VTC-OliverOnCE

8/8/2019 VTC-OliverOnCE

1/9

VOLUME 44 NO. 7 JULY 2009

The magazine of the Virginia Municipal League

James B. Oliver Jr.

Hampton Roads initiativeattempts to breathe lifeinto local democracy

Civic

engagement


2/9

V IRGINIA TOWN & C I T Y | JULY 2009 9

PORTSMOUTH commu-nity activist Terry Danaherwanted to learn how citizenscan gain a more effective

voice in local and regionalissues. So, this spring, she at-

tended a conference billed as the rstHampton Roads Civic EngagementSummit.

There, Danaher and about 200other Hampton Roads residents, elect-

ed ofcials, and governmental andbusiness leaders heard Christopher T.Gates, a nationally known advocateof civic engagement, talk about theneed to reinvent the ways we practicedemocracy and the responsibilitiesof governmental leaders and citizensalike in becoming informed on issuesand working together to solve localand regional problems.

It was great being in a roomwith a bunch of like-minded peoplewho want to make a difference, who

want to be involved and make goodthings happen. It was a powerfulfeeling, said Danaher, who owns asmall business with her husband, Paul,and has served on several communitycommittees.

Danaher grew even more excitedwhen she heard Gates dismiss thenotion that citizens are mostly tooapathetic to get involved in publicissues. Instead, Gates, executivedirector of the Denver-based Philan-

Center looks to connect public decision makingwith civil dialogue, informed judgment of regions citizens

By MIKE KNEPLER

thropy for Active Civic Engagement,or PACE, suggested that many citizensturned off to getting involved becausethey believed that government did notwelcome their interest.

Chris Gates gave one of thebest public messages I ever heard,Danaher said. He said that a lot ofpeople arent participating becausethey dont think anything is ever goingto happen. They see people putting

together plans that always get put upon the shelf and they say, No, Imnot getting involved again. Or, ifsomething did happen, they werentinformed that the plans were actedupon.

Never shy about contacting localgovernment leaders or fellow citizens,Danaher said the summit motivatedher to step up her own activitieseven more. She said she will urgePortsmouth City Council membersto become more active and visible in

informing their constituents abouttheir work, while she will increaseher efforts to connect neighbors withopportunities for becoming moreinformed on local issues and moreinvolved.

If only it were that easy tomotivate all citizens and governmentalleaders.

What does it take to get peopleconnected in meaningful ways?Thats a fundamental problem, says

James B. Oliver Jr., the retired citymanager of Norfolk and Portsmouthand founding chairman of theedgling Hampton Roads Centerfor Civic Engagement, or HRCCE,which organized this springs civic-engagement summit.

And connecting people with publicdecision making, as Oliver sees it, isthe fundamental job of the HRCCE,especially when it comes to major

regional issues, such as transportation.The mission of the Center,

proclaims an HRCCE brochure, isto support sustainable deliberativedemocracy in Hampton Roads andto connect public decision makingwith civil dialogue and the informed

judgment of the regions citizens.Lofty ambitions for an organiza-

tion barely a year old, whose leadersfrequently remind any listeners thatHRCCE-style civic engagement is stillan experiment.

We have the twin problems thatthere is no traditional avenues todo civic engagement in HamptonRoads. You throw that in with todayssociety being so incredibly busy andpretty disconnected from a lot of civicendeavors. So then how do you getpeople to sit down and talk and investthemselves into getting to somethingthats meaningful? said Oliver, whois currently serving as interim citymanager of Hampton. Were trying

CivicengagementMovement afoot in Hampton Roads to breathe lifeinto a sustainable, deliberative local democracy


3/9

1 0 V IRGINIA TOWN & C I T Y | JULY 2009

to create a safe, neutral place wherecitizens feel invited to the table. Andplenty of people want those conversa-tions to occur.

BeginningsThe nonprot HRCCE grew

out of the 2007 Hampton RoadsRegional Structure Project onimproving the competitiveness ofthe region. The study project wassponsored by The Future of Hamp-

ton Roads, a nonprot organizationthat encourages a greater sense ofregionalism in southeastern Virginia.The project was managed by VirginiaBeach resident James F. Babcock, vice

chairman of the futures group.As the country has grown, itsbecome more difcult for people toknow their representatives. Mean-while, some people in governmentdont like to fool with the public whileothers want to poll public opinion onall decisions, said Babcock, who isalso a board member of the HRCCE.Theres a certain art now of tryingto assemble public opinion and thecenter is trying to bring to HamptonRoads some of the more sophisticated

techniques. Engaging the public moreactively in important issues, thatsworthwhile. But its not going to beeasy.

Many of the projects recom-mendations dealt with the regionseconomic and governance structures,but organizers also saw a criticalneed to improve public participationin decision making to help forge amore unied voice on importantregion-wide issues. For some, the

ability to tap a broad citizen base wasa long-sought holy grail, especially onmatters that needed approval from theGeneral Assembly or Congress.

Given the nature of Hampton

Roads, with no dominant city, nounied government structure, and wedont have 10 Fortune 500 companiesthat anchor the leadership, how dowe get solutions to some of the bigger

Terry Danaher Portsmouth community activist.

It was great being in a roomwith a bunch of like-minded

people who want to makea difference, who want to

be involved and make goodthings happen.

Why traditional modelsof participation are failing CHRISTOPHER T. GATES, executive director of the Philan-thropy for Active Civic Engagement, speaking at the HamptonRoads Civic Engagement Summit, cited four major reasons whytraditional models of participation have lost their ability to connectwith citizens:

The information and technology revolution that has helped

foster partial-truths about their communities problems and poten-tial solutions. A news media that has lost touch with real community life

while accentuating conict and encouraging disbelief. Greater diversity in a wide variety of demographic measures,

while civic and business leaders have not kept pace with knowinghow to interact across perceived differences.

The tendency for power structures to blame citizens as apa-thetic instead of knowing how to reach out more effectively andconvince citizens that their voices really matter.

Gates advised governmental leaders to develop new ways togather citizen opinions on community issues. Most conventionalmodels not only dont work, but they can make things worse, hesaid, noting that standard public hearings often are held at timesand in places that are inconvenient for most citizens.

New models of local governance, he said, include using power toempower others, mediation of problems and listening to everyonewith respect.

In May, the Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement, issued a36-page report, The New Laboratories of Democracy: How Local Govern-ment is Reinventing Civic Engagement. For more information, visit www.pacefunders.org.

Knepler


4/9


5/9


by doing something or really engag-ing in the thinking around doingsomething that allows them to createsome positive change. Its differentthan volunteering. Its just not the

act of helping out. The concept ofengagement is really an active verb.It means that youre really thinkingit through. Different people call itdifferent things. Part of it is thinkingstrategically about what needs to bedone and (determining) what are themost pressing issues where can youbest make a difference.

Gates elaborated about the needfor civic engagement in his keynotespeech at HRCCEs regional summiton April 4, held at Old Dominion

Universitys Modeling, Analysis andSimulation Center in Suffolk. He ad-

vised governmental leaders to developnew ways to gather citizen opinionson community issues.

Most conventional models notonly dont work, but they can makethings worse, he said, noting thatstandard public hearings often are

held at times and in places that areinconvenient for most citizens.

New models of local governance,he said, include using power to em-power others, mediation of problems

and listening to everyone with respect.The April 4 HRCCE summit alsofeatured the release of three public-opinion surveys that assessed thecivic capital of Hampton Roads,which was dened as the values,skills and infrastructure needed forcitizens to work together to deneand shape the regions quality of life.The survey work was spearheaded byQuentin Kidd, an associate professorof political science in at ChristopherNewport University and director of

CNUs Center for Public Policy. TheHRCCE refers to this project as theBatten Surveys because they werefunded by Jane P. Batten, a commu-nity leader and philanthropist whosefamily holdings include The Virginian-

Pilotdaily newspaper.The largest part of the Batten

Surveys was a March 2-9 telephone

sampling of 1,997 adults among the1.7 million people living in the 16communities that make up HamptonRoads. The ndings showed nearly70 percent of citizens said they would

be very interested or somewhatinterested in working with others tond solutions to regional issues.

So what stops many citizens fromgetting involved?

Another part of the BattenSurveys attempted to nd answersto that question. A series of focusedinterviews with about four dozenregional civic leaders and elected of-cials included the twin query: Whatdo ofcials misunderstand aboutengaging the citizens? and What

do citizens misunderstand about civicengagement?

The responses were striking indescribing the gaps.

For example, one appointed of-

cial said this about misunderstandingon the part of many colleagues: Ibelieve most view civic engagement

as a supercial task rather than

James K. Spore city manager of Virginia Beach.

As issues become more

complex and resources gettighter, the importance of good

civic engagement becomesincreasingly more important inhow you operate a government.

Betsy McBride president and executivedirector, Hampton Roads Center for CivicEngagement.

{Public administrators} are notspending any time thinking aboutsustainable democracy. Theyre trying

to get their work done. And the peoplethey have reporting to them havent

necessarily been trained in publicinvolvement.


6/9

V IRGINIA TOWN & C I T Y | JULY 2009 1 3

a fundamental relationship. Theyalso do not grasp what true civic

engagement is and what it feels like.Hearing what someone has to sayis far different than engaging themin constructive dialogue in which itis clear that each party is seeking aneffective outcome based upon all the

views and ideas in the room.On the other side of the equa-

tion, an appointed ofcial had this tosay about citizen perceptions: Themost common misunderstanding istheir sense that civic engagement isshowing up at a meeting and express-

ing their own opinions about an issue and then expecting their opinionto win the day. If it does not, theywill contend that their opinions wereignored. The appreciation of hearingmultiple opinions, discussing options,evaluating options and then reachinga preferred outcome is increasinglybeing lost.

The summit also gave evidencethat the HRCCE also was feelingits way in reaching out, especially in

making its programs known acrossthe region. A poll taken at the event

showed that 61.7 percent of attendeeswere white and 78 percent had house-hold incomes of at least $75,000.

Although the HRCCE is not wellknown, its supporters say it holdsgreat potential to help HamptonRoads citizens and local ofcials worktogether more productively to solveproblems. HRCCE projects on thedrawing boards include a year-long se-ries of citizen-outreach efforts to helpVirginia Beach better understand thetransportation issues of its residents,

establishment of a regional citizensacademy to help area residents learnabout regional agencies and issuesand develop skills related to civicengagement, and a civic-engagementinitiative aimed at young people.

A recent focus group of HamptonRoads young leaders, ages 17 to 22,suggested that local governments aremissing opportunities to reach out toteens and young adults on importantissues, even on the regional level.

Actually, my generation is starvingfor that, said 22-year-old Lauren

Perry, a Virginia Beach resident and2009 graduate of Virginia WesleyanCollege who attended the HRCCEregional summit and participated inthe focus group. Most of my agegroup does not feel listened to ... Butwere an untapped asset. And, Perryadds, engaged conversations couldbe addictive.

Building credibility

and consensusThe HRCCEs status as an inde-pendent, nonprot organization willbe one of the keys to its ability to helpresolve issues, according to Oliver.

One of the things weve done sofar is not gone to cities for funding.Part of that is to deliberately try tobuild a safe place for citizens but withcompetence and capacity to do stuff,he said. Thats a big constraint weveput on ourselves, but were doing that

Surveys shed light on regions civic capitalTHE HAMPTON ROADSCivic Engagement Summitfeatured the release of threepublic-opinion surveys that

assessed the civic capitalof Hampton Roads, which

was dened as the values, skills and infrastructureneeded for citizens to work together to dene andshape the regions quality of life.

The survey work was spearheaded by QuentinKidd, an associate professor of political science inat Christopher Newport University and director ofCNUs Center for Public Policy. The HRCCE refersto this project as the Batten Surveys because theywere funded by Jane P. Batten, a community leaderand philanthropist whose family holdings include TheVirginian-Pilot daily newspaper.

The largest part of the Batten Surveys was aMarch 2-9 telephone sampling of 1,997 adultsamong the 1.7 million people living in the 16communities that make up Hampton Roads. Thendings showed that the majority of residentshave been actively involved in their communityduring the past year and almost two-thirds ofadults interviewed said they follow news about local

government and public affairs either somewhat orvery closely, while only one-in-ten adults say theypay no attention to news about local governmentand public affairs.

At the same time, 62 percent of the adults sur-veyed said they believed that local government doesnot invite citizen input. Hampton Roads residents alsowere lukewarm when asked how much they trustedelected representatives on the local and state levels andthe local news media. Local government employeesfared the best on the trust scale, scoring 6.5 on a scaleof one to 10, with 10 being the highest.

When it came to assessing regional priorities 28percent of adults surveyed mentioned the economy,followed by transportation at 21 percent, education at10 percent, crime at 4 percent, military at 2 percent,environment at 1 percent, racial reconciliation at 1percent, health care at 1 percent and growth/sprawlat 1 percent, with a smattering of other concerns.

While there was no clear consensus on oneproblem area as the regions top priority, nearly 70percent of citizens said they would be very interestedor somewhat interested in working with others tond solutions to regional issues.

Knepler

- Kidd -S

angjib

Min

/DailyPreSS


7/9


because we dont want to look likegovernment. We dont want to askcitizens to come to us and then havethem get all suspicious that we mightbe getting some funding from cities, so

therefore we cant be trusted. Thats apretty tough challenge.So far, much of the centers

funding $175,000 for three years comes from the Norfolk Foundation.Other sources have included $50,000from the Landmark Foundation,$35,000 from Jane P. Batten, $5,000from the Future of Hampton RoadsInc., $1,000 from the Virginia BeachFoundation and donations from boardmembers.

Angelica Light, president and

CEO of the Norfolk Foundation, saidshe was impressed with the talents andexperience of HRCCE board mem-bers and staff and saw the center ashaving an important role in injectingthe voice of citizens into importantregional decisions.

Cities have long had the capac-ity to do community conversations.They do them all the time. But thereis something about some issues thatrequire there be a neutral broker, sothere would be no hint of a pre-

determined agenda, she said. Wethought we really needed to have aprocess whereby citizens could cometogether and hear from other citizens... on some regional issues by talkingwith each other directly, not throughpublic relations campaigns.

Its important to foster relation-ships that could be the foundation forbuilding consensus on issues, Lightadded. Its important to have aconsensus because we have a limited

amount of resources. We also arein a real critical point in this regionshistory. We need to come togetherto have regional positions on lots ofdifferent items so we could present

an united front to others outside theregion.

The HRCCE also is available tobuild consensus among governmentalleaders. In February, the centerfacilitated a retreat for the HamptonRoads Transportation Planning Or-

ganization, or HRTPO, a public bodywhose board is made up mostly of

Christopher T. Gates nationally knownadvocate of civic engagement.

Most conventional models(of gathering citizenopinions) not only

dont work, but they canmake things worse.

Operational principles of the HamptonRoads Center for Civic EngagementTHE CENTER DOES NOT usurp or interfere with the decision-making authority of any entity.

The center provides transparent, fact-based processes that supportand demonstrate a code of citizen involvement, which include:

Respect and appreciation for democratic values

Early, regular and timely consultation with the public

Open and accessible information

Published and realistic schedules

Clear accountability

The center honors several key public participation principles.Public participation:

Seeks out and facilitates the involvement of diverse stakeholders

Seeks input from participants in designing how they participate

Communicates to participants how their input affected thedecision

The center supports implementation practices that:

Begin the project with an understandable description of thedecision-making process, well-articulated expectations forpublic involvement in that process, and clearly dened goalsfor the outcome

Provide the necessary resources technical and nancial to sup-port participants in the process and create a level playing eld


8/9

V IRGINIA TOWN & C I T Y | JULY 2009 1 5

elected ofcials from across southeast-ern Virginia. The agency has comeunder criticism over the years by thosewho say it has not provided a strong,united front needed to solve regional

transportation problems.Part of the problem, critics say, isthat most board members felt caughtin a paradox of whose interests musttake priority the city or countythey represent or the regional bodyresponsible for broad transportationplanning.

In his opening remarks at theretreat, Oliver challenged HRTPOboard members to think moredeeply about their role with a regionalagency. This room is full of local

elected ofcials who are not thwartedor intimidated by excuses in buildingyour cities and counties ... Isnt ittime we succeed in transportation inHampton Roads the same way wehave in our entrepreneurial locali-ties and agencies? he said. This isclearly collaborative work that goesbeyond the boundary lines of your

Vivian Paige HRCCE board member.

Public hearings often come after

the important decisions alreadyhave been made and just seemto be a way of giving validation (topublic ofcials) It behoovesthose making decisions to have abetter pulse of the citizens.

localities ... For the good of each ofyour jurisdictions and for the region,this is very important work.

HRTPO Executive DirectorDwight Farmer was pleased with the

work and said one of the reasons theHRCCE was selected to facilitate theretreat was because it was a home-grown organization with leaderswho know and care about HamptonRoads.

It was the rst time weve hadfacilitated retreat in 31 years Ive beenthere, he said. It allowed us to havediscussions we probably would nothave had.

Since February, several boardmembers have referred back to the

retreat to remind themselves thatthey can continue to improve theirabilities to work together for the goodof the entire region, Farmer said.

Farmer said hes also excited aboutthe HRCCEs potential to educateand involve more citizens in issuesfacing the region.

We need to get people to truly

believe that this is their region ... andthat they should appreciate that theyhave resources outside of their citysboundaries, Farmer said.

The long-range payoff, Farmer

said, will be when citizens from acrossHampton Roads speak with a moreunited voice in helping the region winfunding from the General Assemblyand Congress for major projects. Ithink that state-and federal-elected of-cials really need do be hearing moreof those messages from citizens, thatthis region has this problem that needsto get solved, he said.

The HRCCE also will be workingto bring citizens and government of-cials together within a local munici-

pality. The transportation visioningproject in Virginia Beach will be itsrst. The effort, heralded by VirginiaBeach Mayor Will Sessoms in a May15 speech about his rst 100 daysin ofce, will take about a year andinclude a wide range of stakehold-ers, including commuters, bicyclists,senior citizens, people with disabilities,

Lauren Perry 2009 Virginia WesleyanCollege graduate.

Most of my age groupdoes not feel listenedto ... But were an

untapped asset.


9/9


environmentalists, bus users, military,civic league representatives, the Tide-water Builders Association, historicpreservationists, taxpayer groups, theChamber of Commerce and other

business groups.The mayor and the whole City

Council ranked transportation as ournumber one issue, said City Manager

James K. Spore. With reductionsin funding from state and federalsources, its become more critical thanever to get our planning right.

The transportation project willbe a community-wide visioning ofproblems and solutions, everythingfrom traffic to bike trails to neigh-borhood sidewalks to minor arteri-

als, to transportation issues beyondVirginia Beach that still affect us,such as the port, the airport, thesix major regional transportationprojects, light rail and high-speedrail, Spore said.

Public participation will be thekeystone, Spore said, explaining thatwe really wanted citizens involvedand we want them in a way in whichthe city is not leading but in a waythat the citizens are partners with us...Its a genuine effort to inform and

engage the community and do it ina way to get a more authentic desireof the community than we usuallycan get through a City Council publichearing.

The hoped-for result, Spore said,would be a higher level of owner-ship for some of the solutions and abroader support base that could makethem possible.

The Virginia Beach projectwill add a new aspect to HRCCEs

Robert J. ONeill Jr., executive directorof the International City/County

Management Association.

endeavors in another way. It wouldmark the rst time that the centerreceives funding from a city govern-ment for a public project.

Were doing the project with Vir-ginia Beach money, Oliver said, sothats a test of whether we can do it ina way in which all the parties, in theend, will feel that its been a neutraland credible exercise with integrity.

After all, Oliver said, the

Hampton Roads Center for CivicEngagement is an experiment in theessence of democracy, not just for theHRCCE but for the regions govern-

Dwight Farmer Hampton RoadsTransportation Planning Organization

executive director.

We need to get people totruly believe that this is theirregion ... and that they should

appreciate that they have

resources outside of their citysboundaries.

To find out more The nonprot Hampton Roads Center for Civic Engagement islocated at 5200 Hampton Blvd., Norfolk, VA, 23508. For moreinformation, call 757/889-9359 or visit www.hrcce.org.

mental leaders and citizens as well.None of us are quite sure how

to do it, he said. Lets just say itsa grand experiment and I do thinkits an experiment worth trying topursue.

About the author

Michael Knepler is a freelance writer basedin Norfolk, where he wrote and edited stories

for The Virginian-Pilot about local govern-

ment and g rassroots, community problem-solving. He can be reached at [email protected].

Getting more ownership, more

commitment and more engagement inthe processes themselves substantiallyincreases the likelihoodof a good decision and asuccessful outcome.

Documents

VTC-OliverOnCE