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For communities to respond to their challenges, they must resolve, for themselves, that their capacity to solve problems requires revitalization. Outside consultants can make recommendations, but without local ownership of the strategy and implementation plan, it is not likely that the community will take action. The Civic Index, a twelve point community self-evaluation tool, helps communities develop their problem solving capacity by providing a method and a process for first identifying strengths and weaknesses, and then for structuring collaborative problem-solving strategies. Today's column discusses the Civic Index component of Citizen Participation.

Apathetic Citizens? Not When They Can Make A Difference

Citizen participation in political, community, and neighborhood affairs is critical to the creation and maintenance of a strong, vibrant community. A community without regular interaction among citizens is less a community than a random collection of people. Without active participation, it is difficult for a community to agree on what problems to address and how to move forward collectively to solve them.

Citizen participation is at once the most and least controversial issue of democratic theory today. It is uncontroversial in that "everyone" agrees that citizen participation is requisite to the achievement of social, economic, and political equality in our communities and our nation. The controversy arises over concerns about who, when, where, and how citizens should participate.

While citizen participation takes many forms - including voting in local elections, serving on government boards and commissions, attending public hearings, and being active in volunteer, neighborhood, and civic organizations - in successful communities common threads regarding the who, when, where, and how of citizen participation can be found.

Citizen participation in successful communities is characterized by the involvement of the diverse sectors and interests of the community. Each demographic interest - be it age, race, gender preferences, or places of residence and employment - is in some way represented in community decision-making practices.

This means that citizen participation is defined by the involvement of all people who have a stake in the future of the community, not simply those who traditionally have had power in the community. Certainly the "usual suspects," that is community leaders and organizations who are always involved in community efforts, have valuable contributions to make to a community. But successful communities have a good balance of the "old" and the "new" and are thus able to take advantage of what traditionally underrepresented populations have to offer a community.

However, citizen participation in successful communities is also characterized by the outlook that individuals, as members of the community, have a stake in the future of the whole community, not simply their own particular demographic group, organization, part of town, or issue focus.

Moreover, the key leaders of successful communities realize that citizens must be empowered to have real influence over community decisions. Citizens are too sophisticated to accept the role of only advising officials and community leaders who may or may not accept their advice.

Correlatively, this means that citizens must be engaged in decision-making processes from the beginning. Many communities to this day only provide citizens with the opportunity to sanction public policy; citizens are involved only in the final step of policy-making processes. A town meeting, for example, is called for citizens to confirm the pre-determined conclusions of their governmental leaders.

Successful communities engage citizens in the initial stages of policy-making processes. Governmental leaders go to neighborhoods, find out what people think, find out their needs and concerns and then develop a plan based in response to that proactive input.

Many communities have seen the benefits of adopting this broad mode of citizen participation. For example, New Haven, Connecticut has seen a 26 percent reduction in crime in their community since citizens became involved in the policing process. After citizens were involved in this success, they became involved in other important issues in the community. Now citizens are involved, from the beginning, in projects such as the planning of park renovations and school construction.

The Civic Index lists a number of questions communities can ask themselves to help gauge the quality of their community's citizen participation, including:

• What is the level of voter turnout in local elections?
• What is the level and nature of participation at public hearings?
• Are there strong neighborhood and civic groups?
• Is it difficult to find people to run for public office?
• Do citizens volunteer to serve on local boards?
• Are citizens actively involved in major projects? Is participation proactive or reactive?

The word "apathetic" has become a popular adjective to describe today's citizens. Low voter turnout and limited attendance at public hearings are a few of the examples of apathy often cited by community leaders.

However, apathy is actually a secondary response to something deeper. Citizens-at-large aren't as apathetic as they are frustrated and angry: Citizens care a great deal about their communities, but feel their participation in the overall governance of their communities simply won't matter. As a result, citizens have made conscious decisions to devote their time to areas upon which they feel they can have an impact, such as family, churches, schools, and youth sports.

Successful communities, by providing meaningful outlets for citizen participation - outlets which involve a broad range of community perspectives and vest citizens with the real power to influence their own lives - have high levels of citizen involvement. People aren't apathetic when they can make a difference.

For information on how the concepts and techniques presented in this column can be applied in your community, or for a copy of the 1999 Revised Civic Index, contact the National Civic League by e-mail at ncl@ncl.org; on the world wide web at www.ncl.org; or by phone at (303) 571-4343.

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