Many of our communities are experiencing tug of wars, civic paralyses, and political stalemates over critically important decisions with incredible consequences for our collective future. We need to reconsider how we approach our public dialogue about community change.
By involving community leaders in decision-making, health officials in Alameda County, CA, were able to build trusting relationships with vulnerable populations. Among the results were lower than average death rates and higher than average rates of vaccination.
If American cities were divided into small electoral districts based on existing neighborhoods, then city governments would be truly representative. A city’s various communities would be represented in government proportionally.
Over 100,000 receive the National Civic Review each quarter. Its cases studies, reports, interviews and essays help communities learn about the latest developments in collaborative problems-solving, civic engagement, local government innovation and democratic governance. Some of the country’s leading doers and thinkers have contributed articles to this invaluable resource for elected officials, public managers, nonprofit leaders, grassroots activists, and public administration scholars seeking to make America’s communities more inclusive, participatory, innovative and successful.