice for sustaining democracy. I’ve got to admit, I wasn’t sure how people at the TED conference last month would receive a talk using a religious metaphor. But it turns out that at TED, as everywhere and especially in the U.S. today, people are yearning for a frame of shared purpose and civic spirit. For an invitation to do more and be more. The response in the room was electric. And I hope it can be so in the wider world now. You can watch the video below and will you please share and post the talk today?

The second work is my new book called BECOME AMERICA which contains the civic sermons I wrote and delivered at the first nineteen Civic Saturdays our team organized around the United States. These essays challenge us to rehumanize our politics and rekindle a spirit of love and hope in civic life. Become America will prompt you to contemplate our ongoing story as Americans and energize you to help rebuild a country you’re proud to call home. I’ll be holding a special event for the book in DC on May 18. Will you order the book today or join us at one of our book events?

Both the TED Talk and BECOME AMERICA are rooted in history but also products of this moment — a moment of peril and possibility in democratic life. This is a time for us all to ask what we believe, and what it takes to live up to our ideals. It is also a time to ask for help from friends — and to make new friends by asking for help.

I’m so grateful for your support, and gratified that we get to share in such purposeful work. – Eric

You can receive these announcements in your inbox and sign up for the Citizen University newsletter by clicking here.

National Civic League Publishes New Edition of Civic Index

Posted on May 14, 2019 by Keiva Hummel

One of the nation’s oldest civic engagement organizations, The National Civic League – also an NCDD member org, recently released the fourth edition of The Civic Index, a set of guidelines developed over the last 30 years to measure the civic capital of a community. Civic capital measures, “the formal and informal relationships, networks and capacities that communities use to make decisions collaboratively and solve problems” and The Civic Index offers the framework for assessing these factors and relationships to determine a community’s civic strength. You can download a free version of the NCL Civic Index by clicking here. Read more in the announcement below and find the original version on the NCL site here.

The League’s Civic Index: Measuring Your Community’s Capacity to Solve Problems and Thrive

What makes some communities better able than others to solve the tough social, political, economic or physical challenges they face? This was a question the National Civic League set out to answer over 30 years ago. On-the-ground research revealed a set of factors that we call civic capital — the formal and informal relationships, networks and capacities that communities use to make decisions collaboratively and solve problems.

Somewhat like social capital, but not to be confused with financial capital, civic capital can be found in all sorts of communities, not just the most affluent, educated or advantaged. While myriad other factors contribute to community progress, civic capital is the core factor identified by the National Civic League as the primary explanation for long-term community success.

At the National Civic League, we know of many communities with an abundant supply of civic capital. The All-America City program has recognized over 500 of these communities during the past 69 years. All have varying degrees of civic engagement, collaboration and leadership, and have been able to tackle tough issues in a sustainable manner–by bringing everyone to the table and creating equity.

Earlier this year the National Civic League released the fourth edition of the Civic Index, a self-assessment tool consisting of a set of questions that provide a framework for discussing and measuring a community’s civic capital. Since it was first developed in 1986, many communities have used the Civic Index to better understand their civic strengths and to identify gaps or areas in need of further attention, soliciting community input to create a baseline measure of their civic capital and monitor progress over time as they work to enhance their internal capacity.

The Seven Components of Civic Capital

The Civic Index describes the seven components of civic capital, provides examples of each, lists the 32 questions that are used to gauge each component and provides ideas on how to use the index. Here’s a synopsis of these seven components.

Engaged Residents: Residents play an active role in making decisions and civic affairs.
Inclusive Community Leadership: The community actively cultivates and supports leaders from diverse backgrounds and with diverse perspectives
Collaborative Institutions: Communities with good civic capital have regular collaboration among the government, business, nonprofit and other sectors, as well as structures in place that facilitate such collaboration.
Embracing Diversity and Equity: Communities with healthy civic capital recognize and celebrate their diversity. They strive for equity in services, support and engagement.
Authentic Communication: Healthy communities need credible, civic-minded sources of information presented in a way that residents can use.
Culture of Engagement: Involvement by residents, businesses, nonprofits and other stakeholders in every aspect of civic affairs should be part of local culture—an expectation, not an afterthought.
Shared Vision and Values: Communities with shared values and civic pride have a common foundation for addressing public matters.

Summary

Nearly a hundred years ago, Justice Louis Brandeis, a one-time member of the League’s executive committee, called states “laboratories of democracy.” That mantle has now been passed to the local level, as cities, counties, towns and other local communities create innovations and regional or national networks to tackle such issues as climate change, health, education and economic prosperity.

At the same time, local governments cannot solve problems on their own. As Bruce Katz points out in The New Localism, community problem-solving depends on “multi-sectoral relationships,” with government often serving as a convener or catalyst. What happens next depends on the civic capacity of the particular locality. It is the communities with civic capital — the full engagement and collaboration of its residents, businesses, nonprofits and other stakeholders–that have the resources and persistence to successfully address difficult issues and build a sustainable future.

For a free copy of the National Civic League’s Civic Index, please visit www.nationalcivicleague.org/resource-center.

You can find the original version of this announcement on the National Civic League site at www.nationalcivicleague.org/the-leagues-civic-index-measuring-your-communitys-capacity-to-solve-problems-and-thrive/.

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