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Deliberative Democracy Consortium head coaches Sea to Sky civic leaders

Matt Leighninger discusses public engagement as Whistler Forum's latest speaker
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Forum for Democracy Matt Leighninger met with civic leaders last week through the Whistler Forum, sharing ideas how to modernize democracy and re-engage the public in politics. photo by cathryn atkinson

Civic staff and nonprofit managers from Pemberton to West Vancouver gathered at Brew Creek to hear one of the leading thinkers on public engagement as part of a one-day "leadership intensive" sponsored by the Whistler Forum last week.

Matt Leighninger, head of the Washington, D.C.-based Deliberative Democracy Consortium, spoke about what was meant to be a blueprint for increasing Sea to Sky community involvement in those public bodies and social organizations that impact their lives.

The consortium is a network of global practitioners and researchers representing more than 50 organizations and universities, collaborating to strengthen the field of deliberative — or participative — democracy.

Leighninger's presentation, Planning for Stronger Local Democracy, has been shown across Canadian and American cities. He is also the author of an IBM report on using online tools to engage democracy, and a guide, Planning for Stronger Local Democracy, for the American organization, the National League of Cities.

"The way social change and political change can happen is when the two parties, government and community, can find common ground," Whistler Forum president William Roberts said in his introduction to Leighninger.

When the 18 participants were asked about their aims for the day, comments included the need to increase public involvement in meetings from people "who would rather be out riding their bikes," reaching the isolated, bringing new voices to the table rather than "the usual suspects," and wanting to make community engagement less of a task for those trying to break down apparent public indifference.

"How do you take the political part of life, which has been dragged out of people's lives this last 100 years and drag it back in?" he asked his audience.

"People are potentially better informed than ever before, but they are also busier."

In a later interview with Pique, Leighninger said he was trying to "help grow a field of practitioners... who do public engagement, meaning that they are bringing people into more meaningful roles, helping to make public decisions, (and) solving problems in their neighbourhoods and communities."

He said interest in his concepts has grown exponentially in the 17 years he has been working and lecturing.

"It's still amazingly diffuse, with all of these people working in different areas, on different issues," said Leighninger. "Most of the time, they don't know there are other people out there doing similar kinds of things, or that there are resources out there."

Leighninger said one of the main challenges was that sincere efforts to improve engagement run up against a lack of time and other work pressures.

"It's rarely at the top on someone's list, they have all kinds of other things to do in their jobs, so this is kind of often an add-on to everything else."

Collaboration between community groups, which could bring beneficial sharing of energy and information, also happens all too rarely, he added.

Shannon Gordon of the Whistler Centre for Sustainability said she attended to get a better idea of how to engage through social media.

"My primary objective is to get a better handle on online technology because we're trying to grow that, using surveys online... It's a challenge to get people interested and then keeping them interested enough so they give their precious time."

Two RMOW staff attended, but neither could comment on what they thought about Leighninger's talk or what recommendations they would make to their colleagues and council.

Roberts said he was excited by Leighninger's cross-sectoral, enjoyable, sustainable approach.

"For 10 years the Whistler Forum put as a priority the skills capacity we need to have more creative and effective public engagement... it's the way to involve communities, the way to develop policy and the way to make decisions. Matt, to me, is one of the leading lights in this whole field," Roberts said.

"More than ever our elected officials need to hear about these building blocks that he is laying out — how to make better decisions, how to bring people in."

While Roberts was pleased that municipal staff from across the region attended the forum, he was disappointed no elected officials went after being invited.

"I'm frustrated at this, having been an elected official myself at one point," he said.

"We called [the talk] 'Leaders as Conveners' so people take leadership as elected officials, as working for local government, working for nonprofits. I'm going to keep plugging away because I think mayors and councillors need to understand these processes, and how it can help make their lives better."

Tools of engagement

Matt Leighninger of the Deliberative Democracy Consortium says citizens are more educated, more challenging of authority, have less spare time, and have turned to the Internet to connect with their local authorities and representatives.

In his experience, Leighninger said successful public engagement tactics:

• Are proactive about recruitment of participants

• Bring diverse perspectives together

• Share experiences

• Give citizens a chance to make up their own minds

• Have different levels of action: volunteers, teams, organizations, and policy decisions

• Increase use of online tools

A framework often followed involves mapping out and understanding community networks, involving the leaders of those networks, holding a kickoff meeting, and following up as much as possible.

Successful community involvement, Leighninger added, included using a small group process of no more than 12 participants guided by an impartial facilitator, started with people describing their experiences and follow up with action planning. Frame any issue for participants so they can ask questions, get information and implement changes.