At the risk of offending redheads (please send your comments and death threats to Doug at [email protected]), I must point out that probably the least considered and prioritized core value of authentic public participation is IAP2’s #7: Public participation communicates to participants how their input affected the decision. It’s the one that tends to get lost, mistreated or forgotten in the process and that’s just bad and wrong because paying attention to it encourages people to stay engaged and answers the magical question, What possible difference can/did I make? Here’s a compelling case for it. Read more