BUILDING GOVERNMENT- COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS

Two Paths to Healthy Communities:

1.  Agency services 2.  Burgerkracht

AGENCY SERVICES

BURGERKRACHT

Professionals/ volunteers/clients

Citizens

Top-down Democratic Focus on needs Focus on gifts One way Reciprocal Siloed Holistic

Depends on money Depends on relationships

COMMUNITY IN CRISIS Single-purpose land use

Increased mobility More time working

Fear Electronic screens

Globalization Professionalization

Specialization

CRISIS =

DEMOCRACY IN CRISIS

TYPE OF ENGAGEMENT

GOVERNMENT’S ROLE CITIZEN’S ROLE

Customer Service

Provide services Taxpayer/ Client

Citizen Participation

Engage people in government’s priorities through its processes and programs

Advisor/ Volunteer

Community Empowerment

Support people to come together as a community to act on their own priorities

Producer

ECONOMY IN CRISIS

Every place has: • Gifts of individuals • Community associations • Built and natural environment • Local economy • Culture, history and identity

PLANET IN CRISIS

Central Area, Seattle

Whatever the question, community is the answer. -Margaret Wheatley

POWER OF COMMUNITY

Care for the Earth Care for One Another

Prevent Crime Respond to Disaster

Promote Health Sustain Local Economy Advance Social Justice

Create Sparkling Streets and Eyes

UNIQUE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT

•  Make and enforce laws •  Ensure people’s basic needs are met •  Safeguard people’s rights •  Plan and manage transportation system

Co-creation of Public SafetyC

Emergency response

Risk intervention

Prevention

Social development

KEYS TO GOVERNMENT- COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS

Move beyond siloed thinking

to focusing on whole places

City of Seattle Department of

Little City Halls and Coordinators

Move from starting with needs

to starting with strengths

Neighbourhood Matching Fund

Playgrounds

Parks

Environment

Food Security

Renovated Facilities

Cultural Centers

Youth Development

Public Art

Keys to Success •  Ownership by community •  Outreach beyond usual suspects •  Volunteer match •  Small amounts of money •  Training and technical assistance •  Minimal red-tape and paperwork •  Support by government as a whole •  Sharing of stories

Move beyond top-down

to community-driven

Neighbourhood Planning

Columbia City

Value of community-driven planning: •  Implementation happens – plans don’t sit on the shelf

•  Resources are multiplied – government resources leverage community’s

•  Appropriate development occurs – respecting unique character of neighborhood and culture of community

•  More holistic and innovative solutions result

•  A stronger sense of community is built

STEPS GOVERNMENT CAN TAKE TO PARTNER WITH COMMUNITY

Do No Harm: •  Don’t distract the community from its own

priorities. •  Don’t force the community into the

bureaucracy’s silos. •  Don’t take people’s time without showing

results. •  Never do for people what they can do for

themselves. •  Don’t treat third sector organisations as

the surrogate for community.

Remove Barriers: •  Centralized decision making •  “One size fits all” programs and

regulations •  Inaccessibility (location, language,

hours, runaround) •  Know-it-all attitude •  Obsession with measuring results •  Bureaucratic red tape

Palmerston North, New Zealand

Build Community Capacity: •  Offer leadership training •  Assist with outreach tools like translation •  Work with associations of all types •  Provide forums for networking •  Offer non-meeting options for engagement •  Highlight community strengths •  Share stories of successful communities •  Move beyond client services and citizen

participation to community empowerment

Measuring Success

You don’t make the hog fatter by weighing it. -Iowa farm proverb

“Not everything that can be

counted counts and not everything that counts can be

counted.”

Port Phillip, Australia

www.neighborpower.org