Doing public participation has never really been easy. We’ve occasionally worked for organizations that truly believe and value the benefit of including citizens in their plans, but more often than not, clients tend to view public involvement as more of a necessary evil. Professionals rarely relish the idea of sharing control of their projects with people whom they don’t think have any expertise to judge. But we know the benefits of that input and earning eventual consensus. If you’re looking for more support for what you do, try this.

We’ve talked about what’s happened with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) over the last nine months and how the current regime’s backlash is destroying the progress made. In spite of the demonization of the term, the principles, ethics, fairness, and logic of bringing different people together into groups are still viable, even if using the acronym is verboten.

Doing the work of community engagement has always required some courage, now more than ever.

You know that listening well is crucial to effectively engaging people, but you may have never thought of it as an actual art form. Consider the following to master the art of silence.

This is another one of those stories obviously intended for in-house business meetings, but it resonates for public ones, too.