MAP 150: FINAL REPORT
MAP 150 Final Report • Brief Background • Outcomes of Demonstration Projects • Findings • Future Direction
Initial Assumptions Tough, complicated public problems, such as education, transportation and health care are not being solved – New, big solutions are needed that transcend special interest and gridlocked politics – Citizens don’t have a meaningful role in bringing about change, but little will happen without their “consent”
MAP 150 View
MAP 150 approaches policy from citizens up, not experts across.
2006 Survey Results 50% 40% 30% 20% 10%
46%
Too 40% 38% much Not talk, not Decision enough enough makers time action don’t care what we think
0%
What are the most serious barriers that keep people from participating in civic or political activities?
MAP 150 Demonstration Projects How can citizens become co-producers of the common good? How can we gather the collective wisdom that’s out there?
MAP 150 Demonstration Projects •Students Speak Out •“What Do Citizens Really Want to Know About their Property Taxes” •Redistricting •Long-term Care
Students Speak Out
Where are we today? •Minneapolis School District wants to pilot SSO •SSO has been piloted in Milwaukee •A school district in Ohio is interested in starting SSO •Teach for America is considering using SSO as a training module •An online instructional software company is considering using SSO as a module
What Do Citizens Really Want to Know About Their Property Taxes?
5,000 hits in one week
Where are We Today?: •Influenced Washinton County TNT statements •http://beta.explainmypropertytaxes.org/ ULI/LLI project of national significance
Redistricting Workshops and tools: Developed an informational and citizen input tool Where are we Today: Positioned the Citizens League as the local expert on the topic •Presented at the Midwest Democracy Network, attended by national experts. •Justin Levitt, redistricting expert at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University heralded the work as “one of the first studies…that attempts to ask citizens what kind of districting they would prefer... (these questions) are hugely important, and often underemphasized.” •Working as part of a broader coalition under the umbrella of the Minnesota Democracy Network.
Aging Care Services
Workshop: Developed ideas, one of which is pending at the State Legislature (Communities for a Lifetime) Where are we Today: Due to the success of the workshops, Ecumen raised more than $75,000 from twenty funders for Phase II—Financing LTC
MAP 150 Lessons Evidence •Journalists’ interviews (summer 2006) •Statewide scientific survey (fall 2006) •Demonstration projects—evaluation and anecdotal evidence (winter 2007 to fall 2008) •Informal citizen involvement poll (spring 2008) •Literature review (part of formal evaluation)
MAP 150 Lessons Citizens do care and will be involved in meaningful processes. •Scientific survey: Sixty-three percent said that citizens should have a greater responsibility in solving public problems.
•Informal survey: 38% of the general public said citizens only get involved if they have a special interest, compared to 79% of public officials •Demonstration projects: participants invariably wanted to know at the outset how their input would be used •SSO: Shane Saunders said “I learned that [being an active] citizen is, for one, a lot of fun. It makes you feel really good about yourself and makes you feel responsible and appreciated.”
MAP 150 Lessons Citizens want to know that their input/time will make a difference, that they will be listened to, and how their input will be used. •Informal survey: 29% of the general public stated that public officials will always or often use what they hear from citizens; 71% of public officials stated that they always or often expect to use what they hear from citizens. •Aging Services: In Aging Services, 93% said they felt that their participation made a valuable contribution to the results.
MAP 150 Lessons There is considerable reluctance to involve citizens integrally in decision-making processes. •Academic literature and informal survey: public officials tend to “blame” citizens for unproductive public processes, rather than blaming poor processes.
•Informal survey: “seek to explain” rather than “seek input” 59% of the general public said they get involved always or often to become more informed, whereas 94% of public officials stated that one of the goals of having citizens involved is always or often to have them become more informed
•SSO: teachers expressed surprise that students could so competently develop and lead a two-hour module.
MAP 150 Lessons Citizens are not recognized for their value-added. They bring these assets to policy-making: 1) their values; 2) information; and 3) capacity for action. •Redistricting: No policy leaders putting forth proposals knew what citizens’ values are with respect to redistricting. •Property taxes: Citizens put forth a simple and inexpensive way of understanding and explaining property taxes. •Property taxes: Good information influenced people’s votes.
MAP 150 Lessons One of the most powerful roles for citizens may be framing problems •Property Taxes: Citizens wanted context so that the budget numbers being put forth had meaning.
•Aging Services: Reframed the issue from one of aging to one of cultural predispositions concerning individual responsibility, uses of resources, and entitlements.
•SSO: Students helped teachers see that addressing bullying requires more than a skill set, it also requires relationships between students and teachers.
MAP 150 Lessons There is a set of skills necessary to make productive use of citizens’ viewpoints and experiences, and for the most part, these skills are missing. • Asking the right questions •Moderating in person and online discussions to challenge assumptions and bias, foster productive dialogue, and reach shared understandings; • Listening for insights and not ideas and with a mind not cluttered by all of the “rules”; •Recognizing common themes and common ground (not just report what was said); • Connecting insights up to policy
MAP 150 Lessons In processes that enable citizens to share information, interact, and educate one another, citizens will seek to learn and their views will evolve •Aging Services: 73% of participants who took an after-survey said they gained new insights related to aging
•Property taxes: 85% who visited the school referenda website said they learned something or a great deal and about half said that the information influenced their vote
Directions for the Future The citizen involvement practices and tools learned through MAP 150 are sought after, and may well become the wave of the future for public problemsolving. • We now know that citizens are dissatisfied with current processes. • We now know that characteristics of the process affect citizen activity and attitude. • We have strong evidence that characteristics of the process affect policy outcomes and citizen behaviors in implementing policy. Process results and substantive results justify continued development of citizen involvement processes, especially feedback loops and work with public officials.
