International Civic Engagement

November 5th Coalition

I received two versions of this e-mail yesterday, one from Dani Fisher at the Center for Democracy and Citizenship and the other from Matt Leighninger of the Deliberative Democracy Consortium:

Dear Friend,

Are you tired of the same old politics? So are we.

And so are millions of other Americans, who, polls show, are frustrated by campaigns and politics dominated by mudslinging, sound bites, money, and polarizing partisanship.

But the answer isn't to walk away. More participation is.

We need to put people back into politics. And we need to start now.

The good news is that there's a new national coalition focused on doing just that. It's called the November 5th Coalition, named to send the message that politics and civic engagement isn't just about election. It's about what happens after and between elections. It's about creating what we're calling a new civic politics—one that truly believes in government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

Members of the November 5th Coalition—an all-partisan, grassroots effort—include groups as diverse at the National Civic League, American Association of State Colleges and Universities' American Democracy Project, Mobilize.org, and the Association of Young Americans.

Our Declaration (see full text below) is endorsed by a network of citizens, including former governors William Winter (D-Miss.) and Al Quie (R-Minn.), former civil rights leader Dorothy Cotton, former USA Freedom Corps director John Bridgeland, former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros, and many others.

Already, this group is challenging candidates to rise above needless polarization and talk about how they'll work with all of us, as fellow citizens, to address difficult problems from health care to education reform, from climate change to keeping communities safe.

But we're doing a lot more. And we need your help—and the help of all those who believe politics shouldn't be a spectator sport.

     **What can you do? Here's a few suggestions:**

     • Join others around the country in signing and publicizing the November Fifth Coalition Declaration:

             www.novemberfifth.org/manifesto.html

     • Push out our message of "citizen politics" by writing a letter to the editor, posting a comment on a blog, or calling in to a radio show.

     • Get other people thinking and talking about how to change politics through house meetings, community discussions, or conversations in your congregation, neighborhood, or workplace (see guide on housemeetings at www.novemberfifth.org
      
     • Attend political debates and ask questions that challenge candidates to think differently about their role and working with citizens - see sample questions at www.novemberfifth.org
      
     • **Contribute to the November 5th Coalition
      
     • Tell us what you’re doing in your community by contacting us      citizen@novemberfifth.org.

We believe that we have the momentum, the opportunity, and the power to help make "we the people" the architects and agents of a new democracy. And we hope you'll join us.

     Sincerely,

     Harry Boyte, Elaine Eschenbacher, and Nan Skelton, Center for
     Democracy and Citizenship, University of Minnesota's Humphrey
     Institute of Public Affairs
     Maya Enista, Mobilize.org
     Will Friedman & Alison Kadlec, Center for Advances in Civic
     Engagement, Public Agenda
     Archon Fung, Harvard University
     Chris Gates, Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement
     Cynthia Gibson, Principal, Cynthesis Consulting/Tisch College of
     Public Service & Citizenship, Tufts University
     Joe Goldman, AmericaSpeaks
     Elizabeth Hollander, Tisch College of Public Service &
     Citizenship, Tufts University
     Sandy Heirbacher, National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation
     Matt Leighninger, Deliberative Democracy Consortium
     Peter Levine, CIRCLE (The Center for Information and Research on
     Civic Learning and Engagement)
     Martha McCoy, Study Circles Resource Center
     George Mehaffy, American Democracy Project, AASCU
     Carmen Sirianni, Brandeis University
     Mica Stark, Saint Anselm College
     Max Stephenson, Virginia Tech Center for Policy & Governance

**Full text of the November 5th Coalition Declaration**

Enough is enough. America’s politics should be driven by the priorities of the people, not sound bites, special interest money, partisan gridlock, and polarizing rhetoric.

It is time for a change.

We believe that politics cannot and should not be a spectator sport. No politician, party or ideology will solve America’s mounting problems alone. Only by providing authentic opportunities for the people to be part of the solution can we rebuild trust in our political institutions and create mandates for meaningful action on the critical issues facing our nation.

We challenge candidates and each other to recognize lessons from communities across the nation and around the world where citizens have played vital roles in addressing difficult problems that range from health care to education reform, from keeping communities safe to climate change. We need an outpouring of ideas about how Americans can build on this history, developing skills of working together across divisions of party, faith, race, income, and geography to address common issues. Such work is difficult. But it is crucial.

The November 5th Coalition is an all-partisan alliance committed to civic partnerships that address our biggest challenges. The Coalition is named for the day after the election in 2008 when a new chapter of America’s civic history begins. Wherever the people gather they should be able to ask candidates "November 5th questions" about how they plan to tap the talents of the whole society, instead of posing as superheroes who will solve our problems for us. We will also develop leadership networks and civic policies that can serve as resources for a new administration. We encourage our fellow citizens to join with us in calling on candidates to rise above excessively divisive partisanship and to promote the common good.

We invite all Americans to help us shape a new civic politics that can galvanize the energies of the nation, drawing us from the shopping mall back into the public square. We must renew Abraham Lincoln’s "government of the people, by the people, for the people," to achieve a rebirth of liberty and justice for all in the 21st century.

International Volunteer Day

The UN and other international organizations commemorated International Volunteer Day yesterday.  For more information, read this and this.

Playing Fast and Loose With Voters' Rights Online

From The Chronicle of Higher Education:

Some Texas state legislators, all Democrats, fled across the state line a few years ago to postpone a legislative session. The Republican majority was going to use that session to redraw Congressional voting-district lines, and the Democrats would have lost seats. A few months later, the Democrats slunk back and the lines were redrawn anyway.

Now the University of Southern California is about to shed new light on this mysterious and often-abused aspect of politics by way of an online game to be released next week. It is part of an academic movement to promote games for social change, lead researcher Chris Swain said during a recent visit to The Chronicle offices.

The Redistricting Game is an online multiplayer game, open to everyone, that debuts Monday, It allows people to compete in various redistricting scenarios, also known as "gerrymandering." Players can try to manipulate district lines to see how this produces a skewed victory for either party. The game allows politicians to choose voters, rather than letting voters choose their politicians, its designers say.

The game also provides details on a variety of real-life reform measures, including a "fair play" law introduced in Congress by Rep. John S. Tanner, Democrat of Tennessee. It also provides an online forum for players to discuss these issues.

Swain says he hopes the game will be used as a viral, grass-roots lobbying effort to open the public's eyes to this issue and to get them to take action.

New Resource Available to Help Media, Public Track Bills Pending in Congress

From Government Technology:

Members of the media and the general public can now track legislation pending in Congress and view pro and con information about bills on WashingtonWatch.com, a non-partisan Web site that yesterday unveiled new "wiki" capability.

The site's wiki technology enables lawmakers, lobbyists, trade associations, and others involved in the legislative process to create and edit content about specific bills.

"WashingtonWatch.com is like Wikipedia for legislation," said Jim Harper, founder of the site. "WashingtonWatch.com provides a more user-friendly and interactive way for the public to learn about legislation than the Library of Congress' THOMAS site. It's all about government transparency."

The WashingtonWatch.com wiki is the first and only wiki designed specifically for bill-by-bill tracking of legislation. Among the other features are:

• Regular e-mail alerts about new bills in Congress and activity in the House and Senate.
• A catalog of bills that is organized by topic and is fully searchable.
• Cost or savings information for legislation, based on government estimates.
• Online polls where site visitors can vote on bills.
• A "watch" that will e-mail you whenever the wiki entry of a specific bill is updated.
• A ranking system that displays which pages the public visits most often each week.

The site recently received a "mini-grant" from the Sunlight Foundation, which also helps fund the Center for Responsive Politics, OMB Watch, and other activities designed to increase government transparency and reduce government corruption.

Using WashingtonWatch.com is free. A detailed tutorial for the wiki is included on the site.

Fantasy Baseball, Football, and ... Congress?

On Friday, Smart Communities profiled an interesting new online game called Fantasy Congress, which allows users to create pools of 25 people that compete to choose and manage a set of legislators that will accumulate the largest number of points by the close of the legislative session.  I'll be curious to learn how many teachers and professors incorporate this game in their classes.

Citizen Engagement Professional Training at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow

From the International Public Management Network Listserv:

Citizen Engagement Professional Training
University of Strathclyde, Glasgow
21st to 25th May, 2007

Coming to Glasgow in May 2007, a comprehensive, internationally recognized skills development programme jointly sponsored by the University of Strathclyde and Twyford Consulting, a specialist firm of public engagement specialist consultants and trainers from Australia.

The programme materials represent over 15 years of research, development and experience by the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2).  The course will be delivered by an international group of trainers all licensed by IAP2.

The UK programme provides you a unique opportunity to learn from practitioners from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Latin America, South Africa and the US. You will experience a well planned, practical and thorough course that will deepen your understanding of the practice, as well as develop your capability to engage the public effectively.  The IAP2 approach to public participation is unique and has helped thousands of people around the world.

The UK programme offers 2 pathways – the full 5-day Certificate Course for practitioners and decision-makers, or for those with less time available the 2-day Planning module offers an abbreviated view of the unique IAP2 concepts.

When: 21st to 25th May, 2007
Where: Jordanhill Campus, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow

The training brochure containing details of the programme, dates, venue, costs and a registration form is available from any of the websites below:

http://www.strath.ac.uk/Departments/CADISPA/training/index.html

http://www.iap2.org/calendarshowevents.cfm?eventmonth=5&eventyear=2007&dispeventtype=All&showhol=N&btnSubmit=Submit

http://www.twyford.com.au  (click the tab for our latest news)

For a hard copy or for more details, please contact:

Alison McAllister
Professional Development Unit, University of Strathclyde
alison.mcallister@strath.ac.uk

Alison Garvie
Project Co-ordinator, Twyford Consulting
alison@twyford.com.au

Citizen Forums of Penn’s Project on Civic Engagement Shine Spotlight on Issues in Mayor and Council Races

The Project on Civic Engagement, based at the University of Pennsylvania's Fels Institute of Government, is spotlighting Philadelphia public schools, the mayors race and City Council races in a continuing series of citizen forums called Great Expectations: Citizens Voices on Philadelphia's Future.

On April 12, a mayoral candidates forum on education issues will be held at Rodeph Shalom Synagogue, 514 N. Broad St., from 7 to 9 p.m.  The forum will raise questions on a range of issues developed at a citizen forum on Philadelphia public schools held earlier in the month.

In May, Great Expectations will spotlight the Philadelphia City Council races.  Deliberation Days or D-Days will be held in each of the 10 Council districts before the May 15 primary election.  The D-Day events will feature a citizen dialogue about the mayoral campaign and city issues, a straw poll on the mayors race, a straw poll on the casino referendum and a Council candidates forum.  Registration is required to participate and can be done by phone at 215-854-5956 or online at www.fels.upenn.edu/greatexpectations_form.htm.

The full slate of Project on Civic Engagement Great Expectation events can be viewed at www.fels.upenn.edu/greatexpectations.htm.

MySpace Launches Political Channel Connecting Users to 2008 Election

MySpace.com announced the launch of the Impact Channel (http://impact.myspace.com), a political community designed to empower politicians, non-profits, and civic organizations to connect with MySpace users around the world. The Impact Channel will house a voter registration tool, links to all official candidate profiles, content from GOOD Magazine, Impact-related event and job listings, videos, and programs. An Impact-specific profile type, to be rolled-out in the next several weeks, will offer Impact-makers special functionality including the network’s first viral fundraising tool and customizable badges. The launch of the Impact Channel kicks-off a series of large-scale online and offline political programming continuing through the 2008 presidential elections.

“As the country’s most trafficked Website, MySpace will play a powerful role in the upcoming election. Our digital candidate banners will be the yard signs of the 21st Century and our political viral videos and vlogs are the campaign ads of the future,” said Chris DeWolfe, CEO of MySpace. “By empowering our users with easy-to-find information, offered in a way they can relate to it, Impact will ignite their involvement in the political process.”

“It is already clear that MySpace will be a primary hub of activity in the 2008 Presidential campaign,” said Andrew Rasiej, Co-Founder of techPresident.com. “The Impact Channel will confirm once and for all that the Internet is not just an adjunct to the traditional political landscape, but an entirely new and distinct battlefield where voter generated content will drive much of the discourse, upend the conventional wisdom, and impact the election in ways that the traditional political and media establishment is just beginning to understand.”

Matt Leighninger Will Speak at April 10 One KC Voice Event

A disclaimer - I serve as chair of One KC Voice's Advisory Committee!

You are invited to a special opportunity to learn about the Kansas City region’s newest citizen engagement collaborative and how you or your organization can be part of this movement.

Join us for lunch on April 10 to hear distinguished author Matt Leighninger explain how citizens and community organizations can be the catalyst for the next form of democracy. In his recent book, The Next Form of Democracy, Leighninger uses the Kansas City, Kan., Study Circles projects as one of the case studies he describes.

Who should attend: Nonprofits, neighborhood groups, churches, libraries, business groups, universities, government officials and individuals — anyone who is interested in giving citizens, neighborhoods or their members a voice in public issues.

Following lunch, we will present One KC Voice, a collaborative of Kansas City organizations launched last year to give citizens a voice on issues that affect our communities. Learn how you can become a partner and participant in this dynamic new venture.

Prior to the One KC Voice lunch, the Mid-America Regional Council and the Kansas City chapter of the American Society for Public Administration will hold a Future of Local Government Conference Series session from 8:00 a.m. to noon on The Next Form of Democracy ($105 per person).   

• Lunch Session — 12:15 to 1:00 p.m.
  $20 per person
  Lunch • Remarks by Matt Leighninger, executive director of the Deliberative Democracy Consortium

• Afternoon Session: 1:15 to 2:30 p.m.
  No charge
  Panel presentation on One KC Voice and how it relates to the concepts of Deliberative Democracy

Register for the lunch or afternoon sessions, or attend both!

Register online at http://www.onekcvoice.org/ or call 816/701-8234.

For more information, download the brochure at http://www.marc.org/gti/Special_Events/future_brochure.pdf.

Citizen Engagement Survey in Kansas City

I just received the following announcement via e-mail:

The Mid-America Regional Council's work depends on you. Input and ideas from residents provide a better understanding of our community’s transportation needs.  By taking this brief survey, you will help us find ways to engage you and other citizens in transportation decisions in the Kansas City region.

Log on to www.marc.org and click on CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT IN TRANSPORTATION SURVEY.

Spanish and English versions are available.

The Mid-America Regional Council serves as the association of city and county governments and the metropolitan planning organization for the bi-state region. To find out more about what we do, visit www.marc.org .

For more information about this survey or the Public Participation Plan please contact MARC at (816) 474-4240 or ppp@marc.org.