Bill Roper asks today “What constitutes successful participation in your community”…
Over the years, we at the Orton Family Foundation have debated how much citizen participation constitutes success in our projects. This discussion gets complicated as the “how many” quickly and appropriately gives way to a deeper conversation about the “who” in the room and the opportunity and level of participation rather than just a simple head count…
As I often say, the only thing harder than planning in the midst of a crisis is planning without a crisis at all. So: when there is no crisis at hand and a community is trying to bring citizens together for authentic, thoughtful discussions about its future, what constitutes a successful turnout? From my observations, achieving 10 percent community participation is pretty amazing (even though it doesn’t sound so great). And if this happens two or three times in a row, there’s really something going on.
Another way I’ve tried to calculate success in the numbers is to find out how many people turned out for the most controversial issue in the last five years, (i. e. a development proposal, school bond, crime, etc.). If the community then meets or exceeds that number in the context of a proactive planning discussion, that equals success.
But I’m still not satisfied. This may be setting the bar too low.
In dozens of Vermont towns and neighborhoods, more than 40% of the households subscribe to Front Porch Forum, where planning-relevant discussion often occurs. In one town that we studied, about three-quarters had posted in the first year.
Of course, ongoing online exchange among neighbors is different than face-to-face planning sessions, but we have seen many times where community turnout swells for such gatherings once FPF is up and running well. Frequent communication among clearly identified nearby neighbors gets folks informed and engaged.
The Citizens in a Connected Age workshop advances the computer and Internet skills learned through the Vermont State Colleges and Vermont Small Business Development Center courses offered in each e-Vermont project town.
However, ANY Vermonter with basic computer skills can attend this workshop!
Learn About
When and Where
For more information
Contact Joanna Cummings, e-Vermont Community Coordinator: joanna@snellingcenter.org
Visit
The California Civic Health Index 2010 was just released (PDF). A compelling attempt to quantify people’s involvement in their local community.
The term “civic engagement” has become one of the more vague in public policy discussions. More than any other national organization, the Congressionally chartered National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC) has sought to bring clarity to this very important subject through survey research and promoting civic participation. Their annual “Civic Health Index” studies American civic engagement on activities ranging from voting to volunteering to many in between. For the last three years, NCoC has also focused on California for one of its state-level reports. To help dfine the term, this year’s report is divided into “political civic engagement” (voting and registering to vote, discussing politics with friends/neighbors) and “social civic engagement” (volunteering, having dinner with family, working on community problems).
Vermont shows up in some of the charts comparing all 50 U.S. states (plus DC, etc.)…
6th – Discuss politics with family and friends (44%)
3rd – Participate in one or more non-electoral political activities (39%)
mid – Voter registration (71%) and turn-out (64%)
13th – Eat dinner with family and household members (91%)
Further…
As technology rapidly changes the landscape of social networks and norms, this report looks at the kinds of connectivity Californians have to their families, neighbors, and communities. In a recent essay that questioned the impact of internet-based social networks on social movements, Malcolm Gladwell speculates that although online connectivity makes it easy to proliferate ideas, the kind of collectivist action that was a hallmark of our Civil Rights Movement and other important social revolutions depends more on strong leadership and close, in-person relationships between movement participants. Whether or not Gladwell is correct, it is certainly true that our community relationships, news consumption, and methods of conceptualizing solutions are rapidly changing with the advent of new forms of communication. As Californians work to effect change in their communities, proliferation of information and forms of social interactions both will play a large role.
Over the last few years, the rate at which Americans report working with neighbors to improve the community has increased: 8.3% of Californians say they work with neighbors to improve the community, slightly below a national average of 8.8%.
In this measure of engagement, California ranks 33rd in the nation. On a less formal level, 13.8% of Californians exchange favors with neighbors a few times a week, while the average for the entire country is 15.9%. These informal actions are greatly affected by geography: Californians who live in rural communities are far more likely to regularly exchange favors (21.9%) than those in urban areas (11.9%).
Thanks to the thousands of local folks across 50 Vermont towns who make Front Porch Forum work with their participation, recruiting of friends, constructive feedback, and financial support. Through this year’s annual FPF supporting-member campaign, neighbors kicked in an amazing $18,000. These funds are already being plowed back into FPF to maintain, improve and expand our service in Vermont. Thank you!
For all who have asked, yes, we welcome contributions toward our 2010 $20k goal until Dec. 31…
http://frontporchforum.com/about/donate.php
Front Porch Forum
PO Box 64781
Burlington, VT 05406-4781
Ghost of Midnight is an online journal about fostering community within neighborhoods, with a special focus on Front Porch Forum (FPF). My wife, Valerie, and I founded FPF in 2006... read more