September 18, 2015 UMANT Conference Colleen Casey, Ph.D. Associate Professor and Public Policy Program Director College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs University of Texas at Arlington

Solve Local Problems Promote Democracy & Civic Engagement Promote Inclusion & Diversity Promote & Build a Sense of Community Planned and emergent action for the explicit purpose of the betterment of people

Putting Them Together…. Moving beyond the traditional ways of doing things Promote Democracy Promote Inclusion Promote and Build a Sense of Community Guerilla Community Development

Community Engagement is the foundation of all successful efforts A process for implementing change A program with specific activities A desired goal or outcome resulting from the change An ideology of action “to restructure the social, normative, and economic order for desired ends”

What is the Role of Local Government? B. The Bridge Builder C. The Outsider A. The Lone Ranger

The Role of Local Government is to … 1.Build relationships and connections 2. Unleash the power of the assets in our communities 3. Ensure that relationships and connections bridge and link diverse communities and assets Local government is not, nor can it afford to be, the lone ranger or the outsider to engagement efforts!

Guerilla CD in Action… informconsultincorporatecollaborateempower Citizen inputCommunity Engagement One-Way Tools increase communication and information flows Two-Way Tools promote dialogue, deliberation, problem-solving and joint action

Basic Tools of Action Surveys, Citizen Panels and Focus Groups Sharing Information: Discussing, Educating, and Envisioning Using the Internet and Social Media Deliberation and Dialogue Co-production and volunteerism in service delivery Using the Arts Neighborhood Organizing and HOAs Organizational Processes, Cultures and Attitudes

Creating the Space for Citizen Engagement Empowered and Educated Citizenry Educated and Trained Administrators Enabling Structures and Processes The Engaged Community

Using Stories to Empower and Educate

Using Art to Empower and Educate Art at Work, Portland Maine

Enabling Structures and Processes Many Voices-One Community Lynchburg, VA 21 st Century Meetings & World Cafes

Empowering Citizens to Act Municipal Volunteer Programs: Coproduction of Services Blight Busters, Phoenix Arizona

Using Social Media to Educate How did a town of 10,000 get 88,205 Facebook Likes?

Going Guerilla… Think simple but different… Emphasize two-way communication in all strategies Empower residents and communities to take action in their own hands Enhance collaborations and partnerships with nonprofit organizations in your community Eliminate or demystify governmental processes or practices – Make it possible for communities to take action Commit to the Long Term!

Connect the Dots Activities are connected to what citizens perceive to be important Citizens are connected to each other Citizens are connected by electronic and traditional linkages that foster sharing and deliberation Citizens are connected to each other in meaningful ways to expend civic capacity Activities are linked to each other in ways that build on previous ones Organizations in the community are partners in engagement What is the Long Term Aim?

Connect the Dots in Your Community… – How would you describe the level of community engagement in your city (high, medium, low)? – What is 1 example of a successful community engagement effort in your city? – What 3 dots can you connect to improve community engagement? Are there opportunities to connect citizens to each other? Are there opportunities to replace one-way exchanges with two-way exchanges? Are there community partners that can offer promise? – Share 1 new activity or idea your local government could implement to connect 1 of the dots above.

Sources Referenced 1. Slide 1, Definition 1, Free Dictionary. Available at 2. Slide 1, Definition 2, Merriam-Webster. Available at 3Summers, G. (1986). Rural Community Development. Annual Review of Sociology. 12: Berstein, R. J. ( 1998). Community in the pragmatic tradition. In Morris Dickstein (Ed.), The revival of pragmatism: New essays in social thought, law and culture (pp ). Durhman, NC: Duke University Press. 5Smith, C. The lone ranger. images 6Prein, A. Bridge builders. 7Decroos, S.Excluded from group. Available 8Casey, C., & Li, J. (2012). Web 2.0 technologies and authentic public participation: Engaging citizens in decision making processes. In Kloby, K. and D’Agostino, M. (Eds), Citizen 2.0: Public and Governmental Interaction through Web 2.0 Technologies. Hersey, PA: IGI Global. 9Ihechenbleikner, P. Gilburg, D., & Dunnell, K. (2008). PM Magazine, ICMA. Available at 10Neighborhood Stories, BC Workshop. Available at 11The Neighborhood Story Project, Available at 12Art at Work, Available at 13Kerrigan, H. (2013). Government on social media: How did Brimfield, Ohio (a town of 10,000) get 88,000 Facebook Likes? Governing. Available at 14Svara, J., & Denhardt, J. (Eds.). (2010). The connected community: Local governments as partners in citizen engagement and community building. White Paper for the Big Ideas Conference sponsored by the Alliance for Innovation in October 2009 in Decatur, Georgia.