Progress on Federal Government Efforts in Public Participation

This week's newsletter from Carolyn Lewkensmeyer at AmericaSpeaks highlights some exciting developments! Take a look... perhaps they can inform our next discussions on the "Seven Core Principles of Participation", as well as other conversations.

-Harry

Community Engagement and Public Education

Hello all,

Yesterday I returned from the National School Board Association's annual meeting in San Diego. My heart was warmed (not by the weather, great as it was) by the large number of presentations related to community engagement. In all, 44 sessions touched on some aspect of community engagement. Some talked about World Cafe and study circles. Others focused on powerful questions and forward focus.

Here in Wisconsin I am working with a district that is reworking its mission statement for the 21st century and is using World Cafe and some really cool work from the KnowledgeWorks Foundation. I will post more on this as the process moves on.

In Minnesota, I am working with the group that planned and presented the community engagement session at the Minnesota School Board Association's annual meeting in January. We are planning a follow-up session for their August meeting.

So, good stuff is springing up all over (sorry, couldn't pass up the pun).

Reframing Public Participation

I hate to bump Harry's inspiring post, but someone has to eventually, right?

I came across a really interesting article written by Judith Innes, UC Berkeley, and David Booher, California State University. The title is "Reframing Public Participation: Strategies for the 21st Century" It is not only an interesting critique of currently mandated participation methods but offers suggestions for improvement. Here is a link to the article:

 http://www.csus.edu/ccp/publications/Reframing_Public_Participation_Final.pdf

I think you will enjoy it!