Public and community engagement, involvement and participation is what we are doing as consultants. It is also what we help others do most effectively. We work with teams, companies and agencies on reaching consensus through public participation and collaboration. We usually find ourselves bridging divides by creating spaces where people are willing to participate to build solutions. Community engagement builds consensus. And below you have some of the best of the news and tips that we have found about how to engage communities. Or what happens when you do not. The latest news handpicked by our public sector consultants, all wrapped up with a sometimes snarky – yet always informed – perspective. Enjoy!
The events of January 6th scared a lot of us – it should have scared every one of us. In this unbalanced time, we need to remember that democracy is based on balance and equilibrium and the secret sauce is the involvement of its citizens. You’ll find this, along ...
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It’s easy to think that the political and public polarization of this country is a fairly recent phenomenon, but it isn’t; we’ve seen it steadily growing for a long time. It just took a few people with talent for propaganda and promotion to more clearly define the tribes, identify the ...
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There are a lot of challenges facing us in the public participation biz, not the least of which is the constant evolution of demographic change. Adding that to the growth and expansion of technology, and the thermonuclear political war underway in the U.S., makes for interesting times. This is a ...
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All of us wish we’d bought stock in Zoom a year ago and we’ve adapted to moving training, coaching and our work with clients and communities online. Fact is, it’s working quite a bit better than we originally thought it might. It’s definitely different and doing interpersonal work in this ...
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You’re tired… we’re all tired. The silent majority has become the exhausted majority and the research and evidence shows that depression, alcohol abuse, stress, domestic violence and all of the other maladies that you might imagine occurring in these strange times are on the rise. Our social lives are upside ...
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By the time you’re reading this, you may have seen two Presidential and one Vice-Presidential debates and you’ve gotten a lesson in the value and challenge of facilitation. Managing discussions or debates with people who are aggressive, aggrieved or just dominant requires skills that not everyone necessarily has, including seasoned ...
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The public involvement meeting world has changed. The days of packing school cafeterias with people stuffed together into folding chairs munching cookies is gone for the immediate future. But life does go on and our engagement goes on online. Here are some helpful tips. Read more...
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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 ...
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The death of George Floyd launched a rocket under the seven-year-old Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and nothing suggests it will fade from public consciousness anytime soon. But at some point we’ll need to decide what happens beyond just the protests. More than a year ago, Charlotte and Mecklenburg County ...
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Our managing pardner Debra Duerr has some personal thoughts on the role of a citizen.
Those of us in the public participation business will always remember the citizen activist we met
on every project – the person with boundless energy who resisted, shouted, provoked, forced a different way of thinking, ...
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