1. Toward More Civil, Productive Public Discourse A brief orientation for ABA Mediation Week, 2011 Matt Leighninger Deliberative Democracy Consortium www.deliberative-democracy.net

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

3. 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

4. …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

6. “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

7. 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

8. 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. 13-14 in NCDD Resource Guide)

9. Coverage of public deliberation project in MI

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

11. 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.

12. Resources www.deliberative-democracy.net www.ncdd.org www.everydaydemocracy.org www.americaspeaks.org www.publicagenda.org www.kettering.org www.nlc.org