Building Civic Infrastructure Through Democratic Spaces
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This document summarizes a presentation by Matt Leighninger on building civic infrastructure. It discusses how citizens have changed and need to be treated as adults through providing them information, opportunities to share their stories and perspectives, choices, legitimacy, and ways to take action. It outlines key components of civic infrastructure like democratic spaces in neighborhoods, schools, online, and for youth, as well as buildings to house citizen engagement, leadership, skills training, information dissemination, and democratic decision-making processes. The presentation argues that stronger civic infrastructure requires involvement from many sectors of the community.
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Building Civic Infrastructure Through Democratic Spaces
- 1. BUILDING CIVIC INFRASTRUCTURE MATT LEIGHNINGER 2ND ANNUAL DIALOGUE AND DELIBERATION CONVENING INSTITUTE FOR POLICY AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-CHICAGO DECEMBER 4, 2013
- 2. How have citizens* changed? More educated More skeptical More capacity Less time * “citizens” = residents, people The Context
- 3. Treating citizens like adults Give them: Information Chance to tell their story Choices Legitimacy Chances to take action Good process Food and fun!
- 4. Text, Talk, and Act part of the National Dialogue on Mental Health
- 5. 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
- 6. How does it work? 1. Get together with 4-5 other people 2. Text “START” to 89800 3. Follow the prompts – with every text you send, you get one back
- 7. Polling questions like: What’s the best way to make a difference? A – Raise awareness B – Help people in crisis C – Improve services Discussion questions like: Why is it so hard to talk about mental health issues? Links to see the results: http://goo.gl/ot7d9l Get stuck? Text “NEXT” includes:
- 8. The regular opportunities, activities, and arenas that allow people to connect with each other, solve problems, make decisions, and be part of a community. Civic Infrastructure
- 9. Retrieved from Cincinnati.com, July 27, 2012 WEAK Civic Infrastructure Three minutes at the microphone
- 10. WEAK Civic Infrastructure Grassroots groups that need help
- 11. Image: Smart Growth America WEAK Civic Infrastructure Lack of public spaces for citizens
- 12. Political Leadership Transportation Planning Economic Development Design & Construction Culture/Civic/Social Facilities & Programming Residents/Com munity Orgs Merchants /Business Owners Developers /Property Owners Advocacy/Phila nthropy /NPO Orgs Community Public Administration WEAK Civic Infrastructure
- 14. So what?
- 15. So what?
- 16. So what?
- 17. So what?
- 18. So what?
- 19. So what?
- 20. So what?
- 21. So what?
- 22. ∨
- 23. 3. Democratic decision-making and problem-solving Building Blocks
- 24. 1. Democratic spaces in neighborhoods, schools and other settings 2. Democratic spaces online 3. Democratic spaces for young people 4. Buildings that can house citizen spaces – physical hubs for engagement 5. Engagement leadership Creating Spaces for Citizens
- 25. Spaces for Citizens SPACES FOR CITIZENS: PHYSICAL SPACES Physical Spaces
- 26. Democratic Spaces for Young People Spaces for Citizens Lee Krohn Photo
- 27. Spaces for Citizens Local Online Forums
- 28. 6. Public information dissemination 7. Engagement skills training 8. Tracking, measurement and technical assistance to improve engagement Building Skills & Capacity
- 29. Proactive Recruitment Civic Skills & Capacity
- 30. Engagement Skills Training CIVIC SKILLS: ENGAGEMENT SKILLS TRAINING Civic Skills & Capacity
- 31. Civic Skills & Capacity
- 32. Civic Skills & Capacity Grassroots Grantmaking
- 33. Community Indicators Civic Skills & Capacity
- 34. 9. Official public meetings that are more participatory and effective 10. Recurring deliberative processes on key issues and decisions 11. Systems that encourage innovation by citizens 12. Cross-sector problem-solving teams Democratic Decision-making and Problem-solving
- 35. Participation Ordinance Changing Public Meetings
- 36. Decision-making & Problem-solving “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
- 37. Getting started Who has a stake in stronger civic infrastructure? How to make the case to potential allies? How to approach the planning?
- 39. QUESTIONS 1. Based on Matt’s presentation, what elements of civic infrastructure are already in place or strong here in Chicago? 2. What can be done to foster the development of civic infrastructure in Chicago? What would it take? 3. Are there examples of efforts to build civic infrastructure from other cities that have the potential to be translated, borrowed, or just adopted here in Chicago?
Editor's Notes
- This is the challenge – and opportunity – we all face, no matter what kinds of organizations we lead or belong to More educated More skeptical – different attitudes toward authority Have less time to spare Better able to find resources, allies, information
- Many national associations have already committed to helping convene and support the conversations.
- Animation
- You might be thinking “so what?”
- Take Rochester, VT. Hurricane Irene cut Rochester off completely from the outside world and washed away much of the town’s physical infrastructure – homes, bridges, roads, power lines, and even the cemetery.
- But because the town had a strong civic infrastructure, residents had soon built their own makeshift roads and bridges, identified neighbors who needed everything from medicine to diapers, and constructed new ATV routes over the mountains to go and get the help the community needed.
- But because the town had a strong civic infrastructure, residents had soon built their own makeshift roads and bridges, identified neighbors who needed everything from medicine to diapers, and constructed new ATV routes over the mountains to go and get the help the community needed.
- But because the town had a strong civic infrastructure, residents had soon built their own makeshift roads and bridges, identified neighbors who needed everything from medicine to diapers, and constructed new ATV routes over the mountains to go and get the help the community needed.
- Newport Main Street… Newport’s form-based code is a good example of the community coming together to define what it wants and take control of the way future development will make the town look and feel.
- (economic uncertainty)
- (Animation)
- Park(ing) Day – Newport has done this for several years now.
- Photo of the Manchester, VT Youth Commission. Manchester appointed high school students to each of its town boards and commissions – mostly as full voting members.
- Front Porch Forum is in Newport… More sustained Larger, more diverse numbers of people Easier for ‘engagers’ – recruitment doesn’t have to start from scratch More open to ideas from the ‘engaged’
- Map community networks; Involve leaders of those networks; ‘Who is least likely to participate?’ Use online as well as f2f connections; Follow up
- 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.
- Sometimes this means action by citizens that is seeded by gov’t with small grants
- Keep track of the basic data Build your database Use surveys to measure satisfaction Be transparent
- Don’t forget fun!
- (delete slide with links… we can hand that out) Slides available at: www.slideshare.net/mattleighninger Guides: http://bit.ly/PSLDNLC http://bit.ly/iwjgqn