People don't care.  This seven minute TED talk challenges this notion.

Local politics -- schools, zoning, council elections -- hit us where we live. So why don't more of us actually get involved? Is it apathy? Dave Meslin says no. He identifies 7 barriers that keep us from taking part in our communities, even when we truly care.

Video:

http://www.ted.com/talks/dave_meslin_the_antidote_to_apathy.html 

The Office of Neighborhood Involvement's Director, Amalia Alarcon deMorris and staff person, Paul Leistner, authored an article for the National Civic Review.  The article is titled From Neighborhood Association System to Participatory Democracy: Broadening and Deepening Public Involvement in Portland, Oregon.  

Citywide neighborhood systems are powerful public involvement tools—but, even the most developed neighborhood systems struggle to involve the full diversity of people in a community. Portland, Oregon has earned a national reputation for its strong tradition of neighborhood involvement and culture of participatory democracy. However, in recent years, many Portlanders, have felt left out or disconnected from civic life and local decision making.

Read the full article here.   

Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement (PACE) released a major report detailing the innovative methods local governments around the country are using to increase civic engagement by the public:

“Local governments are at the cutting edge of finding new tools and methods to increase civic engagement in this country. We hope this report will stimulate new thinking within the philanthropic community, as well as in local governments around the country, and help spread the word about these new and successful approaches,” said Chris Gates, Executive Director of PACE. Combining original research with an overview of the literature and history of civic engagement and local government reform, the report highlights fresh insights from foundation leaders, civic experts, scholars, local officials and public engagement advocates."

Read the full report here: http://www.pacefunders.org/publications/NewLaboratoriesofDemocracy.pdf

This article by Judith Innes and David Booher from Planning Theory & Practice opens with the statement:

"It is time to face facts we know, but prefer to ignore. Legally required methods of public participation in government decision making in the US—public hearings, review and comment procedures in particular—do not work. They do not achieve genuine participation in planning or other decisions; they do not satisfy members of the public that they are being heard; they seldom can be said to improve the decisions that agencies and public officials make; and they do not incorporate a broad spectrum of the public. Worse yet, these methods often antagonize the members of the public who do try to work with them. The methods often pit citizens against each other, as they feel compelled to speak of the issues in polarizing terms to get their points across. This pattern makes it even more difficult for decision makers to sort through what they hear, much less to make a choice using public input. Most often these methods discourage busy and thoughtful individuals from wasting their time going through what appear to be nothing more than rituals designed to satisfy legal requirements. They also increase the ambivalence of planners and other public officials about hearing from the public at all. Nonetheless, these methods have an almost sacred quality to them, and they stay in place despite all that everyone knows is wrong with them."

Continue reading the article here.

The Soul of the Community study offers new insights by exploring what draws people to a community and what makes them want to put down roots and build a life. Conducted by Gallup in 26 communities and funded the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the study probes the emotional factors that bind people to place.

In this, the second year of the research, the results show an even stronger correlation between people's passion and loyalty for their community and local economic growth. Researchers will examine this connection further in 2010. More information can be found at: http://www.soulofthecommunity.org/

A new research report is available providing insights into how public engagement initiatives can grow into a regular practice involving people from many different parts of a community and spanning multiple issues. This report argues that the most successful of civic engagement efforts are those that address not only particular public issues such as school redistricting, domestic violence, or racism, but also improve the quality of local democratic governance. The report features concrete examples of sustained community-led dialogue and problem solving efforts that draw upon different approaches to public deliberation.

Read Sustaining Public Engagement: Embedded Deliberation in Local Communities produced in collaboration by Everyday Democracy and the Kettering Foundation.

Here's an interesting blog entry on how President Obama has been doing in his first six months in the area of public involvement from the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation:

On his first day in office, U.S. President Barack Obama issued a memorandum to leaders of executive departments and government agencies calling for a new era of transparency and open government.  In the memo, Obama asserted “we will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration,” and called for an Open Government Directive “that instructs executive departments and agencies to take specific actions implementing the principles set forth in this memorandum” on transparency, public participation, and collaboration.

Read about what happened after President Obama issued the Open Government directive here.

At the end of 2008, Portland participated in a gathering of many cities that have experimented with creative ways to engage citizens in public decision-making and problem solving. 

Read what was learned here! 

Hot off the presses, this new report analyses public participation in Europe.  What can we learn? The central point cited in the report is:

"The development of public participation in Europe is held back by the absence of evaluation that asks the really important questions. It is not clear how well participation processes are working, and too many reports fail to show how to make them better. In this report the European Institute for Public Participation argues that well-directed evaluation of public  participation can make it more effective and ensure it makes its intended contribution to democratic life."

Read the full report here.

Deliberative Democracy: Building Public Will for Action on Critical Problems

Friday May 29, 2009

1 pm to 5 pm, 5-7 pm Reception

White Stag Building, 70 NW Couch St. Portland, Oregon

What are the strategies and tactics for strengthening public discourse? How can deliberative processes be used as a vehicle for building public understanding of critical problems and develop commitment to long term policy solutions. This forum will share the findings from some of the leading applied researchers and practitioners with the goal of improving public discourse.

Open to the public. Registration required by emailing: pppm@uoregon.edu

Flyer here: http://www.portlandonline.com/oni/index.cfm?a=244655&c=29385