Case Study of the Health Effects Institute

Sandy Heierbacher. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2003.

HEI is an independent, nonprofit corporation chartered in 1980 to provide high-quality, impartial and relevant scientific information on the health effects of emissions from motor vehicles and other sources of environmental pollution. HEI is funded equally by the EPA and the motor vehicle industry. Although not a public participation program, HEI was examined because of its ability to remain neutral, retain the respect of all stakeholders, and produce high-quality research findings on the health effects of a variety of pollutants.

Resource Link: http://www.thataway.org/exchange/files/docs/Health_Effects_Inst_case.doc

Case Study of the Kentucky Center for Public Issues

Sandy Heierbacher. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2003.

KCPI is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit public policy organization based in Frankfort, Kentucky?’s capital. KCPI?’s mission is to help citizens explore, understand and confront issues critical to the future of Kentucky. Among other things, KCPI runs Policy Councils, which involve a diverse group of experts and interested citizens from all parts of the state to consider and, if appropriate, propose improvements in public policies. Policy Councils study a specific contentious issue in depth, obtain public input and raise public awareness about the issue, arrive at a consensus about the issue when possible, and sometimes take action on their findings.

Resource Link: http://www.thataway.org/exchange/files/docs/KCPI_case.doc

Case Study of the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council

Sandy Heierbacher. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2003.

NEJAC was created in 1993 as a part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency?’s Office of Environmental Justice. NEJAC helps the OEJ address environmental justice issues and integrate environmental justice into the EPA?’s policies, programs and activities. It does this by bringing community, industry and state/local government groups together to find solutions to environmental justice problems and by providing the EPA with independent advice and recommendations on matters related to environmental justice.

Resource Link: http://www.thataway.org/exchange/files/docs/NEJAC_case.doc

Center for Collaborative Organizations

The Center for Collaborative Organizations, formerly the Center for the Study of Work Teams, is based at the University of North Texas and was created for the purpose of education and research in all areas of collaborative work systems. The Center officially incorporated as a nonprofit organization in 1992, although the first conference was held in 1990.

Resource Link: http://www.workteams.unt.edu

Center for Collaborative Policy

The Center is a joint program of California State University, Sacramento and the McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific. The mission of the Center is to build the capacity of public agencies, stakeholder groups, and the public to use collaborative strategies to improve policy outcomes. The Center produces a quarterly newsletter called The Collaborative Edge.

Resource Link: http://www.csus.edu/ccp/

Changing Assumptions about Government and Politics

National League of Cities.

The NLC Democratic Governance Panel developed this one-page chart to explain the differences between traditional citizen involvement (politics as usual) and democratic governance. The chart addresses such questions as "Who is responsible for solving public problems?", "What are the criteria for ?“good government??”, and "How should governments recruit citizens?"

Resource Link: http://www.thataway.org/exchange/files/docs/NLC_Changing_Assumptions.doc

Citizen Corps: A Guide for Local Officials

Citizen Corps, 2002.

Citizen Corps is the component of USA Freedom Corps that creates opportunities for individuals to volunteer to help their communities prepare for and respond to emergencies by bringing together local leaders, citizen volunteers and the network of first responder organizations, such as fire departments, police departments and emergency medical personnel. The goal is to have all citizens participate in making their communities safer, stronger, and better prepared for preventing and handling threats of terrorism, crime, and disasters of all kinds.

Resource Link: http://www.citizencorps.gov/pdf/council.pdf

Citizen Participation and Social Inclusion Procedures in Santo Andre, Brazil: Participatory Budgeting and City of the Future Project

Cid Blanco Jr. Presentation delivered at the World Bank Urban Research Symposium in Washington, D.C., December, 2002.

This presentation provides an overview of the research done on participatory budgeting in Santo Andre, Brazil. The author proposes to analyze different aspects of the budgeting, as well as look for opportunities for both positive and negative lessons-learned. The author deals with many challenges that face participatory budgeting and suggests some steps to take in further research and development of new practice.

Resource Link: http://www.thataway.org/exchange/files/docs/Blanko_Partic_Budgeting.pdf

Citizen Participation in Health (Care) Decision Making: What We Know and Where We Might Go

John B. Church, M. I. Wanke, L. D. Saunders, R. Pong, C. Spooner and M. Dorgan. Centre for Health Promotion Studies, 2001.

This paper examines the concept of citizen participation within the context of a series of basic questions from which decision makers might draw some policy relevance. These questions include: How is the organization/program accountable? Who should participate? What level of input could the community have in the decision-making process? In what types of decisions might citizens be involved? Given what we know, where might we go from here?

Resource Link: http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/chps/publications_orders.cfm

CitizenPost

In the summer of 2006, the Case Foundation published Cynthia Gibson's groundbreaking paper "Citizens at the Center: A New Approach to Civic Engagement." The publication generated much discussion and debate, and this blog was created to allow the conversation to continue. Focused on all things "citizen-centered" (a term which includes not only citizens, but also those who aspire to be citizens, including immigrants), the blog attempts to dig down into how we can make civic engagement, civic discourse, political involvement, volunteering, and other good practices part and parcel of everyday life rather than something people do in their spare time or occasionally.

Resource Link: http://www.citizenpost.blogspot.com

Citizens and Public Deliberation Workshop

A collaborative project of the Council on Public Policy Education (CPPE), the Inter American Foundation (IAF), and the Inter-American Democracy Network (IADN). Kettering Foundation, 2003.

The 10 initiatives (case studies) represented here present a great opportunity for learning. In varying ways they reflect the shared view that long-run economic well-being in a community is critically affected by the qualities of the practices through which decisions on issues related to economic performance are made. Thus the community itself can be seen as an economic resource. If so, local development projects, aside from their inherent merits, can be seen as catalysts for the long-term development of civic decision-making capacity. This document also serves as a schedule for the Citizens and Public Deliberation Workshop at the Kettering Foundation.

Resource Link: http://www.publicpolicy-educouncil.org/pdf/CPD_W-shop_English_9_3.pdf

City Scan

City Scan works with residents in urban areas to identify, prioritize and resolve neighborhood problems. City Scan has been working with neighborhood groups in four Connecticut cities to identify problems that city government can fix -- abandoned cars, vacant buildings, potholes, graffiti, and litter. We train youth or adult volunteers to use handheld computers, digital cameras, and GIS mapping software to inventory these street-level conditions.

Resource Link: http://www.city-scan.com

Civic Results

At Civic Results, we work with our clients to plan and implement initiatives addressing the physical, social, civic and human infrastructure challenges facing their communities. Our clients include governmental entities, community organizations, businesses and non-profit institutions nationwide. We provide specialized services including interactive keypad meetings, meeting design and facilitation, strategic planning and visioning, management of public processes, stakeholder group dialogues, collaborative partnerships and solution-oriented campaigns.

Resource Link: http://www.civicresults.org

CivicSpace

CivicSpace is a community organizing platform supported by an ecology of users, developers, and vendors. It allows you to build communities online and offline that can communicate effectively, act collectively, and coordinate coherently with a network of other related organizations. CivicSpace enables bottom-up people-powered campaigns to operate on a more level playing field with more traditional top-down organizations, and, similarly, allows top-down organizations to leverage the power of grassroots organizing. Our open source CivicSpace Drupal distribution now powers over 2,000 organization's websites and the top six CivicSpace/Drupal servicing firms employ over 50 staff members.

Resource Link: http://www.civicspacelabs.org

Civil Dialogue: Making It Work Better

Elodie Fazi and Jeremy Smith. Study commissioned by the Civil Society Contact Group, 2006.

NGOs play a growing role in shaping the EU project through their participation in a "civil dialogue" with the EU institutions. After several decades of involvement in the European project, the time came for a common reflection on how to make this dialogue between EU and its citizens work better. This study is based on an overview of dialogue with EU institutions and on case studies with a particular focus on national NGOs?’ involvement, and looks at the practice of dialogue between NGOs and EU institutions, reviewing what works and what doesn?’t, and making recommendations for change.

Resource Link: http://www.thataway.org/exchange/files/docs/Civil_Dialogue.pdf

Collaborating: Finding Common Ground for Multiparty Problems

Barbara Gray. Jossey-Bass, 1989.

Veteran mediator Barbara Gray presents an innovative approach to successfully mediating multi-party disputes. A superb resource for managers, public officials and others working to solve complex problems such as labor disputes, disposal of toxic wastes, racial integration, and the use of biotechnology.

Resource Link: http://www.josseybass.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1555421598.html

Collaborative Democracy Network

A network of over 100 interdisciplinary and international scholars has been established to focus on the need to enhance the role of deliberative and collaborative methods in democratic governance. The goal of the network is to collaborate on research and theory building to strengthen the capacity of democratic governance institutions to produce better public policy. The Collaborative Democracy Network is being coordinated by the Center for Collaborative Policy at California State University Sacramento.

Resource Link: http://www.csus.edu/ccp/cdn/

Collaborative Edge Newsletter

Center for Collaborative Policy at Ca. State University Sacramento.

As collaborative strategies and methods grow more important in dealing with complex and 'wicked' public policy issues, information about cutting edge developments in collaboration methods becomes more essential. The Collaborative Edge, an internet-based newsletter, provides timely information on collaborative strategies and methods to public agencies, civic organizations, and the public. Each quarterly edition includes articles on success stories, tool kits, challenging issues, and news and resources.

Resource Link: http://www.csus.edu/ccp/

Collaborative Governance in the CALFED Program: Adaptive Policy Making for California Water

Judith E. Innes, Sarah Connick, Laura Kaplan, and David E. Booher.

A new, collaborative model of governance has emerged in the CALFED program, which manages much of California's vast water system. This model emerged out of many years of dialogue among the state's major stakeholders and public agency leaders frustrated by the inability of traditional governance by the three branches - executive, legislative and judicial - to establish significant policy to address the competing needs of the environment and urban and agricultural water users. This paper reports on our research into the history, logic, and workings of this evolving program from its inception as an informal memorandum among agencies in 1994 to its 2004 incarnation with a formal, legislatively established oversight authority.

Resource Link: http://www.csus.edu/ccp/publications/WP-2006-01.pdf

Collaborative Governance Initiative

The Collaborative Governance Initiative, a program of the Institute for Local Government, supports informed and effective civic engagement in public decision-making and helps local officials in California successfully navigate among the many community involvement options that bring the public's voice to the table on important issues. Contact them for information or assistance with civic engagement planning. The Institute for Local Government is the nonprofit research and education affiliate of the League of California Cities.

Resource Link: http://www.ca-ilg.org/cgi