beyond the town hall - engaging broad audiences of citizens
TRANSCRIPT
BEYOND THE TOWN HALL:ENGAGING BROAD AUDIENCES OF CITIZENS
Matt Leighninger
Deliberative Democracy Consortium
Chicago, IL
March 8, 2015
THE DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY CONSORTIUM
FEDERAL AGENCIES AND PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Research conducted with Larkin Dudley, emerita, Virginia Tech, and Noel Gniady, PhD student, Virginia Tech
Supported by the Kettering
Foundation
Interviews with 17 officials,
4 federal agencies
THE CONTEXT FOR ENGAGEMENT: HOW HAVE CITIZENS* CHANGED?
More educated
More skeptical – different
attitudes toward authority
Have less time to spare
Better able to find resources,
allies, information (Internet)
* citizens = residents, people
MAP 2
THREE MINUTES AT THE MICROPHONE
Retrieved from Cincinnati.com, July 27, 2012
The status quo and default structure
No discussion outside the agenda
Oriented to getting comments in the record
Easy to disrupt
Even the physical layout makes people angry
THREE MINUTES AT THE MICROPHONE
HEALTH CARE TOWN HALLS
Held by members of Congress in 20009
Decrease in engagement since
THE “POTENTIALLY CONCERNED PUBLIC”
THE “POTENTIALLY CONCERNED PUBLIC”
“Just being responsive to comments and criticism is Old School.”
- Stan Buch, Dept. of Housing and Urban Development
THE “BEST BRAINS AVAILABLE”
FACA: “A means by which the best brains and experience available in all fields of business, society, government and the professions can be made available to the Federal Government at little cost.”
- House Committee on Government Operations, 1970
THE FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ACT
(FACA)
“The necessity of formally chartering a committee, announcing its meetings, receiving public input, and then holding a public meeting has led many agencies to avoid the formal advisory committee process whenever possible.”
- Report of the Administrative Conference of the United States
THE BEST BRAINS ONLINE
“Peer-to-Patent” program of OSTP
www.challenge.gov (GSA)
Online National Dialogue on Reforming Government Websites
“We the People” online petition site
WHO IS MY PUBLIC?
“I’m always being told, by people inside and outside my agency, that I need to interact with the public…But I’m not sure who my public really is.”
- Current DoT employee
TALK WITH YOUR NEIGHBOR
“Yes, that part is interesting because _______”
“Huh. I’m not buying _______”
“Hmm. I wish we
knew more
about _______”
THE NEED FOR “OUTSIDE PRESSURE”
“It is almost impossible for a federal agency to push real participatory work on its own…There just has to be demand for participation from below.”
- Hank Topper, EPA (retired)
TREATING CITIZENS LIKE ADULTS
Give them:
Information
Chance to tell
their story
Choices
Legitimacy
Chances to
take action
Good process
Food and fun!
THICK PARTICIPATION: Informed, deliberative, emotional, full of choices for groups to make
THIN PARTICIPATION: Fast, easy, full of choices for individuals to make
THICK ENGAGEMENT: SMALL-GROUP PROCESSES
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.
Give people the
information they need, in
ways they can use it
Lays out several options
or views (including ones
you don’t agree with!)
Trust them to make good
decisions
THICK ENGAGEMENT: FRAMING AN ISSUE
THICK ENGAGEMENT: ENCOURAGING CITIZEN ACTION
“The National Conversation went above and beyond any other engagement effort the agency had done before – or, to the best of my knowledge, has done since.”
- Julie Fishman, CDC
“Horizons” Rural communities in seven Northwestern states
Initiated by Northwest Area Foundation
284 towns, poverty rates between 10% and 78%
Issues: poverty
reduction and
economic
development
3,000+ participants
THICK PARTICIPATION: Informed, deliberative, emotional, full of choices for groups to make
THIN PARTICIPATION: Fast, easy, full of choices for individuals to make
THIN ENGAGEMENT: CITIZENS GATHERING DATA
THIN ENGAGEMENT: CITIZENS GENERATING, RANKING IDEAS
WE THE PEOPLE: A DIGITAL PUBLIC SQUARE?
THICK AND THIN REQUIRE PROACTIVE RECRUITMENT
Map community networks;
Involve leaders of those networks;
‘Who is least
likely to
participate?’
Use online as
well as f2f
connections;
Follow up!
THIN + THICK
ENGAGEMENT:
SUSTAINING
COMMUNITY
CONNECTIONS
THIN + THICK: OREGON CITIZEN’S INITIATIVE REVIEW
Text, Talk, and Act
part of the National Dialogue on Mental Health
TALK WITH YOUR NEIGHBOR
“Yes, I’d like to be more involved in _______”
“Yikes! None of
this looks
appealing.”
“Hmm. Is any
of this realistic?”
THE OPEN GOVERNMENT DIRECTIVE
THE OPEN GOVERNMENT DIRECTIVE
“Executive departments and agencies should offer Americans increased opportunities to participate in policymaking and to provide their Government with the benefits of their collective expertise and information. ”
- President Obama, Open Government Memo
“What we hear coming down from White House is more about data and transparency than about participation.”
- Fishman and Van Skiver, Centers for Disease Control
OPEN GOVERNMENT: PARTICIPATION OR JUST DATA?
OPEN GOVERNMENT: PARTICIPATION OR JUST SOCIAL MEDIA?
To belong
To have an impact
To have a legitimate voice
Those desires show up in thick and thin engagement…and sometimes thick and or thin helps people achieve them
WHAT DO PEOPLE WANT?
WHY SUSTAINED ENGAGEMENT?
Increases in:
Trust
Efficiency
Equity
Connectedness
…which increases:
Economic growth
Public health
Lower corruption
Lower inequality
Lower infant mortality
Higher trust in gov’t
Higher tax compliance
Higher completion rates for gov’t projects
Officials more likely to be reelected
LONG-TERM IMPACTS OF PARTICIPATION
Wampler and Touchton 2014, Peixoto 2014, Spada 2012
HOW COULD STATE AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENTS
SUPPORT BETTER PARTICIPATION?
“There’s not a consistent approach to participation within ATSDR…there is no formal mechanism we use regularly to involve people in our processes. Big initiatives are fine, but it is the regular ongoing processes that need to change.”
- Ben Gerhardstein, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
MEANINGFUL AGENCY-WIDE PARTICIPATION PLANS
PARTICIPATION METRICS AND CIVIC INDICATORS
LEGAL FRAMEWORKS FOR PARTICIPATION
Stronger networks, online and off, for recruitment and dissemination of information
Better use of social media to raise interest, discussion before and between meetings
Clear avenues for public to present ideas for the agenda
At the meeting (or as a pre-meeting), a format featuring small-group discussions
Proposed guideline: Electeds cannot vote, act, or make decisions until information from meeting is made public
GUIDELINES FOR BETTER PARTICIPATION
