Toward More Civil, Productive Public Discourse A brief orientation for ABA Mediation Week, 2011 Matt Leighninger Deliberative Democracy Consortium

Public meetings and public hearings often don’t work for officials OR citizens. How can we improve them?

Public officials spend time and energy to engage citizens…  Public hearings  Town hall meetings  Constituent service  Newsletters, e-bulletins, web-sites  The media  Advocacy and nonprofit groups  In other, more informal settings

…but they are frustrated with traditional formats for engagement In these settings, citizens:  Seem uninformed  Are not civil, respectful toward officials  Disagree with one another and are not willing to compromise  Do not understand the economic, political, or legal restraints on government

“What drove me to try structured, planned public engagement was my awful experience with unstructured, unplanned public engagement.” – John Nalbandian, former mayor of Lawrence, Kansas

What works better?  Proactively reaching out to recruit large, diverse numbers of people  Using process techniques (usually in small groups) that allow people to be heard, to learn, and to consider a range of views or options  Going beyond talk: using process to gather policy input, encourage volunteerism, and galvanize action by small groups of people

Some recent large-scale examples  National “Our Budget, Our Economy” project, 2010  “Oregon Citizens’ Initiative Review,” 2010  Michigan “Hard Times, Hard Choices” convening, 2010  Seven-state “Horizons” project, 2005-present (For more, see pp in NCDD Resource Guide)

Coverage of public deliberation project in MI

Process is important: Recruitment strategies  Map community networks;  Involve leaders of those networks;  Hold a kickoff meeting;  Follow up, follow up, follow up.

Process is important: Small-group strategies  No more than 12 people per group;  Facilitator who is impartial (doesn’t give opinions);  Written materials provide background info, main views or options, discussion questions;  Start with people describing their experiences, end with action planning.

Resources