Chicago civic infrastructure slides

BUILDING CIVIC INFRASTRUCTURE

MATT LEIGHNINGER

2ND ANNUAL DIALOGUE AND DELIBERATION CONVENING

INSTITUTE FOR POLICY AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-CHICAGO

DECEMBER 4, 2013

How have citizens* changed?

More educated

More skeptical

More capacity

Less time

* “citizens” = residents, people

The Context

Give them: Information Chance to tell their story Choices Legitimacy Chances to

take action Good process Food and fun!

Treating citizens like adults

Text, Talk, and Act

part of the National Dialogue on Mental Health

WHAT IS CREATING COMMUNITY SOLUTIONS?

Effort to organize hundreds of community conversations and action plans

Ten lead sites

Wide variety of other events: small discussions, online dialogues, large planning processes

How does it work?

1. Get together with 4-5 other people

2. Text “START” to 89800

3. Follow the prompts – with every text you send, you get one back

Polling questions like:

What’s the best way to make a difference?

A – Raise awareness

B – Help people in crisis

C – Improve services

Discussion questions like:

Why is it so hard to talk about mental health issues?

Links to see the results: http://goo.gl/ot7d9l

Get stuck? Text “NEXT”

includes:

http://goo.gl/ot7d9l

The regular opportunities,

activities, and arenas that

allow people to connect with

each other, solve problems,

make decisions, and be

part of a community.

Civic Infrastructure

Retrieved from Cincinnati.com, July 27, 2012

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Three minutes at the microphone

Rebecca Stone

try to replace with small town image. if this one stays, make text box white.

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Image: Smart Growth America

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Lack of public spaces for citizens

Rebecca Stone

Come back to this and try to replace image.

Political LeadershipTr

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Plan

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Econ

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Residents/Community

Orgs

Merchants/Business Owners

Developers /Property Owners

Advocacy/Philanthropy /

NPO Orgs

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So what?

Rebecca Stone

on these slides about the three "big" issues, i wondered about showing how civic infrastructure can turn it around, so have a bad and a good slide…see what you think….meant to scroll through very fast and not to take much time.

So what?

∨NOW

3. Democratic decision-making and problem-solving

Creating Spaces

for Citizens

Building

Skills &

Capacity

Improving

Public

Decision-

Making and

Problem-

Solving

Building Blocks

1. Democratic spaces in neighborhoods, schools and other settings

2. Democratic spaces online

3. Democratic spaces for young people

4. Buildings that can house citizen spaces – physical hubs for engagement

5. Engagement leadership

Creating Spaces for Citizens

SPACES FOR CITIZENS: PHYSICAL SPACES

Physical Spaces

Spaces for Citizens

Democratic Spaces for Young People

Spaces for CitizensLee Krohn Photo

Spaces for Citizens

Local Online Forums

6. Public information dissemination

7. Engagement skills training

8. Tracking, measurement and technical assistance to improve engagement

Building Skills & Capacity

Civic Skills & Capacity

Proactive Recruitment

Rebecca Stone

Matt, are you ok with not having all the details written out on the slides? (steps like mapping networks, leaders, etc…. seems like partners will go through some of that in afternoon sessions, but it's maybe also just more detail than we want here?)

CIVIC SKILLS: ENGAGEMENT SKILLS TRAINING


Engagement Skills Training


Grassroots Grantmaking


Community Indicators

9. Official public meetings that are more participatory and effective

10. Recurring deliberative processes on key issues and decisions

11. Systems that encourage innovation by citizens

12. Cross-sector problem-solving teams

Democratic Decision-making and Problem-solving

Changing Public Meetings

Participation Ordinance

“Sometimes you need a meeting that is also a party. Sometimes you need a party that is also a meeting.”

Gloria Rubio-Cortès, National Civic League

Decision-making & Problem-solving

Getting started

Who has a stake in stronger civic infrastructure?

How to make the case to potential allies?

How to approach the planning?

Questions or Comments?

QUESTIONS

1. Based on Matt’s presentation, what elements of civic infrastructure are already in place or strong here in Chicago?

2. What can be done to foster the development of civic infrastructure in Chicago? What would it take?

3. Are there examples of efforts to build civic infrastructure from other cities that have the potential to be translated, borrowed, or just adopted here in Chicago?

Chicago civic infrastructure slides

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