Citizen engagement has become increasingly important in the last ten years, but we have barely scraped the surface of what innovative public engagement can do for public services, communities and citizens. Part of what is holding us back is outdated myths about citizen engagement. “From Fairy Tale to Reality: Dispelling the Myths around Citizen Engagement” is a collaborative venture by Involve and the RSA. The pamphlet debunks common misconceptions of public engagement such as fears of spiralling costs and dwindling prospects of success, and provides ... (continue)

The first three years of a child’s life are a time of great opportunity, as well as risk. We can tip the scales in favor of healthy development by providing early experiences and relationships that help babies and toddlers thrive. Our failure to do so can lead to long-lasting harm to our children, communities, and economy. In order to consider ways to ensure a good start for all West Virginia’s children, the Early Childhood Advisory Council of West Virginia joined with the West Virginia Center ... (continue)

The purpose of this article (2013) by authors John M. Bryson, Kathryn S. Quick, Carissa Schively Slotterback, and Barbara C. Crosby is to present a systematic, cross-disciplinary, and accessible synthesis of relevant research and to offer explicit evidence-based design guidelines to help practitioners design better participation processes. From the research literature, the authors glean suggestions for iteratively creating, managing, and evaluating public participation activities. The article takes an evidence-based and design science approach, suggesting that eff ective public participation processes are grounded in analyzing the context ... (continue)

This study released on September 12, 2012 by the National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC) shows that a strong civic foundation is directly linked to strengthening employment at the metropolitan, county, and state levels. Communities with better civic health have weathered the recent recession far better – and experienced considerably smaller increases in unemployment – than other communities that faced similar economic circumstances. The NCoC report, Civic Health and Unemployment II: The Case Builds, was produced in partnership with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, ... (continue)

Several years in the making, with the involvement of many of us in the D&D community, this 2012 book edited by Tina Nabatchi, John Gastil, G. Michael Weiksner, and Matt Leighninger is due out on November 1st but can be purchased here on Amazon.com now for under $30. The 336-page book is published by Oxford University Press. Although the field of deliberative civic engagement is growing rapidly around the world, our knowledge and understanding of its practice and impacts remain highly fragmented. Democracy in Motion represents the first ... (continue)

This important 2012 book by Carolyn Lukensmeyer (founder of AmericaSpeaks and now director of the National Institute for Civil Discourse) offers seven field-tested strategies for public managers to help them maximize citizen engagement as they implement the President’s Open Government Directive. Lukensmeyer’s first book is due out November 10, but you can pre-order your copy now here at Wiley.com or by calling 800-356-5016. Use Promo Code CL252 to save 36% on your order. The Core Strategies for Citizen Engagement discussed in the book are: Establish Links to Decision-Makers; ... (continue)

In “Slow Democracy,” community leader (and NCDD Sustaining Member) Susan Clark and democracy scholar Woden Teachout document the range of ways that citizens around the country are breathing new life into participatory democracy in their communities. (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2012.) Large institutions and centralized governments, with top-down, expert-driven thinking, are no longer society’s drivers. In fact, they are often responsible for tearing communities apart. New decision-making techniques now pair with cutting-edge communication tools to make local communities—and the citizens who live there—uniquely suited to meet today’s ... (continue)

This 2011 Kettering Foundation working paper by Laura W. Black focuses on the question: To what extent can digital media truly offer potential opportunities for deliberative decision making, particularly the practice of deliberation itself? To address this question, this working paper assesses features of online deliberation by reviewing online deliberative tools, examples of other potentially deliberative websites, and relevant academic research. (continue)

The International Forum of Visual Practitioners has a wonderful map of their members that anyone can access!  Looking for a graphic recorder for an upcoming conference or event?  Click on the state you’re holding your event in and see who’s nearby.  You’ll find their contact info, website address, bio, and more. Those of you who have attended NCDD conferences know that we rely on graphic recorders to bring the ideas that germinate at our conferences to life.  You can see a nice overview of how we’ve used ... (continue)

The Civil Debate Wall—popularly known as ‘The Wall’—is a unique, innovative social media tool created by Local Projects for The Bob Graham Center for Public Service at the University of Florida and funded by a grant from the Knight Foundation. The Wall creates constructive dialogue by providing a physical social media tool that connects large touch screens, a texting system, and a website. These three synchronized components create a single, seamless interactive experience for the broader University of Florida community to actively engage in local, ... (continue)