Policy Consensus E-News — September 2009
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- Editor's Note: Finding Ways for Leaders to Engage Meaningfully
- Community Focus Resource Teams: A Model for Civic Engagement
- Case Study: Florida Building Commission Reaches Consensus on Energy Efficiency
- University of Virginia's University and Community Racial Reconciliation Project
- PCI Video Series: Legislators as Conveners - "Learning to Convene in San Antonio"
Editor's Note: Finding Ways for Leaders to Engage Meaningfully in Their Communities
We wanted to share with PCI’s friends and partners some recent responses from the field of collaborative governance to this summer's series of United States Congressional town halls that took place across the country. Many in the field view this as an opportunity to explore what makes for meaningful engagement between leaders and their constituents. Several prominent thinkers have offered up their suggestions and alternative forms of engagement:
- Colorado State University's Center for Public Deliberation Director Martin Carcasson's "Tips for Legislators"
- WHHY Radio's "Radio Now" conversation with Carcasson and Tufts' University's Peter Levine (August 13, 2009)
- Stanford University's Center for Deliberative Democracy Director James Fishkin's New York Times Op-Ed "Town Halls by Invitation"
- The American Prospect's Mark Schmitt's "Letting the People In"
- The National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation has also collected a variety of responses on this topic on their website
Community Focus Resource Teams: A Model for Civic Engagement
As we look for meaningful opportunities for engagement, we want to highlight one particular model of civic engagement that Community Focus, NPCC's civic engagement program in California, has been using in the Bay Area for nearly twenty years, the Air Quality Resource Teams.
As a response to an increase in both traffic congestion and ground level ozone pollution, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (Air District) decided to implement a public awareness campaign to educate residents about air pollution and to encourage them to be a voluntary part of the solution.
Community Focus helped the Air District establish the Spare the Air program, one of the nation’s first major efforts to reduce air pollution through voluntary public education. In particular, Community Focus established Air Quality "Resource Teams” which have been working since 1991 in San Francisco Bay Area counties (9 Teams) to change behavior and reduce air pollution at a local grassroots level.
The Resource Team approach involves recruiting key community stakeholders – in this case, representatives from business, government, civic and environmental organizations – to implement public policy and long-term social change. Going beyond simply analyzing problems or proposing solutions, these Teams actually implement solutions using the shared resources that the Resource Team members themselves possess (time, energy, expertise, money and influence). The Resource Teams partner with the Air District to disseminate the clean air message to their communities and work to create a clean air ethic. They also provide contributions (resources such as money, expertise and in-kind support) to the Spare the Air campaign. Team members are responsible for developing and carrying out local projects. Each team gets facilitated support from Community Focus staff to foster effective communication among team members, to assist with planning projects, to help Team members allocate tasks and to assure that the work gets done.
For more information about Resource Teams, contact Community Focus Associate Director Stephanie Anderson. Read a detailed case study on the Teams for examples of projects they have implemented throughout the Bay Area.
Case Study: Florida Building Commission Reaches Consensus On Energy Efficiency
The Issue
Florida has long been one of the leading states for work in energy efficiency. It became the first state to adopt a statewide mandatory energy code in 1980 by establishing performance requirements for heating and cooling systems. The requirements that the state of Florida has maintained since then have been equal to or greater than those standards set by the US Department of Energy. These codes work to create energy efficiency levels that work with priorities regarding air quality in a climate overwhelmed with heat and humidity.
In his July 2007 executive order, Governor Charlie Crist of Florida directed the Florida Building Commission to increase the energy efficiency requirements described in the Florida Energy Efficiency Code for Building Construction. The increase in efficiency was to be by 15% for residential and commercial buildings. The Florida legislature passed the Energy Act of 2008 which created assignments and goals for the commission. Following this bill, a supplement to the 2007 Florida Building Code took effect in March 2009.
The Process
The Florida Building Commission was assisted by the FCRC Consensus Center at Florida State University in meeting proceedings. Jeff Blair of FCRC helped to facilitate consensus building with the Building Commission, the Florida Energy Code Workgroup and the Florida Solar Energy Center where they worked to evaluate the options for achieving the building code energy efficiencies.
Read the whole case study.
UVA's Reconciliation Project: Using a Transitions Framework
In 2007, Virginia's General Assembly issued a statement of "profound regret" for the Commonwealth's treatment of African Americans and Native Americans. That statement called for citizens to "embrace, celebrate, and retell" their history and called upon the people of the Commonwealth to "express acknowledgment and thanksgiving" for their contributions. The University of Virginia Board of Visitors also passed a resolution at that time, offering profound regret for their role in slavery and segregation.
A number of individuals at the University of Virginia determined to follow that formal statement with a collective response to the legacy of slavery, segregation and discrimination in the history of the University. The initial group asked members of the University, as well as adjacent communities, “What was your reaction to the resolution by the Virginia General Assembly and the University of Virginia Board of Visitors that offered profound regret for their role in slavery and segregation? What would repair look like to you? What would true restoration and reconciliation look like?”
Following this initial assessment, the organizing group determined a long term goal of healing wounds of slavery, segregation, and racism and eliminating disparities in economics, health, education, and social status.
The Leadership Team of the Project is made up of the Institute for Environmental Negotiation and representatives from the University’s Office of African American Affairs and the Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts Network of Technological Initiative (SHANTI) as well as the African American Research Historian at Monticello.
PCI Video Series: "Learning to Convene in San Antonio"
We have also added another video to the "Legislators as Conveners" series. The newest, "Learning to Convene in San Antonio," is a video of Texas State Senator Leticia Van de Putte addressing the University Network for Collaborative Governance at the Fall 2008 meeting in Austin, Texas. Senator Van de Putte connects the leadership experiences she's had to the convening skills she's learned from the University of Texas's Center for Public Policy Dispute Resolution's Fellows Program.
"Learning to Convene in San Antonio" is the second video PCI has produced with the Center, a member of the University Network for Collaborative Governance. An earlier video features State Senator and former Mayor of Austin Kirk Watson, who has also worked on a number of projects with the Center's assistance. Both Senators have cited the importance of the Center's role as a state leader in providing collaborative governance skills training and in project assistance to leaders.
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